How episodic and working memory affect rule- and memory-based judgments.

Janina A Hoffmann, Bettina von Helversen, Jörg Rieskamp

Research output: Chapter or section in a book/report/conference proceedingChapter in a published conference proceeding

Abstract

Making accurate judgments is an essential skill in everyday life. However, little is known about the basic cognitive skills required for accurate judgments. Research on judgment and categorization processes suggests that people rely on various strategies when making judgments. These strategies differ in the cognitive abilities they require. Specifically high working memory capacity may benefit rule-based judgments, whereas good long-term memory may be crucial for memory-based judgments. We investigated this hypothesis following an individual differences approach. 177 participants performed two judgment tasks that were either best solved by a rule-based or a memory-based strategy. Additionally, we measured working memory capacity and episodic memory with three tests. Consistent with our hypothesis structural equation modeling showed that working memory capacity predicted judgment accuracy in the rule-based task whereas episodic memory predicted judgment accuracy in the memory-based task. Apparently, different memory abilities are essential for successfully adopting different judgment strategies.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 35th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society
EditorsM. Knauff, M. Pauen, N. Sebanz, I. Wachsmuth
Place of PublicationAustin, TX
PublisherCognitive Science Society
Pages585-590
Number of pages6
Volume35
ISBN (Electronic)9780976831891
Publication statusPublished - 2013
Event35th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, Jul 31, 2013 - Aug 3, 2013, Berlin - Berlin, Germany
Duration: 31 Jul 20133 Aug 2019

Publication series

NameProceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society
PublisherCognitive Science Society
ISSN (Electronic)1069-7977

Conference

Conference35th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, Jul 31, 2013 - Aug 3, 2013, Berlin
Country/TerritoryGermany
CityBerlin
Period31/07/133/08/19

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