工作记忆的性质和工作机制

The Nature and Mechanism of Working Memory

对工作记忆概念的理解存在三种观点:结构观、功能观和内容观。持不同观点的研究者对工作记忆和工作机制有不同解释,资源-共享模式认为工作记忆的工作机制是认知空间分配;工作记忆容量的控制性注意观认为工作记忆是依赖于有限资源的注意控制过程;抑制观回避“容量”概念,强调工作记忆机制是克服干扰、排除任务无关信息的过程;任务转换假说认为工作记忆任务执行过程中存在记忆消退现象。这些观点从不同角度揭示了工作记忆的工作机制,既有重叠又有分歧。

Working memory is an important construct of cognitive psychology. Recently this concept has been understood by more and more researchers according to its function and content, rather than its structure like a ＂box＂ or ＂place＂ in traditional view. Meanwhile, there are some different views about working memory mechanism. Resource-sharing model has been suggested that the storage and processing activities compete for limited WM capacity. Controlled attention view of working memory capacity proposes that working memory is a limited resourcedependent attention control process. Inhibition perspective emphasizes that working memory is a process of excluding task-irrelevant information intereference. Task-switching hypothesis is a challenge to resource-sharing model. It suggests working memory is a memory decay process. These perspectives discuss the working mechanism of working memory for different and yet related concerns.