The DOI matches its Crossref record; 20 of the 20 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 28 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.
The Magical Mystery Four: How Is Working Memory Capacity Limited, and Why?
Open accessAbstract
Working memory storage capacity is important because cognitive tasks can be completed only with sufficient ability to hold information as it is processed. The ability to repeat information depends on task demands but can be distinguished from a more constant, underlying mechanism: a central memory store limited to 3 to 5 meaningful items for young adults. I discuss why this central limit is important, how it can be observed, how it differs among individuals, and why it may exist.
Overview
AI snapshot
Written from the paper’s full text.
TL;DR
Cowan argues that working memory has a central storage limit of about 3–5 meaningful items or chunks in young adults, observable when rehearsal, grouping, and sensory memory are controlled. The limit predicts thought and individual differences, but its underlying reasons remain unresolved.
Key findings
- A central working memory store is limited to about 3–5 chunks in young adults; in running span, only the last 3–5 digits can be recalled, and with rehearsal prevented individuals remembered only about 3 units whether items were singletons or learned pairs.
- In a dual-modality array task, people remembered about 4 squares when attending only to squares; when attending to both squares and spoken digits, they remembered fewer squares but about 4 items in all, but only when a mask wiped out sensory memory.
- Age differences appeared in storage: 7-year-olds stored about 1.5 items versus about 3.0 for older children or adults; the attention advantage for the attended shape was just as large in 7-year-olds as in adults when the total field was small (4 items).
- Proposed explanations split into capacity limits as weaknesses (neural timing, interference, or neuron limits) versus strengths (efficient search, chunking, and learning imperfect rules).
Methods
- Narrative review and theoretical synthesis of prior behavioral studies; no new primary experiment is reported.
- Describes tasks including running span, brief simultaneous spatial arrays, unattended auditory input, articulatory suppression, paired-word chunk learning, and visual/auditory dual arrays with masks and attention conditions.
- Capacity was estimated using a hit/false-alarm formula (Cowan, 2001), with comparisons across age, attention, modality, and chunk type.
Limitations
- Stated: the reasons for the central 3–5 chunk limit remain unclear; the hypotheses are not necessarily incompatible; and precise predictions cannot yet be made for every possible task.
- Stated: some key cited results were in press at the time (e.g., Chen & Cowan; Cowan et al.), limiting available detail.
- Evident: as a review, the conclusions depend on selected prior studies and task-specific controls, with no formal meta-analysis or new data.
Model-written summary. Check it against the paper before relying on it.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
25 Not checked yet · 10 Own interpretation · 3 Own result
In the paper
“This value was lower for 7-year-olds (~1.5) than for older children or adults (~3.0), indicating that the age groups differed in storage.”
§ The Magical Mystery Four: How is Working Memory Capacity Limited, and Why? > UNDERSTANDING CENTRAL CAPACITY LIMITS
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Cowan et al., in press
hedgedcorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
In the paper
“when verbal rehearsal was prevented by having the participant repeat the word “the” throughout the trial, individuals remembered only about 3 units, no matter whether those were singletons or learned pairs.”
§ The Magical Mystery Four: How is Working Memory Capacity Limited, and Why? > UNDERSTANDING CENTRAL CAPACITY LIMITS
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Chen and Cowan (in press)
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Young adults can recall 3 to 5 chunks from a presented list no matter whether these are learned pairs or singletons.”
§ The Magical Mystery Four: How is Working Memory Capacity Limited, and Why? > UNDERSTANDING CENTRAL CAPACITY LIMITS
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“this advantage for the attended shape was just as large in 7-year-olds as in adults, provided that the total number of items in the field was small (4).”
§ The Magical Mystery Four: How is Working Memory Capacity Limited, and Why? > UNDERSTANDING CENTRAL CAPACITY LIMITS
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“These boundary conditions are also of practical use to predict performance when the material is too brief, long, or complex to allow processing strategies such as rehearsal or grouping.”
