Elderly people
A comprehensive test battery which contains tests to measure all the components of working memory for elderly.
MAMUT – Hungarian Working Memory Test is a free computer application published in the form of a test package, which was published by the Bolyai János Research Grant in three phases between 2011 and 2014. MAMUT is a comprehensive tool, a test package, which is based on the components of the working memory model (Baddeley, 2001).
The tests and the standardization of the software is supported by the Corvinus University of Budapest Institute of Behavioural and Communication Sciences of Budapest Corvinus University, led by Dr. Gábor Kovács.
The Working Memory model of Baddeley and colleagues (Baddeley, 1986, 2000; Baddeley & Hitch, 1974) was developed with the aim of explaining the relevant behavioral findings in the memory literature while also taking into account important neuropsychological case study reports. In addition, whereas prior models of short-term memory tended to emphasize storage buffers as the receptacles for information arriving from the senses, Baddeley and Hitch (1974) focused on rehearsal processes, that is, strategic mechanisms for the maintenance of items in memory. Baddeley and Hitch (1974) attempted to account for a system that could simultaneously manipulate the current contents of memory and update information in working memory in the service of task goals. Such a system is especially important when one needs to maintain information over short periods in many complex cognitive activities such as reading, mental calculation, spatial reasoning, and so forth.
Whereas prior models of short-term memory tended to emphasize storage buffers as the receptacles for information arriving from the senses, Baddeley and Hitch (1974) focused on rehearsal processes, that is, strategic mechanisms for the maintenance of items in memory.
The Working Memory model, first proposed by Baddeley and Hitch (1974) and later refined (Baddeley, 1986, 2000; Salame & Baddeley, 1982), argued for the existence of three functional components of working memory. The “central executive” was envisioned as a control system of limited attentional capacity responsible for coordinating and controlling two subsidiary slave systems, a phonological loop and a visuospatial sketchpad. The phonological loop was responsible for the storage and maintenance of information in a verbal form, and the visuospatial sketchpad was dedicated to the storage and maintenance of visuospatial information. In the past decade, a fourth component, the “episodic buffer,” has been added to the model to capture a number of phenomena related to interactions between short-term and long-term memory that could not be readily explained within the original framework.
Whereas prior models of short-term memory tended to emphasize storage buffers as the receptacles for information arriving from the senses, Baddeley and Hitch (1974) focused on rehearsal processes, that is, strategic mechanisms for the maintenance of items in memory.
A fundamental debate about the neural basis of working memory for linguistic information is whether it is supported by a dedicated brain system in its own right or whether it emerges from the very same neural circuitry that underpins basic online language processing. Although the answer to this question remains a matter of debate, recent cognitive neuroscience research suggests that verbal working memory can be viewed as a functional adaptation of core neural substrates that enable the perception, comprehension, and production of speech.
Working memory refers to the temporary retention of information that has just arrived to the senses or has been retrieved from long-term memory. Although internal representations of external stimuli have a natural tendency to decay over time or with interference, they can be kept “in mind” through the action of memory rehearsal strategies and can be subjected to various operations that manipulate information in the service of ongoing behavior.
The Working Memory software test is freely available and contains various tests that can be used over and over again.
In the last 20 years, the concept of working memory as a system for the active maintenance and manipulation of information has been embraced by researchers studying the brain basis of memory and cognition, and the following sections trace the progress that has been made in uncovering the neural basis of just such a system. As a result of this effort to resituate working memory in the brain, the concept has not merely been dressed up in neural garb, but rather has been enriched and expanded in the process, and what has emerged is a better and more nuanced understanding of working memory.
GÁBOR KOVÁCS Ph.D – gabor.kovacs (at) uni-corvinus.hu
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