Klaus Oberauer
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 1661760 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Klaus Oberauer |
| NOMBRES | Klaus |
| APELLIDO | Oberauer |
| FIRMA | OBERAUER K |
| AFILIACIONES | University of Zurich |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-3902-7318 |
| VERIFICADO | Sí |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 36 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 30 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 36 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2005 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 4 |
Revisiting Hebb
In 1961, Donald Hebb established a classic paradigm for studying repetition learning: He asked participants to remember several memory sets for an immediate serial recall task and repeated one set multiple times throughout the experiment. Participants’ ability to recall the repeated set improved gradually with repetitions, thereby demonstrating repetition learning. Explaining this effect has concerned researchers for decades because it provides k…
Different time-courses for consolidating information in working memory and long-term memory
Does the benefit of time for working memory arise at encoding or retrieval
Extended free time between the encoding of list items enhances immediate memory for serial order. Previous research suggests that this effect is predominantly proactive, free time improves memory for items presented after an extended interval but not for those presented before. This conclusion is based on two key findings. First, in forward serial recall, the benefit of free time increases with the serial position of the items (Mızrak & Oberauer,…
The role of eye movements and covert shifts of attention in working and long-term memory retrieval
The “Looking at Nothing” (LAN) effect describes the tendency to look toward locations where information was originally presented during memory retrieval. Previous research by Scholz et al. ( Memory & Cognition , 46, 230-243, 2018) suggested that memory performance may benefit not only from eye movements to these locations, but also from covert shifts of attention. The present study investigated whether such effects also occur during retrieval fro…
Removing information from working memory with a delay
Ideally, removing outdated information from working memory (WM) should have two consequences: The removed content should be less accessible ( removal costs ), and other WM content should benefit from the freeing up of WM capacity ( removal benefits ). Robust removal benefits and removal costs have been demonstrated when people are told to forget items shortly after they were encoded (immediate removal). However, other studies suggest that people …
Neither measurement error nor speed–accuracy trade-offs explain the difficulty of establishing attentional control as a psychometric construct
Attentional control refers to the ability to maintain and implement a goal and goal-relevant information when facing distraction. Previous research has failed to substantiate strong evidence for a psychometric construct of attentional control. This could result from two methodological shortcomings: (a) the neglect of individual differences in speed–accuracy trade-offs when only speed or accuracy is used as dependent variable, and (b) the difficul…
Updating of information in working memory
Working memory updating is the process that replaces outdated content in working memory by new content. This requires removing outdated information and encoding new information. It is still unclear whether removal and encoding run sequentially or simultaneously. We explored this question in two experiments investigating the time course of removal and encoding and their consequences for the functioning of working memory. The updating task we used …
The benefit of removing information from working memory
Removing information from working memory is thought to free up capacity and improve the retention of other information. However, whether this benefit arises from reducing interference from the to-be-forgotten information or from freeing up cognitive resources remains unclear. We examined this by comparing removal immediately following encoding an item (immediate removal), or delayed until after other items have been encoded (delayed removal). Int…
Investigating retrieval strategies in an associative recognition test in working memory
The study examines the retrieval strategies that people engage in during associative recognition in working memory. To this end, we employ eye movements as a tool to track the underlying retrieval processes. Previous work has shown that during retrieval people tend to look back at empty spatial locations where the information was presented at encoding, known as the looking at nothing (LAN) effect. Thus, reflecting which memorandum has been retrie…
The cognitive load effect in working memory
The cognitive load effect is not robustly observed in all working memory tasks. • Current accounts of the cognitive load effect cannot explain this task-dependence of the cognitive load effect. Maintaining information in working memory often competes with concurrent processing of other information. This is reflected in the cognitive load effect, referring to the observation that processing tasks with a higher cognitive load result in lower memory…