§ The Magical Mystery Four: How is Working Memory Capacity Limited, and Why? > UNDERSTANDING CENTRAL CAPACITY LIMITS
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“This value was lower for 7-year-olds (~1.5) than for older children or adults (~3.0), indicating that the age groups differed in storage.”
§ The Magical Mystery Four: How is Working Memory Capacity Limited, and Why? > UNDERSTANDING CENTRAL CAPACITY LIMITS
hedgedcorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
In the paper
“This fixed capacity limit was obtained, though, only if the items to be recalled were followed by a jumble of meaningless, mixed visual and acoustic stimuli (a mask) so that sensory memory would be wiped out and the measure of working memory would be limited to central memory.”
§ The Magical Mystery Four: How is Working Memory Capacity Limited, and Why? > UNDERSTANDING CENTRAL CAPACITY LIMITS
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Saults & Cowan, 2007
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Tests of working memory demonstrate practical limits that vary, depending on whether the test circumstances allow processes such as grouping or rehearsal, focusing of attention on just the material relevant to the task, and the use of modality- or material-specific stores to supplement a central store.”
§ The Magical Mystery Four: How is Working Memory Capacity Limited, and Why? > CONCLUSION
boostedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
In the paper
“Many studies indicate that working memory capacity varies among people, predicts individual differences in intellectual ability, and changes across the life span (Cowan, 2005).”
§ The Magical Mystery Four: How is Working Memory Capacity Limited, and Why? > Abstract
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Cowan, 2005
hedgedcorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“Working memory is used in mental tasks, such as language comprehension (for example, retaining ideas from early in a sentence to be combined with ideas later on), problem solving (in arithmetic, carrying a digit from the ones to the tens column while remembering the numbers), and planning (determining the best order in which to visit the bank, library, and grocery).”
§ The Magical Mystery Four: How is Working Memory Capacity Limited, and Why? > Abstract
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Baddeley & Hitch, 1974
- Not checked yetcites Miller, Galanter, & Pribram, 1960
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- It may state two separate claims as one. 3
- Probably not a substantial claim. 8
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“There was also an advantage for the test of the shape to be remembered, compared to the shape to be ignored; attention helped greatly.”
§ The Magical Mystery Four: How is Working Memory Capacity Limited, and Why? > UNDERSTANDING CENTRAL CAPACITY LIMITS
boosteddirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Storage-specific capacity is a more analytic concept and stays constant across a much wider variety of circumstances.”
§ The Magical Mystery Four: How is Working Memory Capacity Limited, and Why? > UNDERSTANDING CENTRAL CAPACITY LIMITS
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“in some ways, the existing limits may be ideal, or nearly so, for humans.”
§ The Magical Mystery Four: How is Working Memory Capacity Limited, and Why? > CONCLUSION
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: fails — It may be too vague to check against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“There are probably factors of biological economy limiting central capacity”
§ The Magical Mystery Four: How is Working Memory Capacity Limited, and Why? > CONCLUSION
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: fails — It may be too vague to check against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
In the paper
“The reasons for the central working memory storage limit of 3–5 chunks remain unclear but Cowan (2005) reviewed a variety of hypotheses.”
§ The Magical Mystery Four: How is Working Memory Capacity Limited, and Why? > WHY THE STORAGE CAPACITY LIMIT?
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Cowan, 2005
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim.
In the paper
“if they were asked to attend to both squares and digits, they could remember fewer squares, but about 4 items in all.”
§ The Magical Mystery Four: How is Working Memory Capacity Limited, and Why? > UNDERSTANDING CENTRAL CAPACITY LIMITS
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Saults & Cowan, 2007
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“That central memory is especially important because it underlies problem-solving and abstract thought.”
§ The Magical Mystery Four: How is Working Memory Capacity Limited, and Why? > UNDERSTANDING CENTRAL CAPACITY LIMITS
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: fails — The paper may give no reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
In the paper
“Other work suggests that storage and processing capacities both make important, partly separate and partly overlapping contributions to intelligence and development (Cowan, Fristoe, Elliott, Brunner, & Saults, 2006).”
