What is it about?
Working memory temporally maintains information in the support of all kinds of goal-directed activities, such as language comprehension, speech, mental arithmetic, reasoning, etc. Several models have been proposed to explain how this system operates, and in particular how the system controls the flow and the maintenance of information. The existing models typically call on a homunculus to account for these control processes. The present paper presents a model that accounts for executive control processes in working memory without invoking a homunculus.
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Why is it important?
Understanding how executive control is performed is crucial for understanding the operation of cognition. Calling on a homunculus that performs these tasks does not provide a proper scientific explanation, because the question then arises who controls the homunculus; likely another homunculus. Providing an account that avoids a homunculus-based explanation is an important step towards a better understanding of how cognitive processes operate.
Perspectives
Many psychological theories rely on all kinds of homunculi to "explain" the events under study. While this may be useful to advance research in the initial stages, there is a point at which one has to get rid off these homunculi. The proposed model, for sure, does not solve all the problems, but it offers a possible way out by taking a broader perspective.
Professor Andre Vandierendonck
Ghent University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: A Working Memory System With Distributed Executive Control, Perspectives on Psychological Science, January 2016, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/1745691615596790.
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