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Representation of the visual and spatial properties of our environment is a pivotal requirement of everyday cognition. We can mentally represent the visual form of objects. We can extract information from several of the senses as to the location of objects in relation to ourselves and to other objects nearby. For some of those objects we can reach out and manipulate them. We can also imagine ourselves manipulating objects in advance of doing so, or even when it would be impossible to do so physically. The problem posed to science is how these cognitive operations are accomplished, and proffered accounts lie in two essentially parallel research endeavours, working memory and imagery. Working memory is thought to pervade everyday cognition, to provide on-line processing and temporary storage, and to update, moment to moment, our representation of the current state of our environment and our interactions with that environment. There is now a strong case for the claims of working memory in the area of phonological and articulatory functions, all of which appear to contribute to everyday activities such as counting, arithmetic, vocabulary acquisition, and some aspects of reading and language comprehension. The claims for visual and spatial working memory functions are less convincing. Most notable has been the assumption that visual and spatial working memory are intimately involved in the generation, retention and manipulations of visual images. There has until recently been little hard evidence to justify that assumption, and the research on visual and spatial working memory has focused on a relatively restricted range of imagery tasks and phenomena. In a more or less independent development, the literature on visual imagery has now amassed a voluminous corpus of data and theory about a wide range of imagery phenomena. Despite this, few books on imagery refer to the concept of working memory in any detail, or specify the nature of the working memory system that might be involved in mental imagery. This essay follows a line of reconciliation and positive critiquing in exploring the possible overlap between mental imagery and working memory. Theoretical development in the book draws on data from both cognitive psychology and cognitive neuropsychology. The aim is to stimulate debate, to address directly a number of assumptions that hitherto have been implicit, and to assess the contribution of the concept of working memory to our understanding of these intriguing core aspects of human cognition.
In this book Cornoldi and Vecchi describe a coherent experimental approach to the investigation of visuo-spatial cognition, based upon the analysis of individual differences.
Spatial working memory is the ability to remember the location in which something is perceived, and in addition, the ability to recall a series of visited locations. In this book, top researchers in the domain of spatial working memory review and discuss findings about the processes and memory structures which underlie the ability to store and use spatial information. The first part of the book provides an examination of the working memory system, looking at the behavioural and neural processes involved in working with (visuo-) spatial information and how these can constrain the hypotheses that are generated. It also addresses methodological questions, for example looking at how the use of the appropriate method can ensure that the observed data are as informative as possible about the underlying structures. The remaining chapters focus on specific problems to do with spatial working memory such as how the working memory system can handle individual differences in representing spatial interactions, how the visuospatial system can support and interact with the environment and the verbal system, and how understanding these systems can shed light on the development of particular skills in children with developmental disorders. With contributions from leading international figures in the field, this book is the first to address the topic of spatial working memory from a range of theoretical and methodological perspectives. As such, it will serve as an indispensible tool for students and researchers interested in working memory.
Representation of the visual and spatial properties of our environment is a pivotal requirement of everyday cognition. We can mentally represent the visual form of objects. We can extract information from several of the senses as to the location of objects in relation to ourselves and to other objects nearby. For some of those objects we can reach out and manipulate them. We can also imagine ourselves manipulating objects in advance of doing so, or even when it would be impossible to do so physically. The problem posed to science is how these cognitive operations are accomplished, and proffered accounts lie in two essentially parallel research endeavours, working memory and imagery. Working memory is thought to pervade everyday cognition, to provide on-line processing and temporary storage, and to update, moment to moment, our representation of the current state of our environment and our interactions with that environment. There is now a strong case for the claims of working memory in the area of phonological and articulatory functions, all of which appear to contribute to everyday activities such as counting, arithmetic, vocabulary acquisition, and some aspects of reading and language comprehension. The claims for visual and spatial working memory functions are less convincing. Most notable has been the assumption that visual and spatial working memory are intimately involved in the generation, retention and manipulations of visual images. There has until recently been little hard evidence to justify that assumption, and the research on visual and spatial working memory has focused on a relatively restricted range of imagery tasks and phenomena. In a more or less independent development, the literature on visual imagery has now amassed a voluminous corpus of data and theory about a wide range of imagery phenomena. Despite this, few books on imagery refer to the concept of working memory in any detail, or specify the nature of the working memory system that might be involved in mental imagery. This essay follows a line of reconciliation and positive critiquing in exploring the possible overlap between mental imagery and working memory. Theoretical development in the book draws on data from both cognitive psychology and cognitive neuropsychology. The aim is to stimulate debate, to address directly a number of assumptions that hitherto have been implicit, and to assess the contribution of the concept of working memory to our understanding of these intriguing core aspects of human cognition.