§ The Magical Mystery Four: How is Working Memory Capacity Limited, and Why? > UNDERSTANDING CENTRAL CAPACITY LIMITS
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Cowan, Fristoe, Elliott, Brunner, & Saults, 2006
hedgedcorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. It may state two separate claims as one.
None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“The recall limit is important because it measures what is termed working memory (Baddeley & Hitch, 1974; Miller, Galanter, & Pribram, 1960), the few temporarily active thoughts.”
§ The Magical Mystery Four: How is Working Memory Capacity Limited, and Why? > Abstract
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Baddeley & Hitch, 1974
- Not checked yetcites Miller, Galanter, & Pribram, 1960
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim.
In the paper
“He demonstrated that one can repeat back a list of no more than about seven randomly ordered, meaningful items or chunks”
§ The Magical Mystery Four: How is Working Memory Capacity Limited, and Why? > Abstract
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Miller (1956)
boosted- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim.
The paper relies on this without support.
Cognitive tasks can be completed only with sufficient ability to hold information as it is processed.
“Working memory storage capacity is important because cognitive tasks can be completed only with sufficient ability to hold information as it is processed.”
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“In this context, the limited processing capacity of a learner's working memory (WM) is considered a bottleneck (Baddeley 1986;Miller 1956); for new, yet to be learned information, its processing capacity is limited to only 4±1 elements (Cowan 2010)”
From Making the Black Box of Collaborative Learning Transparent: Combining Process-Oriented and Cognitive Load Approaches (2010) · cites this paper as Cowan 2010
Citations
Cites
The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information.
Miller, G. A. (1956) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/h0043158 · Cited by 17,812
The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information.
Miller, G. A. (1994) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.101.2.343 · Cited by 17,559
Baddeley, A. D., & Hitch, G. (1974) · Psychology of Learning and Motivation · doi:10.1016/s0079-7421(08)60452-1 · Cited by 9,860
The magical number 4 in short-term memory: A reconsideration of mental storage capacity
Cowan, N. (2001) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x01003922 · Cited by 6,779
Self-citationPlans and the structure of behavior.
Miller, G. A., Galanter, E., & Pribram, K. H. (1960) · doi:10.1037/10039-000 · Cited by 4,630
Brown, R. W. (1960) · Language · doi:10.2307/411065 · Cited by 3,525
Working Memory, Thought, and Action
Baddeley, A. (2007) · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198528012.001.0001 · Cited by 2,432
A controlled-attention view of working-memory capacity.
Kane, M. J., Bleckley, M. K., Conway, A. R. A., & Engle, R. W. (2001) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: General · doi:10.1037/0096-3445.130.2.169 · Cited by 1,414
Neural measures reveal individual differences in controlling access to working memory
Vogel, E. K., McCollough, A. W., & Machizawa, M. G. (2005) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature04171 · Cited by 1,367
Cowan, N. (2016) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781315625560 · Cited by 977
Self-citation
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Items 201–300 of 1,000
The influence of media exposure on anxiety and working memory during lockdown period in Italy.
Fabio, R. A., & Suriano, R. (2021) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph18179279 · Cited by 33
Predictive Pre-updating and Working Memory Capacity: Evidence from Event-related Potentials
Ness, T., & Meltzer‐Asscher, A. (2018) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/jocn_a_01322 · Cited by 33
Lewis, C. M., Shah, N., & Falkner, K. E. K. (2019) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108654555.017 · Cited by 36
Kärner, T., Warwas, J., & Schumann, S. (2020) · Technology Knowledge and Learning · doi:10.1007/s10758-020-09448-4 · Cited by 33
Behavioral decoding of working memory items inside and outside the focus of attention
Mallett, R., & Lewis‐Peacock, J. A. (2018) · Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1111/nyas.13647 · Cited by 36
Akanmu, A. A., Okunola, A., Jebelli, H., Ammar, A., & Afolabi, A. O. (2024) · Advanced Engineering Informatics · doi:10.1016/j.aei.2024.102905 · Cited by 32
Keeping timbre in mind: Working memory for complex sounds that can't be verbalized.
