This will be important for examining
known groups with WM deficits such as ADHD (e.g., Gibson, Gondoli, Flies, Dobrzenski, & Unsworth, 2010). Furthermore, given recent work examining the possibility of training WM (e.g., Redick et al., 2013), it may be important to examine whether some training regimens impact one set of processes more so than others (e.g., Gibson et al., 2013). Consistent with prior work, the current results demonstrated that although WM processing and storage are related, they both account for unique variance in gF (Bayliss et al., 2003, Logie and Duff, 2007, Unsworth et al., 2009 and Waters and Caplan, 1996). Thus, it is not CHIR-99021 ic50 simply the case that individual differences in processing account for the relation between storage and higher-order cognition. Furthermore, the current results go beyond prior work by demonstrating that both WM processing and WM storage are related to capacity, attention control, and secondary memory and in slightly different ways. That is, whereas
WM storage was related to capacity, attention Tanespimycin purchase control, and secondary memory to the same extent, WM processing was more strongly related to attention control than the other two factors. This suggests that during the processing phase of complex span tasks that attention control processes are critically important. This could be due to the need to use attention control to switch back and forth between the two phases or due to the need to prevent the processing phase from fully capturing attention away from the TBR items. Indeed, a recent computational model of complex span tasks suggests that during the processing phase attention control processes might be needed to remove the no longer relevant processing representations (i.e., after they have been solved) from the current focus of attention and suggest that this removal of no longer relevant representations might be one reason for the relation between complex span and other cognitive measures (Oberauer, Lewandowsky, Farrell, Jarrold, & Greaves, 2012). The current
results demonstrating a strong link between WM processing and attention control are certainly oxyclozanide in line with these suggestions. Future work is needed to better examine how attention control is needed during the processing phase of the complex span tasks. For now, the results suggest that WM processing and storage are distinct and that their relations with gF are jointly accounted for by capacity, attention control, and secondary memory. Given the strong relations between complex span tasks and other span measures (such as simple span tasks and running span tasks); it is likely that the three facets also drive the relations for these other measures as well. That is, prior research has shown that multiple factors account for variability in other memory span measures and account for the relation with gF (e.g., Unsworth & Engle, 2007b).