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Rocket123
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Joined: 15 Dec 2012
Age: 61
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20 May 2015, 10:24 pm

btbnnyr wrote:
On working memory, the behavioral results are mixed, with some studies showing deficits in working memory and some showing no group differences between autism vs. normal. Discrepancies are probably due to small samples (<10 participants in each group in some studies) and sampling variation. The most consistent result so far is that regardless of performance, fMRI suggests less prefrontal activation on working memory tasks in autism, more posterior (visual areas) activation. In our lab, I am doing working memory project with collaborator (participants are normal people), but one thing I accidentally discovered while testing my task was my huge working memory that was visually operated. We used a n-back task in which you have to remember a certain number of numbers and match the current one with the one n-back, where n = 2, 3, 4, etc, as task difficulty increases. You have to keep updating new numbers and dropping old numbers as they become irrelevant and also keep the numbers in their correct slots. I found that my performance at 16-back was still better than other people's at 3-back, which they found difficult and I found absolutely trivial, easier than breathing. I told my professor that in order to do well on n-back at high n, you should use visual instead of verbal strategy. At first, he didn't believe me, but then he tried my visual strategy, and his performance suddenly improved a lot.

btbnnyr – Thanks for the reply. The n-back test is interesting. I found one at http://cognitivefun.net/test/4, but it uses pictures instead of numbers. Just curious, is there a difference between using numbers or pictures in tests such as these? I know, for me, I am really good with numbers (but not so good with pictures). Though, I am not altogether certain why.

btbnnyr wrote:
Another thing about working memory task is that it generally drops sharply around middle age (~50).

Drats. Well, that explains a lot. LOL.

btbnnyr wrote:
My current working memory is considered verbal (but can be solved visually instead), and I am working on a spatial working memory task from hell. Spatial tasks can ackshuly be verbally mediated instead.

Just curious – are you familiar with the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS)?