Golubock, J. L., & Janata, P. (2012) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception & Performance · doi:10.1037/a0029720 · Cited by 32
Learning Sciences for Computing Education
Margulieux, L. E., Dorn, B., & Searle, K. A. (2019) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108654555.009 · Cited by 33
Effects of analogy learning on locomotor skills and balance of preschool children
Chatzopoulos, D., Foka, E., Doganis, G., Lykesas, G., & Nikodelis, T. (2020) · Early Child Development and Care · doi:10.1080/03004430.2020.1739029 · Cited by 32
Vulnerability to the Irrelevant Sound Effect in Adult ADHD
Pelletier, M., Hodgetts, H. M., Lafleur, M. F., Vincent, A., & Tremblay, S. (2013) · Journal of Attention Disorders · doi:10.1177/1087054713492563 · Cited by 37
A statistical perspective to visual masking
Ağaoğlu, S., Agaoglu, M. N., Breitmeyer, B. G., & Öğmen, H. (2015) · Vision Research · doi:10.1016/j.visres.2015.07.003 · Cited by 31
Lazar, M. (2017) · The Neuroscientist · doi:10.1177/1073858416634298 · Cited by 31
Heuristic Evaluation for Virtual Reality Systems
Murtza, R., Monroe, S. A., & Youmans, R. J. (2017) · Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting · doi:10.1177/1541931213602000 · Cited by 31
Gardony, A. L., Martis, S. B., Taylor, H. A., & Brunyé, T. T. (2018) · Human-Computer Interaction · doi:10.1080/07370024.2018.1531001 · Cited by 32
Ahmad, F. (2019) · Revista de Contabilidad · doi:10.6018/rcsar.382251 · Cited by 35
Simple spans underestimate verbal working memory capacity.
Barrouillet, P., Gorin, S., & Camos, V. (2020) · Journal of Experimental Psychology General · doi:10.1037/xge0000957 · Cited by 36
Event segmentation reveals working memory forgetting rate
Jafarpour, A., Buffalo, E. A., Knight, R. T., & Collins, A. G. E. (2022) · iScience · doi:10.1016/j.isci.2022.103902 · Cited by 31
Aha! under pressure: The Aha! experience is not constrained by cognitive load
Stuyck, H., Axel Cleeremans, B., & den Bussche, E. V. (2021) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104946 · Cited by 35
Working Memory and Speech Comprehension in Older Adults With Hearing Impairment
Nagaraj, N. K. (2017) · Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research · doi:10.1044/2017_jslhr-h-17-0022 · Cited by 31
Brain-imaging evidence for compression of binary sound sequences in human memory
Planton, S., Roumi, F. A., Wang, L., & Dehaene, S. (2023) · eLife · doi:10.7554/elife.84376 · Cited by 33
Claes, J., Vanderfeesten, I., Gailly, F., Grefen, P., & Poels, G. (2015) · Information Systems Frontiers · doi:10.1007/s10796-015-9585-y · Cited by 32
Leadership in a changing world: developing managers through a teaching and learning programme
Holten, A., Bøllingtoft, A., & Wilms, I. L. (2015) · Management Decision · doi:10.1108/md-10-2014-0617 · Cited by 30
Jonin, P., Calia, C., Muratot, S., Belliard, S., Duché, Q., Barbeau, E. J., & Parra, M. A. (2018) · Cortex · doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2018.08.011 · Cited by 33
Scheunemann, J., Unni, A., Ihme, K. A., Jipp, M., & Rieger, J. W. (2019) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2018.00542 · Cited by 30
Low intensity white noise improves performance in auditory working memory task: An fMRI study
Othman, E. A., Yusoff, A. N., Mohamad, M., Manan, H. A., Giampietro, V., Hamid, A. I. A., Dzulkifli, M. A., Osman, S. S., & Burhanuddin, W. I. D. W. (2019) · Heliyon · doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e02444 · Cited by 30
Aging and feature-binding in visual working memory: The role of verbal rehearsal.
