Working memory: Parallel processing or switching in dual task coordination

Abstract

A dual task experiment with a cohort of 24 participants was conducted to investigate the issue of whether working memory is unitary or non-unitary, by examining the relationship between storage and processing. The dual task consisted of a storage task (digit recall) and a processing task (sentence verification) presented concurrently at low and high cognitive load. Both tasks were measured during the dual task and also separately after titration. It was found that dual task scores were significantly lower than single task scores. In addition, dual task scores at high cognitive load were significantly lower than dual task scores at low cognitive load. This provided support for the time-based resource-sharing model (TBRS, Barrouillet, Bernardin, and Camos, 2004). However, concluding thoughts are that although the current study provides supporting evidence for the TBRS model, further research needs to be undertaken to account for methodological weaknesses and to investigate the possibility that working memory theories may actually be complimentary.