The interface between priming memory and the working memory
- Published
- Accepted
- Subject Areas
- Neuroscience, Psychiatry and Psychology, Computational Science
- Keywords
- Priming Memory, Working Memory, Memory Interface, Delay Memory, Rehearsal, Refresh, Active Maintenance, Functional Cluster, Chunk, Similarity Selection
- Copyright
- © 2013 Smith
- Licence
- This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
- Cite this article
- 2013. The interface between priming memory and the working memory. PeerJ PrePrints 1:e41v1 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.41v1
Abstract
There is an interface between priming memory and working memory that acts to limit the amount of data in working memory, and also allows priming memory to be actively maintained so that memories stay intact while they are in working memory. This interface converts from functional clusters to chunks automatically as part of the transfer from priming to working memory. As a result, memories in working memory can be rehearsed in order to actively maintain them. This represents more than a change in state, it represents a radical change in the way memories are accessed. Priming memory without this stage can only be extended it cannot be refreshed and so there is a limit of about 3 seconds to how long it will last before it begins to degrade. With priming, an actively maintained and refreshed signal can last almost indefinitely.