Nelson Cowan

Last updated
Nelson Cowan

Link to image on Cowan's web site [1]
Born
Washington, D.C.
CitizenshipAmerican
Education University of Michigan (BS, 1973)
University of Wisconsin (MS, 1978; PhD, 1980)
Known for Working memory, Attention, Cognitive development
SpouseJean Ispa
Children3
AwardsLifetime Achievement Award from the Society for Experimental Psychology and Cognitive Science (2020); Honorary doctorates (University of Helsinki, Finland, 2003; University of Liège, Belgium, 2015); Society of Experimental Psychologists; President’s Faculty Award for Sustained Excellence, University of Missouri System, 2011; Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2012; Fellow, American Psychological Association and Charter Fellow, Association for Psychological Science; Golden Chalk Award, for graduate teaching and education, University of Missouri, 1999.
Scientific career
Fields Psychology
Institutions University of Missouri
Thesis Toward an understanding of morphological segmentation in unfamiliar languages  (1980)
Doctoral advisor Philip A. Morse
Other academic advisorsLewis A. Leavitt (secondary during Ph.D.), Martin Braine (postdoctoral)
Website https://memory.psych.missouri.edu/cowan.html

Nelson Cowan is the Curators' Distinguished Professor [1] of Psychological Sciences [2] at the University of Missouri. He specializes in working memory, the small amount of information held in mind and used for language processing and various kinds of problem solving. To overcome conceptual difficulties that arise for models of information processing in which different functions occur in separate boxes, Cowan proposed a more organically organized "embedded processes" model. Within it, representations held in working memory comprise an activated subset of the representations held in long-term memory, with a smaller subset held in a more integrated form in the current focus of attention. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] Other work has been on the developmental growth of working memory capacity [11] and the scientific method. [12] His work, funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1984 (primarily NICHD), has been cited over 41,000 times according to Google Scholar. The work has resulted in over 250 peer-reviewed articles, over 60 book chapters, 2 sole-authored books, and 4 edited volumes.

Contents

In addition to basic scientific work, Cowan's collaborative research related to working memory has led to clarification of the role of memory in language disorders, [13] dyslexia, [14] autism, [15] schizophrenia, [16] Parkinson's disease, [17] amnesia, [18] [19] and alcoholic intoxication, [20] [21] as explained further on his web site and CV. [1] For example, the work on amnesia indicates that individuals who usually cannot form new memories because of stroke or brain damage often demonstrate considerable ability to do so when the information to be memorized is surrounded by several minutes with minimal visual or acoustic interference. [22]

Main scientific contributions

Working memory capacity limits

Cowan's theoretical model [3] [10] addresses key puzzles in information processing using a new approach in which there are two aspects of working memory: the activated portion of long-term memory, which includes rapidly-learned information limited only by decay and interference among similar features and, within this activated portion, a focus of attention limited to about 3-4 separate items or chunks in typical adults. Cowan contends that previous models did not sufficiently distinguish between these temporary-storage mechanisms. In this theory, why is there interference between words and visual objects like colors when both are held in mind? Because the focus of attention is involved in maintaining information of all types [23] and, when the procedure discourages mnemonic strategies like grouping and rehearsal, the focus of attention is limited to just a few separate units of information - as argued in a review [5] cited over 6,900 times according to Google Scholar. In the brain, an area of the intraparietal sulcus plays a large role in the focus of attention, perhaps serving as an index connected to posterior areas representing the content of active memories. [24] [25] [26] [27]

Attention filtering by habituation of orienting

In another part of the theory of Cowan, [3] conceptual difficulties of the idea of an attention filter were addressed. If unattended information is filtered out, how can it come to attract attention? In the theory, the attention filter is replaced by the well-known mechanism of orienting of attention. Stimuli with changed physical features attract attention, whereas stimulus features or patterns that are repeated or continuous become a part of the neural model of the environment; there is habituation of the orienting response, and such stimuli stop attracting attention. For example, Emily Elliott and Cowan showed that pre-exposure to sounds to be used as distractors reduced their capability to distract. [28]

