The diversity of strategies used in working memory for colors, orientations, and positions : a quantitative approach to a first-person inquiry

Slana Ozimič, Anka (author), Oblak, Aleš (author), Kordeš, Urban (author), Purg, Nina (author), Bon, Jurij (author), Repovš, Grega (author)

The study of individual experience during the performance of a psychological task using a phenomenological approach is a relatively new area of research. The aim of this paper was to combine first- and third-person approaches to investigate whether the strategies individuals use during a working memory task are associated with specific task conditions, whether the strategies combine to form stable patterns, and whether the use of specific strategies is related to task accuracy. Thirty-one participants took part in an experiment in which they were instructed to remember colors, orientations, or positions of stimuli presented in a change detection task. After every 7th–15th trial, participants took part in an in-depth phenomenological interview in which they described their experiences during the trial that immediately preceded the interview. Qualitative analysis revealed a set of 18 strategies that participants used while performing the task, which we divided into active and passive strategies of encoding, maintenance, and retrieval. Quantitative analysis revealed that while many strategies were used in all task conditions, some strategies and their combinations may be better suited to the specific task demands, while others are more general in nature. The results also suggest a distinction between strategies for encoding object identity and spatial features. Finally, our results did not provide robust evidence for a relationship between specific strategies and task accuracy.

• Language: English
• Keywords: working memory, strategies, interpretative phenomenological analysis, visuospatial memory, visuospatial working memory, phenomenology, encoding, maintenance, retrieval
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts; PEF - Faculty of Education; MF - Faculty of Medicine
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2023
• Number of pages: 26 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 47, iss. 8, art. e13333
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-152629
• UDC: 159.953.2
• ISSN on article: 1551-6709
• DOI: 10.1111/cogs.13333
• COBISS.SI-ID: 139265283
• Publication date in RUL: 01.12.2023

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Cognitive science
• Shortened title: Cogn. sci.
• Publisher: Wiley, Cognitive Science Society
• ISSN: 1551-6709
• COBISS.SI-ID: 517685017

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: delovni spomin, strategije, interpretativna fenomenološka analiza, vidno-prostorski spomin