Grouping in working memory guides chunk formation in long-term memory
The Hebb effect refers to the improvement in immediate memory performance on a repeated list compared to unrepeated lists. That is, participants create a long-term memory representation over repetitions, on which they can draw in working memory tests. These long-term memory representations are likely formed by chunk acquisition: The whole list becomes integrated into a single unified representation. Previous research suggests that the formation o…
Verbal working memory encodes phonological and semantic information differently
Working memory (WM) is often tested through immediate serial recall of word lists. Performance in such tasks is negatively influenced by phonological similarity: People more often get the order of words wrong when they are phonologically similar to each other (e.g., cat, fat, mat). This phonological-similarity effect shows that phonology plays an important role for the representation of serial order in these tasks. By contrast, semantic similarit…
The contribution of episodic long-term memory to working memory for bindings
The present experiments support two conclusions about the capacity limit of working memory (WM). First, they provide evidence for the Binding Hypothesis, WM capacity is limited by interference between bindings but not items. Second, they show that episodic LTM contributes substantially to binding memory when the capacity of WM is stretched to the limit by larger set sizes. We tested immediate memory for sets of word-picture pairs. With increasing…
Why does the probe value effect emerge in working memory? Examining the biased attentional refreshing account
People are able to prioritize more valuable information in working memory. The current study examined whether this value effect is due to the items of greater value being refreshed more than lower-value items during maintenance. To assess this possibility, we combined a probe value manipulation with a guided-refreshing procedure. Arrays of colored shapes were presented, and after a brief delay, participants reported the color of one randomly prob…
The semantic relatedness effect in serial recall
The ability to store information in verbal working memory (WM) closely interacts with our linguistic knowledge. For instance, we can hold semantically related words (e.g., “cat, dog, bird”) better in our WM than unrelated ones (e.g., “desk, pillow, mouse”). This study investigates boundary conditions of the beneficial effect of semantic relatedness of words on immediate memory for lists. Independently varying the encoding and recall order for lis…
An interference model for visual working memory
Is long-term memory used in a visuo-spatial change-detection paradigm
In tests of working memory with verbal or spatial materials, repeating the same memory sets across trials leads to improved memory performance. This well-established “Hebb repetition effect” could not be shown for visual materials in previous research. The absence of the Hebb effect can be explained in two ways: Either persons fail to acquire a long-term memory representation of the repeated memory sets, or they acquire such long-term memory repr…
Intelligence test items varying in capacity demands cannot be used to test the causality of working memory capacity for fluid intelligence
There is a strong relationship between fluid intelligence and working memory capacity (WMC). Yet, the cognitive mechanisms underlying this relationship remain elusive. The capacity hypothesis states that this relationship is due to limitations in the amount of information that can be stored and held active in working memory. Previous research aimed at testing the capacity hypothesis assumed that it implies stronger relationships of intelligence t…
The effects of elaboration on working memory and long-term memory across age
Free time to attend to and process information in working memory is key in promoting immediate and delayed retention. One candidate process to cause this benefit is elaboration. We conducted three experiments with young adults – two of which included older adults – to investigate whether free time is used for elaboration, and whether elaboration causes the free-time benefit. Participants remembered lists of nouns, interleaved with short or long f…
Validity of attention self-reports in younger and older adults
Human attention is subject to fluctuations. Mind-wandering (MW) - attending to thoughts unrelated to the current task demands - is considered a ubiquitous experience. According to the Control Failure x Concerns view (McVay & Kane, 2010), MW is curbed by executive control, and task-irrelevant thoughts enter consciousness due to attentional control lapses. The generation of off-task thoughts is assumed to increase with higher number of personal con…
Worldview-motivated rejection of science and the norms of science
Addressing the theory crisis in psychology
Working Memory and Attention – A Conceptual Analysis and Review
There is broad agreement that working memory is closely related to attention. This article delineates several theoretical options for conceptualizing this link, and evaluates their viability in light of their theoretical implications and the empirical support they received. A first divide exists between the concept of attention as a limited resource, and the concept of attention as selective information processing. Theories conceptualizing attent…
