Työmuistitehtävien

Työmuistitehtävät refer to a category of cognitive tasks designed to assess and measure an individual's working memory capacity. Working memory is a system responsible for temporarily storing and manipulating information during complex cognitive activities such as learning, reasoning, and comprehension. These tasks typically involve holding a set of stimuli in mind while simultaneously performing an operation on them or on a new set of stimuli.

Common examples of työmuistitehtävät include operation span tasks, where participants must remember a series of items (e.g., letters) while solving a sequence of mathematical or logical operations. Another type is the symmetry span task, which requires individuals to remember the locations of shapes while judging the symmetry of visual patterns. Set size effects are often manipulated, meaning the number of items to be held in memory can vary to probe the limits of working memory. Performance on these tasks is often quantified by an accuracy score or a span measure, indicating the maximum number of items that can be successfully retained and manipulated.

Research employing työmuistitehtävät has linked working memory capacity to various higher-order cognitive functions, including fluid intelligence, reading comprehension, and executive functions. Deficits in working memory, as revealed by these tasks, are also associated with several neurodevelopmental and psychiatric conditions, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and schizophrenia. The development and refinement of these tasks are crucial for understanding the neural basis of working memory and for developing interventions aimed at improving cognitive function.