In another kind of research on attention, Noelle Wood and Cowan replicated an often-discussed but until then poorly-understood phenomenon termed the cocktail party phenomenon. Using methodology improved from the 1950s, they found that people take a long time to notice subtle acoustic changes in an ignored channel of speech while repeating different speech presented in the other ear, a selective listening task. [29] They also used the improved methodology to replicate the early, poorly-studied finding that about a third of participants notice their names unexpectedly presented in a channel to be ignored . [30] That finding, however, was ambiguous. It could be that high-working-memory-span individuals are better able to monitor the channel to be ignored, or it could be that the low-span individuals cannot fix their attention on the assigned task, so that it wanders over intermittently to sample the channel to be ignored. The results have come out strongly in that direction, with many more low-span individuals noticing their names in the ignored channel. [31] [32] Proving that the results did not have to turn out that way, they were different for healthy older adults; their spans are like relatively low-span younger adults, yet the older adults rarely noticed their names in the channel to be ignored, suggesting that their focus of attention is strategically intact but with possibly a smaller capacity than young adults. [33]

Development of working memory

In Cowan's work on the childhood development of working memory, a major task has been to deconfound development given that many processes develop together and need to be disentangled. Could it be that working memory capacity increases with age only because of some other factor? Cowan has examined this question repeatedly in different ways and has found that a number of factors are not sufficient. [11] These factors that could not completely account for working memory capacity growth include the allocation of attention to relevant items, [34] [35] encoding speed and rehearsal, [36] [37] and knowledge. [38] In memory for simple, spoken sentences, for example, more mature participants remembered more units, not larger ones. [39] Recent evidence suggests that older children become better able to notice patterns in the stimuli that allow them quickly to memorize information and thereby ease the load on the focus of attention. Consequently, older participants can remember tones or words and colors at the same time, better than younger children with less interference between the two modalities [40] Similar findings have been obtained in the area of adult aging, [41] with a U-shaped development across the life span in the number of items that can be held in working memory without mnemonic strategies. [39] [42] [43] Simple working memory tasks account for aptitudes better in children too young to apply mnemonic strategies, [44] and Cowan has made considerable use of a simple task that maximizes the correlation with aptitudes by making the endpoint of a list unpredictable, known as running memory span. [44] Minimizing mnemonic strategies may mean that more attention is needed for recall, [45] which may also be needed in typical tasks of intellectual aptitudes.

Early life

Cowan provides many biographical details on his web site. [1] He was born in 1951 in Washington, D.C. as the first child (son) of Jewish parents, Arthur Cowan from Boston, an optometrist, and Shirly B. Cowan (nee Frankle) of Baltimore. He grew up in Wheaton, Maryland and attended Wheaton High School. From oldest to youngest he has a younger brother with high-functioning autism diagnosed only at the age of about 50 (Mitchell), who has long been a valuable employee of the Veterans Administration, another younger brother (Elliott) who is an attorney, and a younger sister (Barbara) who is a social worker. Cowan was interested in science including making a telescope out of trial lenses in his father's office, tinkering with electricity and electronics at home, and expressing interest when Francis Crick won the Nobel prize and in the Washington Post indicated that he next wanted to study "how the brain works." Cowan's first experimental project, in a high school research class, involved supercooling suspended animation of rotifers, with guidance from his instructor and Commander Perry at the Bethesda Naval Hospital. Also in high school, reading a description of research studies in sleep and dreams inspired his interest in a career involving research on the brain and mind centered on understanding consciousness, which he hoped would also be of clinical, educational, or practical value. Cowan's home was within biking distance along Rock Creek Park to the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD, and in the summers when home from college, he volunteered there one year (with Monte Buchsbaum), learning computer programming and studying hemispheric laterality, and had a paid assistantship the next summer (with David Jacobowitz). The latter led to his first publication on a study that he suggested to the scientists, on examining the synergic and antagonistic actions of two neurotransmitter systems in rats. [46]

Academic history

Education and positions

Cowan received a B.S. from the University of Michigan with an independent major in neuroscience in 1973 and a M.S. and Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Wisconsin in 1977 and 1980, respectively, after which he completed a postdoctoral fellowship at New York University. He subsequently was hired as a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1982, and in 1985, he joined the faculty of the University of Missouri, where he has remained since. Additionally, Cowan has served as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Helsinki, the University of Leipzig, the University of Western Australia, the University of Bristol, and the University of Edinburgh, where he also served as a professorial fellow.