Benchmarks provide common ground for model development
We respond to the comments of Logie and Vandierendonck to our article proposing benchmark findings for evaluating theories and models of short-term and working memory. The response focuses on the two main points of criticism: (a) Logie and Vandierendonck argue that the scope of the set of benchmarks is too narrow. We explain why findings on how working memory is used in complex cognition, findings on executive functions, and findings from neurops…
Benchmarks for models of short-term and working memory
Any mature field of research in psychology-such as short-term/working memory-is characterized by a wealth of empirical findings. It is currently unrealistic to expect a theory to explain them all; theorists must satisfice with explaining a subset of findings. The aim of the present article is to make the choice of that subset less arbitrary and idiosyncratic than is current practice. We propose criteria for identifying benchmark findings that eve…
Recurrent fury
A growing body of evidence has implicated conspiracist ideation in the rejection of scientific propositions. Internet blogs in particular have become the staging ground for conspiracy theories that challenge the link between HIV and AIDS, the benefits of vaccinations, or the reality of climate change. A recent study involving visitors to climate blogs found that conspiracist ideation was associated with the rejection of climate science and other …
A blind expert test of contrarian claims about climate data
Although virtually all experts agree that CO2 emissions are causing anthropogenic global warming, public discourse is replete with contrarian claims that either deny that global warming is happening or dispute a human influence. Although the rejection of climate science is known to be driven by ideological, psychological, and political factors rather than scientific disagreement, contrarian views have considerable prominence in the media. A bette…
What limits working memory capacity
We review the evidence for the 3 principal theoretical contenders that vie to explain why and how working memory (WM) capacity is limited. We examine the possibility that capacity limitations arise from temporal decay; we examine whether they might reflect a limitation in cognitive resources; and we ask whether capacity might be limited because of mutual interference of representations in WM. We evaluate each hypothesis against a common set of fi…
Working Memory and Intelligence--Their Correlation and Their Relation
On the basis of a meta-analysis of pairwise correlations between working memory tasks and cognitive ability measures, P. L. Ackerman, M. E. Beier, and M. O. Boyle (2005; see record 2004-22408-002) claimed that working memory capacity (WMC) shares less than 25% of its variance with general intelligence (g) and with reasoning ability. In this comment, the authors argue that this is an underestimation because of several methodological shortcomings a…
Benchmarks for models of short-term and working memory
Any mature field of research in psychology-such as short-term/working memory-is characterized by a wealth of empirical findings. It is currently unrealistic to expect a theory to explain them all; theorists must satisfice with explaining a subset of findings. The aim of the present article is to make the choice of that subset less arbitrary and idiosyncratic than is current practice. We propose criteria for identifying benchmark findings that eve…
Working memory capacity in a go/no-go task
We tested the limits of working-memory capacity (WMC) of young adults, old adults, and children with a memory-updating task. The task consisted of mentally shifting spatial positions within a grid according to arrows, their color signaling either only go (control) or go/no-go conditions. The interference model (IM) of Oberauer and Kliegl (2006) was simultaneously fitted to the data of all groups. In addition to the 3 main model parameters (featur…
Working Memory and Intelligence--Their Correlation and Their Relation
On the basis of a meta-analysis of pairwise correlations between working memory tasks and cognitive ability measures, P. L. Ackerman, M. E. Beier, and M. O. Boyle (2005; see record 2004-22408-002) claimed that working memory capacity (WMC) shares less than 25% of its variance with general intelligence (g) and with reasoning ability. In this comment, the authors argue that this is an underestimation because of several methodological shortcomings a…
Chapter 2 Design for a Working Memory
Starting from the premise that working memory is a system for providing access to representations for complex cognition, six requirements for a working memory system are delineated: (1) maintaining structural representations by dynamic bindings, (2) manipulating structural representations, (3) flexible reconfiguration, (4) partial decoupling from long-term memory, (5) controlled retrieval from long-term memory, and (6) encoding of new structures …
Misinformation, disinformation, and violent conflict
What is working memory capacity, and how can we measure it?