This volume covers a broad range of current research topics addressing the function of visuospatial attention and working memory. It discusses a variety of perspectives ranging from evolutionary and genetic underpinnings to neural substrates/computational processes and the connection between attention and working memory. Contributions address the topic at the molecular, system and evolutionary scales and will be of interest to a range of audiences from animal behaviour specialists, experimental psychologists to clinicians in the field of psychiatry and neurology.
Publisher Description
The chapters in Human Spatial Memory: Remembering Where present a fascinating picture of an everyday aspect of mental life that is as intriguing to people outside of academia as it is to scientists studying human cognition and behavior. The questions are as old as the study of mind itself: How do we remember where objects are located? How do we remember where we are in relation to other places? What is the origin and developmental course of spatial memory? What neural structures are involved in remembering where? How do we come to understand scaled-down versions of places as symbolic representations of actual places? Although the questions are old, some of the answers-in-progress are new, thanks to some innovative theorizing, solid experimental work, and revealing applications of new technologies, such as virtual environments and brain imaging techniques. This volume includes a variety of theoretical, empirical, and methodological advances that invite readers to make their own novel connections between theory and research. Scholars who study spatial cognition can benefit from examining the latest from well-established experts, as well as milestone contributions from early-career researchers. This combination provides the reader with a sense of past, present, and future in terms of spatial memory research. Just as important, however, is the value of the volume as a touchstone resource for researchers who study perception, memory, or cognition but who are not concerned primarily with the spatial domain. All readers may find the fact that this volume violates the trend toward an ever-narrowing specialization refreshing. Chapters from cognitive psychologists are alongside chapters by developmentalists and neuroscientists; results from field studies are just pages away from those based on fMRI during observation of virtual displays. Thus, the book invites integrative examination across disciplines, research areas, and methodological approaches.
Memory is one of the earliest cognitive functions to show decline during aging and some neurodegenerative diseases and this decline has a social and economic impact on individuals, families, the health care system, and society as a whole. This book examines spatial, long-and short term memory loss. The aim of the first chapter is to discuss and detail several well-established spacial-memory behavioral tests, focusing specially on the MWM, describing the principal advantages or disadvantages of these memory tasks. Chapter two examines the importance of the AMPAr and its specific subunits in LTP processes as well as the formation and utilisation of spatial memory representations. Chapter three studies grizzly bears and examines their spatial and visual memory. Chapter four introduces a study to show that difficulty encoding relational information between spatial locations presented in random positions simultaneously is responsible for impaired visuospatial working memory. Chapter five describes short and long term memory functions in children with idiopathic epilepsy and assesses a novel cognitive behavioral group intervention aiming to improve memory deficits in this population whose deficits are specified and their background capacities are preserved. Chapter six studies the emergence of self-reference effect in episodic memory during early childhood. Chapter seven analyses an optical memory model of the human brain. Chapter eight studies an fNIRS study on adaptive memory. The final chapter identifies the synaptic and structural mechanisms that drive plasticity, as well as describes the purported processes responsible for short- and long-term memory.
The relationships between perception and imagery, imagery and spatial processes, memory and action: These are the main themes of this text The interest of experimental psychology and cognitive neuroscience on imagery and spatial cognition is remarkably increased in the last decades. Different areas of research contribute to the clarification of the multiple cognitive processes subserving spatial perception and exploration, and to the definition of the neurophysiological mechanisms underpinning these cognitive functions. The aim of this book is to provide the reader (post-graduate students as well as experts) with a complete overview of this field of research. It illustrates the way how brain, behaviour and cognition interact in normal and pathological subjects in perceiving, representing and exploring space. (Series B).
Advanced test of non-verbal reasoning ability, ie. a measure of eductive ability or fluid intelligence which is relatively independent of specific learning acquired in a particular cultural or educational context. Test is used as a means of assessing all the anlytical and integral operations involed in the higher thought processes and differentiaties clearly between people of even superior intellectual ability.