Using More Ecological Paradigms to Investigate Working Memory: Strengths, Limitations and Recommendations

Lison Fanuel (1) , Gaën Plancher (1) , Pascale Piolino (2)

1 UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2
2 MC2Lab (URP_7536) - Laboratoire Mémoire, Cerveau et Cognition

Working memory (WM) is essential to daily-life activities as it allows maintaining information in the short-term while processing concurrent information (Baddeley and Hitch, 1974). For example, one must maintain which ingredient is already in the plate while following a recipe. WM is a complex cognitive function involving multiple processes (e.g., encoding, maintenance, retrieval processes). The present paper focuses on the utility of virtual reality (VR) in investigating maintenance in WM, but the relevance of VR studies also applies to other WM-related mechanisms.

Keywords: memory working memory virtual reality naturalistic events ecological environment; memory; working memory; virtual reality; naturalistic events; ecological environment

Domains: Humanities and Social Sciences; Psychology; Cognitive science

Lison Fanuel, Gaën Plancher, Pascale Piolino. Using More Ecological Paradigms to Investigate Working Memory: Strengths, Limitations and Recommendations. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2020, 14, ⟨10.3389/fnhum.2020.00148⟩. ⟨hal-04025157⟩