A latent variable study examined whether different classes of working-memory tasks measure the same general construct of working-memory capacity (WMC). Data from 270 subjects were used to examine the relationship between Binding, Updating, Recall-N-back, and Complex Span tasks, and the relations of WMC with secondary memory measures, indicators of cognitive control from two response-conflict paradigms (Simon task and Eriksen flanker task), and fl…
Nasa Faked the Moon Landing—Therefore, (Climate) Science Is a Hoax
Although nearly all domain experts agree that carbon dioxide emissions are altering the world's climate, segments of the public remain unconvinced by the scientific evidence. Internet blogs have become a platform for denial of climate change, and bloggers have taken a prominent role in questioning climate science. We report a survey of climate-blog visitors to identify the variables underlying acceptance and rejection of climate science. Our find…
Working memory capacity in a go/no-go task
We tested the limits of working-memory capacity (WMC) of young adults, old adults, and children with a memory-updating task. The task consisted of mentally shifting spatial positions within a grid according to arrows, their color signaling either only go (control) or go/no-go conditions. The interference model (IM) of Oberauer and Kliegl (2006) was simultaneously fitted to the data of all groups. In addition to the 3 main model parameters (featur…
Recurrent fury
A growing body of evidence has implicated conspiracist ideation in the rejection of scientific propositions. Internet blogs in particular have become the staging ground for conspiracy theories that challenge the link between HIV and AIDS, the benefits of vaccinations, or the reality of climate change. A recent study involving visitors to climate blogs found that conspiracist ideation was associated with the rejection of climate science and other …
In search of the focus of attention in working memory
The concept of attention has a prominent place in cognitive psychology. Attention can be directed not only to perceptual information, but also to information in working memory (WM). Evidence for an internal focus of attention has come from the retro-cue effect: Performance in tests of visual WM is improved when attention is guided to the test-relevant contents of WM ahead of testing them. The retro-cue paradigm has served as a test bed to empiric…
Motivated Rejection of Science
Some scientifically well-established results—such as the fact that emission of greenhouse gases produces global warming—are rejected by sizable proportions of the population in the United States and other countries. Rejection of scientific findings is mostly driven by motivated cognition: People tend to reject findings that threaten their core beliefs or worldview. At present, rejection of scientific findings by the U.S. public is more prevalent …
A blind expert test of contrarian claims about climate data
Although virtually all experts agree that CO2 emissions are causing anthropogenic global warming, public discourse is replete with contrarian claims that either deny that global warming is happening or dispute a human influence. Although the rejection of climate science is known to be driven by ideological, psychological, and political factors rather than scientific disagreement, contrarian views have considerable prominence in the media. A bette…
What limits working memory capacity
We review the evidence for the 3 principal theoretical contenders that vie to explain why and how working memory (WM) capacity is limited. We examine the possibility that capacity limitations arise from temporal decay; we examine whether they might reflect a limitation in cognitive resources; and we ask whether capacity might be limited because of mutual interference of representations in WM. We evaluate each hypothesis against a common set of fi…
Benchmarks provide common ground for model development
We respond to the comments of Logie and Vandierendonck to our article proposing benchmark findings for evaluating theories and models of short-term and working memory. The response focuses on the two main points of criticism: (a) Logie and Vandierendonck argue that the scope of the set of benchmarks is too narrow. We explain why findings on how working memory is used in complex cognition, findings on executive functions, and findings from neurops…
Benchmarks for models of short-term and working memory
Any mature field of research in psychology-such as short-term/working memory-is characterized by a wealth of empirical findings. It is currently unrealistic to expect a theory to explain them all; theorists must satisfice with explaining a subset of findings. The aim of the present article is to make the choice of that subset less arbitrary and idiosyncratic than is current practice. We propose criteria for identifying benchmark findings that eve…
Addressing the theory crisis in psychology
Working Memory and Attention – A Conceptual Analysis and Review
