Differential information transfer and loss between working memory and long-term memory across serial positions.

Abstract

Working memory (WM) is the cognitive system that allows the temporary holding of mental representations for use in thought and action. Long-term memory (LTM) refers to our ability to remember a potentially unlimited amount of information over longer time periods. Understanding how these two memory systems interact has important implications for theories of cognition, learning, and education. Here, we examined (a) whether a shared perceptual bottleneck accounts for the relation between WM and LTM accuracy, and (b) whether serial position effects in WM are mirrored in LTM. In two experiments, participants studied sequences of objects at varying set sizes and completed old/new recognition tests for some items immediately after encoding (WM tests) and for other items after all WM trials were completed (LTM tests). In Experiment 1 (N = 80), LTM performance was better for items presented in lower rather than higher set size sequences, indicating that limitations in WM capacity constrain LTM encoding, irrespective of perceptual bottlenecks. In Experiment 2 (N = 120), we observed WM and LTM recency effects, but primacy effects were only present in LTM and not in WM. Thus, serial position effects in WM did not consistently predict the relative rates at which items from different serial positions were preserved in LTM. These results reinforce accounts that view WM and LTM as having at least partially separate mechanisms, shedding light on the nature of these mechanisms. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).