Professional activities and honors

Since 2017, Cowan has been the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General [47] [48] and previously was associate editor of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition , Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology , and the European Journal of Cognitive Psychology. He was awarded honorary doctorates at the University of Helsinki, Finland (2003) and the University of Liège, Belgium (2015). He is a fellow of the Society of Experimental Psychologists [49] and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. [50] Elected posts include member of the Governing Board of the Psychonomic Society (2006-2011) and President of the Experimental Psychology Division (3) of the American Psychological Association (2008-2009). He won the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for Experimental Psychology and Cognitive Science (2020).

Related Research Articles

Long-term memory (LTM) is the stage of the Atkinson–Shiffrin memory model in which informative knowledge is held indefinitely. It is defined in contrast to sensory memory, the initial stage, and short-term or working memory, the second stage, which persists for about 18 to 30 seconds. LTM is grouped into two categories known as explicit memory and implicit memory. Explicit memory is broken down into episodic and semantic memory, while implicit memory includes procedural memory and emotional conditioning.

Short-term memory is the capacity for holding a small amount of information in an active, readily available state for a short interval. For example, short-term memory holds a phone number that has just been recited. The duration of short-term memory is estimated to be on the order of seconds. The commonly cited capacity of 7 items, found in Miller's Law, has been superseded by 4±1 items. In contrast, long-term memory holds information indefinitely.

Working memory is a cognitive system with a limited capacity that can hold information temporarily. It is important for reasoning and the guidance of decision-making and behavior. Working memory is often used synonymously with short-term memory, but some theorists consider the two forms of memory distinct, assuming that working memory allows for the manipulation of stored information, whereas short-term memory only refers to the short-term storage of information. Working memory is a theoretical concept central to cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, and neuroscience.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cognitive neuroscience</span> Scientific field

Cognitive neuroscience is the scientific field that is concerned with the study of the biological processes and aspects that underlie cognition, with a specific focus on the neural connections in the brain which are involved in mental processes. It addresses the questions of how cognitive activities are affected or controlled by neural circuits in the brain. Cognitive neuroscience is a branch of both neuroscience and psychology, overlapping with disciplines such as behavioral neuroscience, cognitive psychology, physiological psychology and affective neuroscience. Cognitive neuroscience relies upon theories in cognitive science coupled with evidence from neurobiology, and computational modeling.

"The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information" is one of the most highly cited papers in psychology. It was written by the cognitive psychologist George A. Miller of Harvard University's Department of Psychology and published in 1956 in Psychological Review. It is often interpreted to argue that the number of objects an average human can hold in short-term memory is 7 ± 2. This has occasionally been referred to as Miller's law.

The concepts of fluid intelligence (gf) and crystallized intelligence (gc) were introduced in 1963 by the psychologist Raymond Cattell. According to Cattell's psychometrically-based theory, general intelligence (g) is subdivided into gf and gc. Fluid intelligence is the ability to solve novel reasoning problems and is correlated with a number of important skills such as comprehension, problem-solving, and learning. Crystallized intelligence, on the other hand, involves the ability to deduce secondary relational abstractions by applying previously learned primary relational abstractions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cocktail party effect</span> Ability of the brain to focus on a single auditory stimulus by filtering out background noise

The cocktail party effect refers to a phenomenon wherein the brain focuses a person's attention on a particular stimulus, usually auditory. This focus excludes a range of other stimuli from conscious awareness, as when a partygoer follows a single conversation in a noisy room. This ability is widely distributed among humans, with most listeners more or less easily able to portion the totality of sound detected by the ears into distinct streams, and subsequently to decide which streams are most pertinent, excluding all or most others.