There is broad agreement that working memory is closely related to attention. This article delineates several theoretical options for conceptualizing this link, and evaluates their viability in light of their theoretical implications and the empirical support they received. A first divide exists between the concept of attention as a limited resource, and the concept of attention as selective information processing. Theories conceptualizing attent…
Is long-term memory used in a visuo-spatial change-detection paradigm
In tests of working memory with verbal or spatial materials, repeating the same memory sets across trials leads to improved memory performance. This well-established “Hebb repetition effect” could not be shown for visual materials in previous research. The absence of the Hebb effect can be explained in two ways: Either persons fail to acquire a long-term memory representation of the repeated memory sets, or they acquire such long-term memory repr…
Intelligence test items varying in capacity demands cannot be used to test the causality of working memory capacity for fluid intelligence
There is a strong relationship between fluid intelligence and working memory capacity (WMC). Yet, the cognitive mechanisms underlying this relationship remain elusive. The capacity hypothesis states that this relationship is due to limitations in the amount of information that can be stored and held active in working memory. Previous research aimed at testing the capacity hypothesis assumed that it implies stronger relationships of intelligence t…
The effects of elaboration on working memory and long-term memory across age
Free time to attend to and process information in working memory is key in promoting immediate and delayed retention. One candidate process to cause this benefit is elaboration. We conducted three experiments with young adults – two of which included older adults – to investigate whether free time is used for elaboration, and whether elaboration causes the free-time benefit. Participants remembered lists of nouns, interleaved with short or long f…
Validity of attention self-reports in younger and older adults
Human attention is subject to fluctuations. Mind-wandering (MW) - attending to thoughts unrelated to the current task demands - is considered a ubiquitous experience. According to the Control Failure x Concerns view (McVay & Kane, 2010), MW is curbed by executive control, and task-irrelevant thoughts enter consciousness due to attentional control lapses. The generation of off-task thoughts is assumed to increase with higher number of personal con…
Worldview-motivated rejection of science and the norms of science
Why does the probe value effect emerge in working memory? Examining the biased attentional refreshing account
People are able to prioritize more valuable information in working memory. The current study examined whether this value effect is due to the items of greater value being refreshed more than lower-value items during maintenance. To assess this possibility, we combined a probe value manipulation with a guided-refreshing procedure. Arrays of colored shapes were presented, and after a brief delay, participants reported the color of one randomly prob…
The semantic relatedness effect in serial recall
The ability to store information in verbal working memory (WM) closely interacts with our linguistic knowledge. For instance, we can hold semantically related words (e.g., “cat, dog, bird”) better in our WM than unrelated ones (e.g., “desk, pillow, mouse”). This study investigates boundary conditions of the beneficial effect of semantic relatedness of words on immediate memory for lists. Independently varying the encoding and recall order for lis…
An interference model for visual working memory
Verbal working memory encodes phonological and semantic information differently
Working memory (WM) is often tested through immediate serial recall of word lists. Performance in such tasks is negatively influenced by phonological similarity: People more often get the order of words wrong when they are phonologically similar to each other (e.g., cat, fat, mat). This phonological-similarity effect shows that phonology plays an important role for the representation of serial order in these tasks. By contrast, semantic similarit…
The contribution of episodic long-term memory to working memory for bindings
The present experiments support two conclusions about the capacity limit of working memory (WM). First, they provide evidence for the Binding Hypothesis, WM capacity is limited by interference between bindings but not items. Second, they show that episodic LTM contributes substantially to binding memory when the capacity of WM is stretched to the limit by larger set sizes. We tested immediate memory for sets of word-picture pairs. With increasing…
Psychology (30 obras) · Cognition (29 obras) · Cognitive psychology (25 obras) · Working memory (24 obras) · Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies (23 obras) · Computer Science (19 obras) · Neuroscience (15 obras) · Memory Processes and Influences (12 obras) · Short-term memory (9 obras) · Cognitive Abilities and Testing (8 obras)