title: Remembering to prepare: The benefits (and costs) of high working memory capacity.
abstract: The dual mechanisms of control framework postulates that cognitive control can operate in 2 distinct modes: a "proactive" preparatory mode and a "reactive" wait-and-see mode. Importantly, the 2 modes are associated with both costs and benefits in cognitive performance. Here we explore this framework, in terms of its relationship with working memory capacity (WMC). We hypothesize that high-WMC individuals are more likely to utilize proactive control yielding not only benefits, but also specific costs to performance. Across 2 separate, large-sample experiments, healthy young adults performed different variants of the AX-Continuous Performance Test context processing task, a well-established probe of proactive and reactive cognitive control. In 2 experiments, WMC predicted both improvements and relative impairments in task performance in a manner that was consistent with usage of proactive control. These findings suggest that individuals differ in the degree to which they utilize proactive control based on WMC.
authors: Department of Psychology, Temple University.
authors: Lauren L
authors: LL
authors: Richmond
authors: Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University.
authors: Thomas S
authors: TS
authors: Redick
authors: Department of Psychology, Washington University.
authors: Todd S
authors: TS
authors: Braver
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003463:Cues; D056344:Executive Function; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D033182:Intention; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011930:Reaction Time; D012044:Regression Analysis; D017603:Signal Detection, Psychological; D055815:Young Adult