Information processing theory is the approach to the study of cognitive development evolved out of the American experimental tradition in psychology. Developmental psychologists who adopt the information processing perspective account for mental development in terms of maturational changes in basic components of a child's mind. The theory is based on the idea that humans process the information they receive, rather than merely responding to stimuli. This perspective uses an analogy to consider how the mind works like a computer. In this way, the mind functions like a biological computer responsible for analyzing information from the environment. According to the standard information-processing model for mental development, the mind's machinery includes attention mechanisms for bringing information in, working memory for actively manipulating information, and long-term memory for passively holding information so that it can be used in the future. This theory addresses how as children grow, their brains likewise mature, leading to advances in their ability to process and respond to the information they received through their senses. The theory emphasizes a continuous pattern of development, in contrast with cognitive-developmental theorists such as Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development that thought development occurs in stages at a time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Memory and aging</span> Aspect of senescence

Age-related memory loss, sometimes described as "normal aging", is qualitatively different from memory loss associated with types of dementia such as Alzheimer's disease, and is believed to have a different brain mechanism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mental chronometry</span> Study of processing speed on cognitive tasks

Mental chronometry is the scientific study of processing speed or reaction time on cognitive tasks to infer the content, duration, and temporal sequencing of mental operations. Reaction time is measured by the elapsed time between stimulus onset and an individual's response on elementary cognitive tasks (ECTs), which are relatively simple perceptual-motor tasks typically administered in a laboratory setting. Mental chronometry is one of the core methodological paradigms of human experimental, cognitive, and differential psychology, but is also commonly analyzed in psychophysiology, cognitive neuroscience, and behavioral neuroscience to help elucidate the biological mechanisms underlying perception, attention, and decision-making in humans and other species.

Spatial visualization ability or visual-spatial ability is the ability to mentally manipulate 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional figures. It is typically measured with simple cognitive tests and is predictive of user performance with some kinds of user interfaces.

In psychology and neuroscience, memory span is the longest list of items that a person can repeat back in correct order immediately after presentation on 50% of all trials. Items may include words, numbers, or letters. The task is known as digit span when numbers are used. Memory span is a common measure of working memory and short-term memory. It is also a component of cognitive ability tests such as the WAIS. Backward memory span is a more challenging variation which involves recalling items in reverse order.

Mind-wandering is loosely defined as thoughts that are not produced from the current task. Mind-wandering consists of thoughts that are task-unrelated and stimulus-independent. This can be in the form of three different subtypes: positive constructive daydreaming, guilty fear of failure, and poor attentional control.

The negativity bias, also known as the negativity effect, is a cognitive bias that, even when positive or neutral things of equal intensity occur, things of a more negative nature have a greater effect on one's psychological state and processes than neutral or positive things. In other words, something very positive will generally have less of an impact on a person's behavior and cognition than something equally emotional but negative. The negativity bias has been investigated within many different domains, including the formation of impressions and general evaluations; attention, learning, and memory; and decision-making and risk considerations.

Neurodevelopmental framework for learning, like all frameworks, is an organizing structure through which learners and learning can be understood. Intelligence theories and neuropsychology inform many of them. The framework described below is a neurodevelopmental framework for learning. The neurodevelopmental framework was developed by the All Kinds of Minds Institute in collaboration with Dr. Mel Levine and the University of North Carolina's Clinical Center for the Study of Development and Learning. It is similar to other neuropsychological frameworks, including Alexander Luria's cultural-historical psychology and psychological activity theory, but also draws from disciplines such as speech-language pathology, occupational therapy, and physical therapy. It also shares components with other frameworks, some of which are listed below. However, it does not include a general intelligence factor, since the framework is used to describe learners in terms of profiles of strengths and weaknesses, as opposed to using labels, diagnoses, or broad ability levels. This framework was also developed to link with academic skills, such as reading and writing. Implications for education are discussed below as well as the connections to and compatibilities with several major educational policy issues.

