To account for the large demands on working memory during text comprehension and expert performance, the traditional models of working memory involving temporary storage must be extended to include working memory based on storage in long-term memory. In the proposed theoretical framework cognitive processes are viewed as a sequence of stable states representing end products of processing. In skilled activities, acquired memory skills allow these end products to be stored in long-term memory and kept directly accessible by means of retrieval cues in short-term memory, as proposed by skilled memory theory. These theoretical claims are supported by a review of evidence on memory in text comprehension and expert performance in such domains as mental calculation, medical diagnosis, and chess.

Long-term working memory

This paper concerns how motor actions are neurally represented and coded. Action planning and motor preparation can be studied using a specific type of representational activity, motor imagery. A close functional equivalence between motor imagery and motor preparation is suggested by the positive effects of imagining movements on motor learning, the similarity between the neural structures involved, and the similar physiological correlates observed in both imaging and preparing. The content of motor representations can be inferred from motor images at a macroscopic level, based on global aspects of the action (the duration and amount of effort involved) and the motor rules and constraints which predict the spatial path and kinematics of movements. A more microscopic neural account calls for a representation of object-oriented action. Object attributes are processed in different neural pathways depending on the kind of task the subject is performing. During object-oriented action, a pragmatic representation is activated in which object affordances are transformed into specific motor schemas (independently of other tasks such as object recognition). Animal as well as human clinical data implicate the posterior parietal and premotor cortical areas in schema instantiation. A mechanism is proposed that is able to encode the desired goal of the action and is applicable to different levels of representational organization.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0140525X00034026

The representing brain: Neural correlates of motor intention and imagery

Global competition, new production techniques, and rapid technological change have placed a premium on creativity and innovation. Although many variables influence creativity and innovation in organizational settings, there is reason to suspect that leaders and their behavior represent a particularly powerful influence. In the present article, we review the available literature examining leadership behaviors contributing to creativity and innovation in organizational settings. Based on the findings obtained in these studies, we argue that the leadership of creative people requires expertise. Moreover, the successful leader must employ a number of direct and indirect influence tactics—tactics consistent with the needs of creative people working in an organizational environment. The implications of these observations for theory and practice are discussed.

Leading creative people: Orchestrating expertise and relationships

This paper presents a critique of contemporary research which uses the notion of a mental image as a theoretical construct to describe one form of memory representation. It is argued that an adequate characterization of ‘what we know’ requires that we posit abstract mental structures to which we do not have conscious access and which are essentially conceptual and propositional, rather than sensory or pictorial, in nature. Such representations are more accurately referred to as symbolic descriptions than as images in the usual sense. Implications of using an imagery vocabulary are examined, and it is argued that the picture metaphor underlying recent theoretical discussions is seriously misleading — especially as it suggests that the image is an entity to be perceived. The relative merits of several alternative modes of representation (propositions, data structures, and procedures) are discussed. The final section is a more speculative discussion of the nature of the representation which may be involved when people ‘use’ visual images.

What the Mind’s Eye Tells the Mind’s Brain: A Critique of Mental Imagery

In 4 experiments, participants alternated between different tasks or performed the same task repeatedly. The tasks for 2 of the experiments required responding to geometric objects in terms of alternative classification rules, and the tasks for the other 2 experiments required solving arithmetic problems in terms of alternative numerical operations. Performance was measured as a function of whether the tasks were familiar or unfamiliar, the rules were simple or complex, and visual cues were present or absent about which tasks should be performed. Task alternation yielded switching-time costs that increased with rule complexity but decreased with task cuing. These factor effects were additive, supporting a model of executive control that has goal-shifting and rule-activation stages for task switching. It appears that rule activation takes more time for switching from familiar to unfamiliar tasks than for switching in the opposite direction.

/pdf/executive-control-of-cognitive-processes-in-task-switching-1k82y0gpz8.pdf

Executive control of cognitive processes in task switching.

Visual imagery for words: the Hebb test.

Three experiments were conducted dealing with letter processing in visual and speech imagery. The first two experiments indicated that speech imagery is more rapid than visual imagery (about six letters per second for speech vs about two letters per second for vision). Postexperimental scaling of subjective fatigue also revealed differences between imagery modalities, with visual imagery conditions consistently more fatiguing than speech conditions. The third experiment dealt with error rates in learning to classify letters on the basis of visual image properties or on the basis of arbitrary letter names. Results showed much more efficient performance for classification based on visual image properties. It was concluded that visual and speech imagery modes differ fundamentally in the manner in which they process information.

/pdf/the-time-it-takes-to-imagine1-6jmfhl9ytj.pdf

The time it takes to imagine1

The parameter remapping effect in human performance: Evidence from tongue twisters and finger fumblers☆

Introduction: The Unphilosopher's stone Part I: Setting the Stage: Robert Friedel: Perspiration in perspective: Changing perceptions of genius and expertise in American invention Part II: Classic Inventors: Ryan D. Tweney: Inventing the Field: Michael Faraday and the creative "engineering" of electromagnetic field theory W. Bernard Coulson & Michael E. Gorman: A cognitive framework to understand technological creativity: Bell, Edison, and the telephone Tom D. Crouch: Why Wilbur and Orville? Some thoughts on the Wright brothers and the process of invention Part III: Contemporary Inventors: James Hillier: Electron microscopy and microprobe analysis: Recalling the ambience of some inventions John J. Wild: The origin of soft tissue ultrasonic echoing and early instrumental application to clinical medicine James A. Teeri: The soil biotron: An underground research laboratory Robert H. Wentorf: The synthesis of diamonds Edward Rosinski: The origin and development of the first zeolite catalyst for petroleum cracking Paul W. Morgan: Discovery and invention in polymer chemistry William C. Campbell: The genesis of the antiparasitic drug Ivermectin Part IV: The Logic of Invention: Robert J. Weber: Stone Age knife to Swiss army knife: An invention prototype David N. Perkins: The topography of invention Jacob Helfman: The analytic inventive thinking model Part V: The Social Context of Inventions: David A. Hounshell: Invention in the Industrial Research Laboratory: Individual act or collective process? The case of the Pioneering Research Laboratory, Du Pont Fibers Department, 1928-1968 George Wise: Inventors and corporations in the maturing electrical industry Donald J. Quigg: Technology on the move Robert J. Weber & David N. Perkins: Effable invention Conclusion Biographical sketches Index.

Robert J. Weber

Papers

Visual imagery for words: the Hebb test.

The time it takes to imagine1

The parameter remapping effect in human performance: Evidence from tongue twisters and finger fumblers☆

Inventive minds : creativity in technology

Is visual image sequencing under verbal control