Forsberg, A., Johnson, W., & Logie, R. H. (2019) · Psychology and Aging · doi:10.1037/pag0000391 · Cited by 32
Hierarchical structure and memory mechanisms in agreement attraction
Franck, J., & WAGERS, M. W. (2020) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0232163 · Cited by 30
The visual arrays task: Visual storage capacity or attention control?
Martin, J. D., Tsukahara, J. S., Draheim, C., Shipstead, Z., Mashburn, C. A., Vogel, E. K., & Engle, R. W. (2021) · Journal of Experimental Psychology General · doi:10.1037/xge0001048 · Cited by 33
Hadie, S. N. H., Simok, A. A., Shamsuddin, S. A., & Mohammad, J. A.-M. (2019) · Journal of Taibah University Medical Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.jtumed.2019.06.008 · Cited by 30
Game-based situation awareness training for child and adult cyclists
Lehtonen, E., Airaksinen, J., Kanerva, K., Anna, R., Ränninranta, R., & Åberg, V. (2017) · Royal Society Open Science · doi:10.1098/rsos.160823 · Cited by 29
Effect of dependency distance of source text on disfluencies in interpreting
Jiang, X., & Jiang, Y. (2020) · Lingua · doi:10.1016/j.lingua.2020.102873 · Cited by 29
The role of working memory for task-order coordination in dual-task situations
Kübler, S., Strobach, T., & Schubert, T. (2021) · Psychological Research · doi:10.1007/s00426-021-01517-2 · Cited by 30
Differential effects of dopamine-directed treatments on cognition
Ashby, F. G., Valentin, V. V., & von Meer, S. S. (2015) · Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment · doi:10.2147/ndt.s65875 · Cited by 29
Winners and losers: communicating the potential impacts of policies
Brick, C., Freeman, A. L. J., Wooding, S., Skylark, W. J., Marteau, T. M., & Spiegelhalter, D. J. (2018) · Humanities and Social Sciences Communications · doi:10.1057/s41599-018-0121-9 · Cited by 30
The Manager’s Notepad: Working Memory, Exploration, and Performance
Martinez, D. L., Brusoni, S., Tata, A., & Zollo, M. (2019) · Journal of Management Studies · doi:10.1111/joms.12528 · Cited by 30
Expertise reversal effect: Cost of generating new schemas
Armougum, A., Gaston‐Bellegarde, A., Marle, C. J.-L., & Piolino, P. (2020) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2020.106406 · Cited by 32
Impact of arithmetic automaticity on students' success in second-semester general chemistry
Powell, C. B., Simpson, J. M., Williamson, V. M., Dubrovskiy, A. V., Walker, D. R., Jang, B. W. ‐., Shelton, G. R., & Mason, D. S. (2020) · Chemistry Education Research and Practice · doi:10.1039/d0rp00006j · Cited by 29
The controllosphere: The neural origin of cognitive effort.
Holroyd, C. B. (2024) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/rev0000467 · Cited by 33
Extending dynamic memory of spiking neuron networks
Klinshov, V. V., Kovalchuk, A. V., Soloviev, I. A., Maslennikov, O. V., Franović, I., & Perc, M. (2024) · Chaos Solitons & Fractals · doi:10.1016/j.chaos.2024.114850 · Cited by 28
Prioritization within visual working memory reflects a flexible focus of attention
Sandry, J. D., & Ricker, T. J. (2020) · Attention Perception & Psychophysics · doi:10.3758/s13414-020-02049-4 · Cited by 34
Alamia, A., Gauducheau, V., Paisios, D., & VanRullen, R. (2020) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-020-79127-y · Cited by 31
Dyke, R., John, E. S., Shah, H. B., Walker, J. A., Loughran, D., Anakwe, R. E., & Nathwani, D. (2022) · The Surgeon · doi:10.1016/j.surge.2022.05.004 · Cited by 28
Gehrke, A. K., Lee, S. S., Hilton, K., Ganster, B., Trupp, R., McCullough, C., Mott, E., & Feuerstein, M. (2018) · Journal of Cancer Survivorship · doi:10.1007/s11764-017-0668-2 · Cited by 30
Teacher Learning and Professional Development
Fincher, S. A., Kolikant, Y. B., & Falkner, K. E. K. (2019) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108654555.026 · Cited by 29
