Cognitive Resources in Working Memory: Domain-Specific or General?

An experiment in the dual-task paradigm was carried out to explore the nature of domain-specific and domain-general resource distribution in working memory. The subjects (N = 32) performed symmetry span and letter reading span tasks under visuospatial (tapping) and verbal (articulatory suppression) cognitive load. The effects of task type and cognitive load modality were analyzed. The results are described within the concentric model framework: significant distinctions in relative accuracy under visuospatial and verbal cognitive load in visuospatial and verbal tasks were observed when N elements in the set exceeded the region of direct access capacity, while no such effect was observed for 2–3 element sets. This is attributed to domain-general resources in the region of direct access, and domain-specific resources in the activated long-term memory. We also found evidence for the asymmetric distribution of visuospatial and verbal working memory resources in that the verbal component is more susceptible to cognitive load.