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20 Facts You Must Know About Working Memory
Its important to understand the characteristics of working
memory when
youre designing nearly anything that requires mental effort.
Without adapting learning
experiences to the learners cognitive architecture,
instructional design is hit or miss.
Current research in this area is demonstrating that working
memory (a theoretical structure) is
a dynamic and flexible entity.
The Basics
1. Working memory used to be called short-term memory. It was
redefined to focus
on its functionality rather than its duration.
2. Working memory can be thought of as the equivalent of being
mentally online. It
refers to the temporary workspace where we manipulate and
process information.
3. No one physical location in the brain appears to be
responsible for creating the
capacity of working memory. But several parts of the brain seem
to contribute to this
cognitive structure.
Capacity4. Working memory is characterized by a small capacity.
It can hold around four
elements ofnewinformation at one time.
5. Because learning experiences typically involve new
information, the capacity of
working memory makes it difficult to assimilate more than around
four bits of information
simultaneously.
6. The capacity of working memory depends on the category of the
elements or
chunks as well as their features. For example, we can hold more
digits in working
memory than letters and more short words than long words.7. The
limitations on working memory disappear when working with
information
from long-term memory (permanent storage) because that
information is organized into
schemata. Schemata are higher order structures made up of
multiple elements that help
to reduce the overload on working memory.
Duration
8. Novel information in working memory is temporary. It is
either encoded into long-
term memory or it decays or is replaced.
9. Unless it is actively attended to or rehearsed, information
in working memory
has a short duration of around 20 seconds.
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10. Similar to the capacity issue, it takes mental effort to
hold information in working
memory for an extended time and can also be a cause of cognitive
overwhelm.
Interactions with Long-term Memory
11. There is a continuous transfer of of information between
long-term memory and
working memoryboth retrieval and transfer.
12. Information is retrievedfrom long-term memory into working
memory in order to
make sense out of new information.
13. Information that we attend to and integrate into our
knowledge structures
is transferredorencodedinto long-term memory.
Individual Differences
14. Current research demonstrates that individual differences in
working memory
capacity may account for differences in performance of
information processing tasks, like
reading and note-taking.
15. In studies with children, those who have a poor ability to
store material over brief
periods of time (difficulties with working memory) fail to
progress normally in tasks
related to literacy.
16. An individuals developmental age and level of expertise
probably account for
differences in working memory. For example, facilitating
learning can be helpful for
novices but detrimental to experts. See Novice Versus Expert
Design Strategies.
Cognitive Load
17. Cognitive load refers to the demands placed on working
memory in terms ofstorage and information processing.
18. Intrinsic load is caused by the nature of the learning task
and extraneous load
refers to the demands caused by the format of the
instruction.
19. Cognitive load theory states that traditional instructional
techniques can overload
working memory because they dont account for intrinsic and
extraneous load.
Instructional designers can facilitate learning by considering
and accommodating
different loads.
20. Germane load refers to the demands placed on working memory
when learners
are engaged in conscious cognitive processing to construct
schemata while acquiring
new knowledge. Increasing the germane load can most likely
assist the learning process.
References:
Patricia L. Smith and Tillman J Ragan. Instructional Design,
Wiley, 2004.
Tamara van Gog et. al., Instructional Design for Advanced
Learners. ETR&D, Vol. 53, No. 3,
2005, pp. 7381.
Wolfgang Schnotz and Christian Ku?rschner.A Reconsideration of
Cognitive Load Theory.
Educ Psychol Rev (2007) 19:469508
http://theelearningcoach.com/elearning_design/novice-versus-expert-design-strategies/http://theelearningcoach.com/recs/smith-tillman.htmlhttp://theelearningcoach.com/recs/smith-tillman.htmlhttp://theelearningcoach.com/elearning_design/novice-versus-expert-design-strategies/