The n-back task is a continuous performance task that is commonly used as an assessment in psychology and cognitive neuroscience to measure a part of working memory and working memory capacity. The n-back was introduced by Wayne Kirchner in 1958. N-Back games are purported to be a training method to improve working memory and working memory capacity and also increase fluid intelligence, although evidence for such effects are lacking.

Working memory training is intended to improve a person's working memory. Working memory is a central intellectual faculty, linked to IQ, ageing, and mental health. It has been claimed that working memory training programs are effective means, both for treating specific medical conditions associated with working memory deficit, as and for general increase in cognitive capacity among healthy neurotypical adults.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Attentional control</span> Individuals capacity to choose what they pay attention to and what they ignore

Attentional control, colloquially referred to as concentration, refers to an individual's capacity to choose what they pay attention to and what they ignore. It is also known as endogenous attention or executive attention. In lay terms, attentional control can be described as an individual's ability to concentrate. Primarily mediated by the frontal areas of the brain including the anterior cingulate cortex, attentional control and attentional shifting are thought to be closely related to other executive functions such as working memory.

Sex differences in cognition are widely studied in the current scientific literature. Biological and genetic differences in combination with environment and culture have resulted in the cognitive differences among males and females. Among biological factors, hormones such as testosterone and estrogen may play some role mediating these differences. Among differences of diverse mental and cognitive abilities, the largest or most well known are those relating to spatial abilities, social cognition and verbal skills and abilities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juan Pascual-Leone</span>

