Theory 032/Mind & Behaviour /Memory
Working Memory Is a Timing Window
Capacity is counted in items. The limit may be in how precisely their arrival can be timed.
Working memory capacity is set by the temporal precision with which items are bound rather than by the number of slots, so capacity should fall when timing jitter rises even if item count is held constant.
01The evidence
Working memory performance depends on temporal structure, and items presented in rhythmic streams are remembered better than the same items presented irregularly.
02The tension
Slot models explain capacity as a count and predict that timing should not matter once items are encoded. The temporal effects are treated as encoding benefits rather than as the limit itself.
03The mechanism
Items are bound to a temporal frame during encoding. If the frame is imprecise, adjacent items interfere and the effective number that can be distinguished falls.
That makes timing precision the capacity limit, and predicts that increasing jitter should reduce capacity without changing the number presented.
04What this is not
Slot models predict a fixed count. This predicts a count that varies with timing precision.
05Predictions
- P1Capacity should fall as jitter rises.
- P2Rhythmic presentation should raise capacity.
- P3Individual differences should track timing precision.
06Refutation
Capacity invariant to jitter would leave slots as the limit.
07What it changes
It would change how working memory is assessed.