Editing Working memory (section)

====Decay theories====

The assumption that the contents of short-term or working memory [[decay theory|decay]] over time, unless decay is prevented by rehearsal, goes back to the early days of experimental research on short-term memory.<ref>{{Cite journal| vauthors = Brown J |year=1958|title=Some tests of the decay theory of immediate memory|journal=Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology|volume=10|pages=12–21|doi=10.1080/17470215808416249|s2cid=144071312}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Peterson LR, Peterson MJ | title = Short-term retention of individual verbal items | journal = Journal of Experimental Psychology | volume = 58 | issue = 3 | pages = 193–198 | date = September 1959 | pmid = 14432252 | doi = 10.1037/h0049234 }}</ref> It is also an important assumption in the multi-component theory of working memory.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Working memory| vauthors = Baddeley AD |publisher=Clarendon | volume = 11 |year=1986|location=Oxford | isbn = 978-0-19-852116-7 }}</ref> The most elaborate decay-based theory of working memory to date is the "time-based resource sharing model".<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Barrouillet P, Bernardin S, Camos V | title = Time constraints and resource sharing in adults' working memory spans | journal = Journal of Experimental Psychology. General | volume = 133 | issue = 1 | pages = 83–100 | date = March 2004 | pmid = 14979753 | doi = 10.1037/0096-3445.133.1.83 | s2cid = 604840 }}</ref> This theory assumes that representations in working memory decay unless they are refreshed. Refreshing them requires an attentional mechanism that is also needed for any concurrent processing task. When there are small time intervals in which the processing task does not require attention, this time can be used to refresh memory traces. The theory therefore predicts that the amount of forgetting depends on the temporal density (rate and duration) of attentional demands of the processing task—this density is called ''[[cognitive load]]''. The cognitive load depends on two variables, the rate at which the processing task requires individual steps to be carried out, and the duration of each step. For example, if the processing task consists of adding digits, then having to add another digit every half-second places a higher cognitive load on the system than having to add another digit every two seconds. In a series of experiments, Barrouillet and colleagues have shown that memory for lists of letters depends neither on the number of processing steps nor the total time of processing but on cognitive load.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Barrouillet |first1=Pierre |last2=Bernardin |first2=Sophie |last3=Portrat |first3=Sophie |last4=Vergauwe |first4=Evie |last5=Camos |first5=Valérie |title=Time and cognitive load in working memory. |journal=Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition |date=2007 |volume=33 |issue=3 |pages=570–585 |doi=10.1037/0278-7393.33.3.570 |pmid=17470006 |url=https://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:88299 }}</ref>