Juan Pascual-Leone is a developmental psychologist and founder of the neo-Piagetian approach to cognitive development. He introduced this term into the literature and put forward key predictions about developmental growth of mental attention and working memory.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Nelson Cowan's web site".
  2. ↑ "Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri".
  3. 1 2 3 "1988, Psychological Bulletin, Evolving conceptions of memory storage, selective attention, and their mutual constraints within the human information processing system" (PDF).
  4. ↑ Cowan, Nelson (1998). "1995, Attention and Memory: An Integrated Framework, Oxford Psychology Series". Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195119107.001.0001. ISBN   978-0-19-511910-7.
  5. 1 2 Cowan, Nelson (February 2001). "2001,Behavioral and Brain Sciences, The magical number 4 in short-term memory: a reconsideration of mental storage capacity". Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 24 (1): 87–114. doi: 10.1017/S0140525X01003922 . PMID   11515286. S2CID   8739159.
  6. ↑ Cowan, N.; Chen, Z.; Rouder, J. N. (2004). "2004, Psychological Science, Constant capacity in an immediate serial-recall task: a logical sequel to Miller (1956)". Psychological Science. 15 (9): 634–40. doi:10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.00732.x. PMID   15327636. S2CID   11730159.
  7. ↑ "2005/2016, Working Memory Capacity, Psychology Press/Rutledge, classic edition".
  8. ↑ Cowan, N. (2010). "2010, Current Directions in Psychological Science, The Magical Mystery Four: How is Working Memory Capacity Limited, and Why?". Current Directions in Psychological Science. 19 (1): 51–57. doi:10.1177/0963721409359277. PMC   2864034 . PMID   20445769.
  9. ↑ Cowan, N.; Rouder, J. N.; Blume, C. L.; Saults, J. S. (2012). "2012, Psychological Review, Models of Verbal Working Memory Capacity: What Does It Take to Make Them Work?". Psychological Review. 119 (3): 480–499. doi:10.1037/a0027791. PMC   3618891 . PMID   22486726.
  10. 1 2 Cowan, N. (2019). "2019, Psychological Bulletin, Short-term Memory Based on Activated Long-term Memory: A Review In Response to Norris (2017)". Psychological Bulletin. 145 (8): 822–847. doi:10.1037/bul0000199. PMC   6650160 . PMID   31328941.
  11. 1 2 Cowan, N. (2016). "2016, Perspectives on Psychological Science, Working Memory Maturation: Can We Get at the Essence of Cognitive Growth?". Perspectives on Psychological Science. 11 (2): 239–64. doi:10.1177/1745691615621279. PMC   4800832 . PMID   26993277.
  12. ↑ Cowan, N.; Belletier, C.; Doherty, J. M.; Jaroslawska, A. J.; Rhodes, S.; Forsberg, A.; Naveh-Benjamin, M.; Barrouillet, P.; Camos, V.; Logie, R. H. (2020). "2020, Perspectives on Psychological Science, How Do Scientific Views Change? Notes from an Extended Adversarial Collaboration". Perspectives on Psychological Science. 15 (4): 1011–1025. doi:10.1177/1745691620906415. PMC   7334077 . PMID   32511059. S2CID   214269869.
  13. ↑ Gillam, Ronald B.; Cowan, Nelson; Marler, Jeffrey A. (1998). "Information Processing by School-Age Children With Specific Language Impairment". Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. 41 (4): 913–926. doi:10.1044/jslhr.4104.913. PMID   9712137.
  14. ↑ Cowan, N.; Hogan, T. P.; Alt, M.; Green, S.; Cabbage, K. L.; Brinkley, S.; Gray, S. (2017). "2017, Dyslexia, Short-term Memory in Childhood Dyslexia: Deficient Serial Order in Multiple Modalities". Dyslexia (Chichester, England). 23 (3): 209–233. doi:10.1002/dys.1557. PMC   5540735 . PMID   28497530.
  15. ↑ Bodner, K. E.; Cowan, N.; Christ, S. E. (2019). "2019, Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Contributions of filtering and attentional allocation to working memory performance in individuals with autism spectrum disorder". Journal of Abnormal Psychology. 128 (8): 881–891. doi:10.1037/abn0000471. PMID   31599633. S2CID   204029777.
  16. ↑ Javitt, D. C.; Strous, R. D.; Grochowski, S.; Ritter, W.; Cowan, N. (1997). "1997, Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Impaired precision, but normal retention, of auditory sensory ("echoic") memory information in schizophrenia". Journal of Abnormal Psychology. 106 (2): 315–24. doi:10.1037/0021-843x.106.2.315. PMID   9131851.
  17. ↑ Lee, E. Y.; Cowan, N.; Vogel, E. K.; Rolan, T.; Valle-Inclán, F.; Hackley, S. A. (2010). "2010, Brain, Visual working memory deficits in Parkinson's patients are due to both reduced storage capacity and impaired ability to filter out irrelevant information". Brain. 133 (9): 2677–2689. doi:10.1093/brain/awq197. PMC   2929336 . PMID   20688815.
