Graded Memory: A Cognitive Category to Replace Spatial Sustained Attention and Working Memory

Yale J Biol Med. 2019 Mar 25;92(1):121-125. eCollection 2019 Mar.

Abstract

In this opinion article we challenge the commonly-held notion that visuospatial working memory and visuospatial sustained selective attention are two ontologically different cognitive categories. We start by discussing the general idea of cognitive categories, and then review some of the key behavioral and neural evidence both in favor of and against the separability of these processes. We then discuss a theoretical framework that could be useful for understanding the neural implementations of cognitive categories. We conclude that the evidence is insufficient to support the assumption that spatial working memory and spatial sustained attention are independent categories, and that further experimentation is necessary to determine the ontological independence of the two processes.

Keywords: Graded memory; visuospatial sustained attention; visuospatial working memory.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Attention / physiology*
  • Behavior
  • Cognition / physiology*
  • Humans
  • Memory, Short-Term / physiology*
  • Nervous System / metabolism
  • Space Perception / physiology*