Working memory, which allows one to juggle multiple tasks at the same time, may have its limits, according to a new study published in the journal eLife.
A learning process involving `chunking` or grouping related pieces of information, rather than capacity, is the real driver of working memory, according to co-author of the study, Aneri Soni, a graduate student at Brown University, US.
The capacity of one`s working memory — how many tasks can be performed simultaneously — is considered to be limited. However, there are competing theories as to why or how this might be true, the researchers said.
In this study, the team ran trials of everyday human tasks on a computer model of the basal ganglia and the thalamus — brain regions relevant to the functioning of working memory. The model was shown multiple coloured blocks oriented in different directions and asked to recall which colored block was pointing in which direction. Over multiple trials, the model learned how to strategically compress information and began chunking together similar colors, such as blue and light blue.
However, trials on the model without the ability to chunk, but with plenty of space to store items, showed that it was worse at both storing and retrieving the items, the authors said.
The model did not seem to realise it had access to such a large amount of storage, they added.
The researchers found that a model that knew how to “chunk,” or group related pieces of information, was able to strategically store information to its full storage capacity.
“The simulations we ran show that if we held more than just a few items at a time, it becomes too difficult to learn how to manage so many pieces of information at once, such that the brain gets confused and can`t use the information it does store,¿ Soni said.
Further, critical to learning is the brain chemical `dopamine`, which plays a role in producing motivation to learn and in consolidating newly learned information as memory.
The findings could, therefore, help in understanding how learning is affected in disorders such as Parkinson`s disease, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and schizophrenia, where dopamine production and regulation are known to be impaired.
In one of the experiments in this study, Soni altered a model to mimic what is known about dopamine levels in patients with Parkinson`s disease, schizophrenia, and ADHD. When the model was challenged to perform the same commonly performed human tasks, the results showed that without a healthy dopamine system, the model could not learn how to use its storage space as efficiently and did not chunk items as often.
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