Beales, A., Whitworth, A., Cartwright, J., Panegyres, P. K., & Kane, R. T. (2019) · Brain and Language · doi:10.1016/j.bandl.2019.03.001 · Cited by 33
Tang, F., Zhang, W., Chi, I., Li, M., & Dong, X. Q. (2020) · Research on Aging · doi:10.1177/0164027520917064 · Cited by 32
Mosquito-terminator spiders and the meaning of predatory specialization
Jackson, R. R., & Cross, F. R. (2015) · Journal of Arachnology · doi:10.1636/0161-8202-43.2.123 · Cited by 29
Motivation, Attitudes, and Dispositions
Lishinski, A., & Yadav, A. K. (2019) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108654555.029 · Cited by 34
Falkner, K. E. K., & Sheard, J. (2019) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108654555.016 · Cited by 36
Improving student success in chemistry through cognitive science
Hartman, J. R., Nelson, E. A., & Kirschner, P. A. (2022) · Foundations of Chemistry · doi:10.1007/s10698-022-09427-w · Cited by 28
The cognitive control of emotional versus value-based information in younger and older adults.
Eich, T. S., & Castel, A. D. (2016) · Psychology and Aging · doi:10.1037/pag0000106 · Cited by 27
Hadie, S. N. H., Sulong, H. A. M., Hassan, A., Ismail, Z. I. M., Talip, S. B., & Rahim, A. F. A. (2018) · Journal of Taibah University Medical Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.jtumed.2017.11.001 · Cited by 27
The effect of video playback speed on learning and mind-wandering in younger and older adults
Murphy, D. H., Hoover, K. M., & Castel, A. D. (2023) · Memory · doi:10.1080/09658211.2023.2198326 · Cited by 32
Does the experimenter presence affect working memory?
Belletier, C., & Camos, V. (2018) · Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1111/nyas.13627 · Cited by 36
Visual working memory representation as a topological defined perceptual object
Wei, N., Zhou, T., Zhang, Z., Zhuo, Y., & Chen, L. (2019) · Journal of Vision · doi:10.1167/19.7.12 · Cited by 26
Allen, R. J., Hill, L. J. B., Eddy, L. H., & Waterman, A. (2019) · Memory & Cognition · doi:10.3758/s13421-019-00978-6 · Cited by 27
Bawa, P. (2020) · International Journal of Game-Based Learning · doi:10.4018/ijgbl.2020070102 · Cited by 29
Asano, R. (2021) · Primates · doi:10.1007/s10329-021-00905-x · Cited by 31
Haden, P. (2019) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108654555.006 · Cited by 28
Recognition of dance-like actions: Memory for static posture or dynamic movement?
Vicary, S. A., Robbins, R. A., Calvo‐Merino, B., & Stevens, C. (2014) · Memory & Cognition · doi:10.3758/s13421-014-0395-0 · Cited by 26
Mind–culture interactions: How writing molds mental fluidity in early development
Kazi, S., Δημητρίου, Α., Spanoudis, G. C., Zhang, X. K., & Wang, Y. (2012) · Intelligence · doi:10.1016/j.intell.2012.07.001 · Cited by 26
Remembering Satiation: The Role of Working Memory in Satiation
Nelson, N. M., & Redden, J. P. (2017) · Journal of Consumer Research · doi:10.1093/jcr/ucx056 · Cited by 27
Schizotypy is associated with reduced mnemonic precision in visual working memory
Xie, W., Cappiello, M., Park, H.-B., Deldin, P. J., Chan, R. C. K., & Zhang, W. (2017) · Schizophrenia Research · doi:10.1016/j.schres.2017.07.046 · Cited by 26
Liu, S., Poh, J.-H., Koh, H. L., Ng, K. K., Loke, Y. M., Lim, J. K. W., Chong, J. S. X., & Zhou, J. H. (2018) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.04.014 · Cited by 28
Völter, C. J., Mundry, R., Call, J., & Seed, A. M. (2019) · Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rspb.2019.0715 · Cited by 26
Neural Correlates Underlying the Precision of Visual Working Memory
Zhao, Y., Kuai, S., Zanto, T. P., & Ku, Y. (2019) · Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2019.11.037 · Cited by 27
Geiger, I., & Hüffmeier, J. (2020) · Industrial Marketing Management · doi:10.1016/j.indmarman.2020.02.013 · Cited by 26