  18. ↑ Cowan, N.; Beschin, N.; Della Sala, S. (2004). "2004, Brain, Verbal recall in amnesiacs under conditions of diminished retroactive interference". Brain: A Journal of Neurology. 127 (Pt 4): 825–34. doi: 10.1093/brain/awh107 . PMID   14749294.
  19. ↑ Dewar, M.; Garcia, Y. F.; Cowan, N.; Sala, S. D. (2009). "2009, Neuropsychology, Delaying Interference Enhances Memory Consolidation in Amnesic Patients". Neuropsychology. 23 (5): 627–634. doi:10.1037/a0015568. PMC   2808210 . PMID   19702416.
  20. ↑ Saults, J. S.; Cowan, N.; Sher, K. J.; Moreno, M. V. (2007). "2007, Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, Differential Effects of Alcohol on Working Memory: Distinguishing Multiple Processes". Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology. 15 (6): 576–587. doi:10.1037/1064-1297.15.6.576. PMC   2658822 . PMID   18179311.
  21. ↑ Bartholow, B. D.; Fleming, K. A.; Wood, P. K.; Cowan, N.; Saults, J. S.; Altamirano, L.; Miyake, A.; Martins, J.; Sher, K. J. (2018). "2019, Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, Alcohol Effects on Response Inhibition: Variability across Tasks and Individuals". Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology. 26 (3): 251–267. doi:10.1037/pha0000190. PMC   5991490 . PMID   29863383.
  22. ↑ "2020, Neuropsychology, Wakeful rest benefits before and after encoding in anterograde amnesia".
  23. ↑ Cowan, N.; Saults, J. S.; Blume, C. L. (2014). "2014, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, Central and Peripheral Components of Working Memory Storage". Journal of Experimental Psychology. General. 143 (5): 1806–1836. doi:10.1037/a0036814. PMC   4172497 . PMID   24867488.
  24. ↑ Cowan, N.; Li, D.; Moffitt, A.; Becker, T. M.; Martin, E. A.; Saults, J. S.; Christ, S. E. (2011). "2011, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, A Neural Region of Abstract Working Memory". Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 23 (10): 2852–2863. doi:10.1162/jocn.2011.21625. PMC   3138911 . PMID   21261453.
  25. ↑ Cowan, N. (2011). "2011, Neuropsychologia, The Focus of Attention As Observed in Visual Working Memory Tasks: Making Sense of Competing Claims". Neuropsychologia. 49 (6): 1401–1406. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2011.01.035. PMC   3095706 . PMID   21277880.
  26. ↑ Li, D.; Christ, S. E.; Cowan, N. (2014). "2014, Neuroimage, Domain-General and Domain-Specific Functional Networks in Working Memory". NeuroImage. 102 (2): 646–656. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.08.028. PMC   4252243 . PMID   25178986.
  27. ↑ Majerus, S.; Cowan, N.; Péters, F.; Van Calster, L.; Phillips, C.; Schrouff, J. (2014). "2016, Cerebral Cortex, Cross-Modal Decoding of Neural Patterns Associated with Working Memory: Evidence for Attention-Based Accounts of Working Memory". Cerebral Cortex. 26 (1): 166–179. doi:10.1093/cercor/bhu189. PMC   4717284 . PMID   25146374.
  28. ↑ Elliott, E. M.; Cowan, N. (2001). "2001, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, Habituation to auditory distractors in a cross-modal, color-word interference task". Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition. 27 (3): 654–67. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.27.3.654. PMID   11394672.
  29. ↑ Wood, N. L.; Cowan, N. (1995). "1995, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, The cocktail party phenomenon revisited: attention and memory in the classic selective listening procedure of Cherry (1953)". Journal of Experimental Psychology. General. 124 (3): 243–62. doi:10.1037/0096-3445.124.3.243. PMID   7673862. S2CID   6065385.
  30. ↑ Wood, N.; Cowan, N. (1995). "The cocktail party phenomenon revisited: how frequent are attention shifts to one's name in an irrelevant auditory channel?". Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition. 21 (1): 255–60. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.21.1.255. PMID   7876773.
  31. ↑ Conway, Andrew R. A.; Cowan, Nelson; Bunting, Michael F. (2001). "The cocktail party phenomenon revisited: The importance of working memory capacity". Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. 8 (2): 331–335. doi: 10.3758/BF03196169 . PMID   11495122. S2CID   8946077.
  32. ↑ "2020, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, A preregistered replication and extension of the cocktail party phenomenon: One's name captures attention, unexpected words do not".
  33. ↑ "Older adults do not notice their names: A new twist to a classic attention task".
