Latest Issue of the MindBrainEd Think Tank + (ISSN 2434-1002) 3 MindBrained Bulletin Think Tank Work Mem Mar 1 2 | Page 12

Working memory capacity refers to our ability to keep information either in mind or quickly retrievable, particularly in the presence of distraction. General fluid intelligence is the ability to infer relationships, do complex reasoning, and solve novel problems… So to recap, the APS study reported that, contrary to a hundred years beleiving working memory capacity cannot be increased, the APS study found that it can be. That is good news. And if you do a simple Google search, you will find other recent studies making this claim as well. So, since working memory capacity can be increased, that must mean fluid intelligence can also be increased, right? After all, they are “highly correlated.” But, also according to the APS study, not so. They found improvement in working memory had no effect on fluid intelligence. Wait a minute. What is going on here? Some experts say working memory capacity cannot be increased. Some say it can. Some say working memory includes the manipulation of what is held in mind, some say it is just a different term for short- term memory, and some say the notion is interchangeable with fluid intelligence. Working memory capacity is highly correlated with fluid intelligence, but enhancing the former does not improve the latter. No wonder Mike frowned. So, I’m confused. Are you confused too? I figure a large part of the problem comes from our inability to agree on what these concepts are. (In her piece, Caroline raises a similar question.) So I wonder. These terms have been around for a long time. So why the drift? And here is where I jump out of this discussion and into another. When talking about memory, intelligence and other kinds of processing, there is another perspective we must consider, one I was unaware of a couple years ago but can’t stop seeing now. It hovers over me like a ghost. This perspective was hammered into me by Spencer Robinson, a brilliant neuroscientist living in Japan. The hammering consisted of only seven words: “So Curtis, show me where they are!” It was another winter, not long ago. Adam Jenkins, another brain nerd, and I went up to Fukui to spend a few days with Spencer, the only real native speaker neuroscientist we had access to. We had some great discussions, but it was the following one that changed my whole way of thinking. We were eating lunch and I was going on about the role of emotion in causing information to go from short-term memory to long-term memory. Spencer gave me this serious look and said, “What do you mean by short-term and long-term memory?” An odd question I thought, and so I began to expel the standard definitions. He quickly interrupted, “Short-term, long-term memory; what are they?” I fell silent. “What do you mean?” I asked, suddenly realizing something momentous was in the works. He said, “So Curtis, show me where they are! Open a brain and show me exactly where short-term and long-term memory are.” I understood immediately. 11