Effects of many conflicting objectives on decision-makers’ cognitive burden and decision consistency
Kivikangas, J. M., Vilkkumaa, E., Blank, J., Harjunen, V., Malo, P., Deb, K., Ravaja, N., & Wallenius, J. (2024) · European Journal of Operational Research · doi:10.1016/j.ejor.2024.10.039 · Cited by 25
Age effects on retroactive interference during working memory maintenance
Solesio‐Jofre, E., Lorenzo‐López, L., Gutiérrez, R., López-Frutos, J. M., Ruiz-Vargas, J. M., & Maestú, F. (2011) · Biological Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2011.06.011 · Cited by 27
Tarle, S. J., Alderson, R. M., Arrington, E. F., & Roberts, D. K. (2019) · Journal of Attention Disorders · doi:10.1177/1087054719864636 · Cited by 29
The nexus between information and consumer confusion: information provider vs information recipient
Dharmasena, T., & Jayathilaka, R. (2020) · Tourism Review · doi:10.1108/tr-06-2019-0252 · Cited by 25
Kirk, P. A., Robinson, O. J., & Gilbert, S. J. (2020) · Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology · doi:10.1177/1747021820970156 · Cited by 29
Logie, M. R., & Donaldson, D. I. (2021) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104578 · Cited by 29
Object focused q-learning for autonomous agents
Cobo, L. C., Isbell, C. L., & Thomaz, A. L. (2013) · Adaptive Agents and Multi-Agents Systems · doi:10.65109/sibo5381 · Cited by 25
Katus, T., & Martin Eimer, A. (2018) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/jocn_a_01239 · Cited by 25
Ližardo, O. (2018) · Poetics · doi:10.1016/j.poetic.2018.04.003 · Cited by 25
Jones, E. A., & Bergin, C. C. (2019) · Educational Assessment · doi:10.1080/10627197.2018.1564272 · Cited by 25
Belletier, C., Charkhabi, M., Silva, G. P. D. A., Ametepe, K., Lutz, M., & Izaute, M. (2019) · Cognition, Technology & Work · doi:10.1007/s10111-019-00610-2 · Cited by 24
Pupil dilation as cognitive load measure in instructional videos on complex chemical representations
Rodemer, M., Karch, J. M., & Bernholt, S. (2023) · Frontiers in Education · doi:10.3389/feduc.2023.1062053 · Cited by 31
Cognitive control and meta-control in dual-task coordination
Strobach, T. (2023) · Psychonomic Bulletin & Review · doi:10.3758/s13423-023-02427-7 · Cited by 28
Who “believes” in the Gambler’s Fallacy and why?
Farmer, G., Warren, P. A., & Hahn, U. (2017) · Journal of Experimental Psychology General · doi:10.1037/xge0000245 · Cited by 24
Normalized Dependency Distance: Proposing a New Measure
Lei, L., & Jockers, M. L. (2018) · Journal of Quantitative Linguistics · doi:10.1080/09296174.2018.1504615 · Cited by 29
Qualitative Methods for Computing Education
Tenenberg, J. (2019) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108654555.008 · Cited by 24
Ward, R. T., Lotfi, S., Sallmann, H., Lee, H., & Larson, C. L. (2020) · Psychophysiology · doi:10.1111/psyp.13625 · Cited by 29
Esser, S., Lustig, C., & Haider, H. (2021) · Psychological Research · doi:10.1007/s00426-021-01594-3 · Cited by 27
Effects of acute alcohol administration on working memory: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Spinola, S., Víta, M., Gilmour, C. E., & Maisto, S. A. (2022) · Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1007/s00213-022-06060-5 · Cited by 26
Caddick, Z. A., Fraundorf, S. H., Rottman, B. M., & Nokes‐Malach, T. J. (2023) · Cognitive Research Principles and Implications · doi:10.1186/s41235-023-00497-8 · Cited by 25
Bottlenecks of Motion Processing during a Visual Glance: The Leaky Flask Model
Öğmen, H., Ekiz, O., Huynh, D., Bedell, H. E., & Tripathy, S. P. (2013) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0083671 · Cited by 24
Insightful Imagery is Related to Working Memory Updating
Nȩcka, E., Żak, P., & Gruszka, A. (2016) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00137 · Cited by 24
The effects of cognitive load on judgments of titled visual art.