  34. ↑ Cowan, N.; Nugent, L. D.; Elliott, E. M.; Ponomarev, I.; Saults, J. S. (1999). "1999, Child Development, The role of attention in the development of short-term memory: age differences in the verbal span of apprehension". Child Development. 70 (5): 1082–97. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00080. PMID   10546336.
  35. ↑ Cowan, N.; Morey, C. C.; Aubuchon, A. M.; Zwilling, C. E.; Gilchrist, A. L. (2010). "2010, Developmental Science, Seven-year-olds Allocate Attention Like Adults Unless Working Memory is Overloaded". Developmental Science. 13 (1): 120–33. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2009.00864.x. PMC   2819460 . PMID   20121868.
  36. ↑ Cowan, N.; Elliott, E. M.; Saults, J. S.; Nugent, L. D.; Bomb, P.; Hismjatullina, A. (2006). "2006, Psychological Science, Rethinking Speed Theories of Cognitive Development: Increasing the Rate of Recall Without Affecting Accuracy". Psychological Science. 17 (1): 67–73. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2005.01666.x. PMC   2615186 . PMID   16371146.
  37. ↑ Cowan, N.; Aubuchon, A. M.; Gilchrist, A. L.; Ricker, T. J.; Saults, J. S. (2011). "2011, Developmental Science, Age Differences in Visual Working Memory Capacity: Not Based on Encoding Limitations". Developmental Science. 14 (5): 1066–1074. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2011.01060.x. PMC   3177168 . PMID   21884322.
  38. ↑ Cowan, N.; Ricker, T. J.; Clark, K. M.; Hinrichs, G. A.; Glass, B. A. (2014). "2015, Developmental Science, Knowledge Cannot Explain the Developmental Growth of Working Memory Capacity". Developmental Science. 18 (1): 132–145. doi:10.1111/desc.12197. PMC   4270959 . PMID   24942111.
  39. 1 2 Gilchrist, A. L.; Cowan, N.; Naveh-Benjamin, M. (2009). "2009, Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, Investigating the Childhood Development of Working Memory Using Sentences: New Evidence for the Growth of Chunk Capacity". Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. 104 (2): 252–265. doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2009.05.006. PMC   2752294 . PMID   19539305.
  40. ↑ Cowan, N.; Li, Y.; Glass, B.; Saults, J. S. (2017). "2018, Developmental Science, Development of the Ability to Combine Visual and Acoustic Information in Working Memory". Developmental Science. 21 (5): e12635. doi:10.1111/desc.12635. PMC   5986620 . PMID   29119661.
  41. ↑ Greene, N. R.; Naveh-Benjamin, M.; Cowan, N. (2020). "2020, Psychology and Aging, Adult age differences in working memory capacity: Spared central storage but deficits in ability to maximize peripheral storage". Psychology and Aging. 35 (6): 866–880. doi:10.1037/pag0000476. PMID   32406709. S2CID   218634558.
  42. ↑ Cowan, N.; Naveh-Benjamin, M.; Kilb, A.; Saults, J. S. (2006). "Life-Span Development of Visual Working Memory: When is Feature Binding Difficult?". Developmental Psychology. 42 (6): 1089–1102. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.42.6.1089. PMC   1635970 . PMID   17087544.
  43. ↑ Gilchrist, A. L.; Cowan, N.; Naveh-Benjamin, M. (2008). "Working Memory Capacity for Spoken Sentences Decreases with Adult Aging: Recall of Fewer, but not Smaller Chunks in Older Adults". Memory (Hove, England). 16 (7): 773–787. doi:10.1080/09658210802261124. PMC   2610466 . PMID   18671167.
  44. 1 2 Cowan, N.; Elliott, E. M.; Saults, J. S.; Morey, C. C.; Mattox, S.; Hismjatullina, A.; Conway, A. R. (2005). "2005, Cognitive Psychology, On the Capacity of Attention: Its Estimation and Its Role in Working Memory and Cognitive Aptitudes". Cognitive Psychology. 51 (1): 42–100. doi:10.1016/j.cogpsych.2004.12.001. PMC   2673732 . PMID   16039935.
  45. ↑ Bunting, M. F.; Cowan, N.; Colflesh, G. H. (2008). "2008, Memory & Cognition, The Deployment of Attention in Short-term Memory Tasks: Tradeoffs between Immediate and Delayed Deployment". Memory & Cognition. 36 (4): 799–812. doi:10.3758/mc.36.4.799. PMC   2667108 . PMID   18604962.
  46. ↑ Richardson, J. S.; Cowan, N.; Hartman, R.; Jacobowitz, D. M. (1974). "1974, Res Commun Chem Pathol Pharmacol, On the behavioral and neurochemical actions of 6-hydroxydopa and 5,6-dihydroxytryptamine in rats". Research Communications in Chemical Pathology and Pharmacology. 8 (1): 29–44. PMID   4847904.
  47. ↑ "Nelson Cowan, PhD". American Psychological Association. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
  48. ↑ "Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, web page".
  49. ↑ "Fellows". Society of Experimental Psychologists. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
  50. ↑ "Psychological Scientists Elected as AAAS Fellows". Observer Magazine.
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