Mullennix, J. W., Pilot, K. M., Steeves, T. A., & Burns, J. C. (2017) · Psychology of Aesthetics Creativity and the Arts · doi:10.1037/aca0000128 · Cited by 24
Hurley, R., & Machado, L. (2018) · Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology · doi:10.1080/13803395.2018.1434133 · Cited by 25
A daytime nap enhances visual working memory performance and alters event-related delay activity
MacDonald, K. J., Lockhart, H. A., Storace, A. C., Emrich, S. M., & Côté, K. A. (2018) · Cognitive Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience · doi:10.3758/s13415-018-0625-1 · Cited by 25
Visual Working Memory Load Disrupts Template-guided Attentional Selection during Visual Search
Berggren, N., & Martin Eimer, A. (2018) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/jocn_a_01324 · Cited by 24
Working memory load-dependent changes in cortical network connectivity estimated by machine learning
Eryilmaz, H., Dowling, K. F., Hughes, D., Rodriguez-Thompson, A., Tanner, A. S., Huntington, C., Coon, W. G., & Roffman, J. L. (2020) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116895 · Cited by 24
Hakun, J. G., & Johnson, N. F. (2017) · Brain and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2017.08.007 · Cited by 23
Lin, Y.-L. (2021) · Language Teaching Research · doi:10.1177/13621688211044584 · Cited by 22
Hattori, M. (2016) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2016.09.009 · Cited by 23
On the efficiency of instruction-based rule encoding
Ruge, H., Karcz, T., Mark, T., Martin, V. C., Zwosta, K., & Wolfensteller, U. (2017) · Acta Psychologica · doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2017.04.005 · Cited by 23
Simultaneous effects of multiple cues in restaurant reviews
Kim, E. L., & Tanford, S. (2019) · Journal of Services Marketing · doi:10.1108/jsm-06-2018-0188 · Cited by 23
Feedforward prediction error signals during episodic memory retrieval
Haque, R. U., Inati, S. K., Levey, A. I., & Zaghloul, K. A. (2020) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-020-19828-0 · Cited by 23
Metadata
- Authors
- Cowan, N.
- Affiliations
- University of Missouri (US)
- Corresponding author
- Cowan, Nelson
- ORCID
- Cowan, Nelson
- Venue
- Current Directions in Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2010-02
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 51-57
- ISSN
- 0963-7214 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-8721
- PMC
- PMC2864034
- OpenAlex
- W2134598164
- Semantic Scholar
- 3f52d0f7bdb639a9ea900f7d1fecb39468358b00
- Cited by
- 1,255
- References
- 20
- Citations by year
- 2026: 132 · 2025: 101 · 2024: 106 · 2023: 119 · 2022: 111 · 2021: 91 · 2020: 93 · 2019: 147 · 2018: 89 · 2017: 75 · 2016: 62 · 2015: 34 · 2014: 25 · 2013: 24 · 2012: 23
- FWCI
- 28.71
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Current Directions in Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD021338)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Functions and Memory
- Keywords
- working memory, storage capacity, short-term memory, individual differences, memory span
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
A language model drew the claims from the paper on 2026-10-10, under version 3 of the claim definition (model deepseek-v4.1-flash, prompt extract-v3).
A second model labelled each claim on 2026-10-10 (model jev-1.13-20260917, definition revision gold-guideline-v0.2).
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
