Long-term representational costs of overloading working memory

Greene, Nathaniel R., Guitard, Dominic, Forsberg, Alicia, Cowan, Nelson and Naveh-Benjamin, Moshe 2026. Long-term representational costs of overloading working memory. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 33 (2) , 87. 10.3758/s13423-025-02826-y

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Abstract

Can learning too much information at once impair long-term retention of its meaning? Emerging evidence suggests that encoding too many items into working memory (WM) limits subsequent long-term memory (LTM) retrieval of their details and gist. These findings highlight a boundary condition for theories positing relatively automatic gist encoding. But how expansive is this boundary? Experiment 1 shows that it extends to older adults, despite their generally enhanced reliance on gist memory. In two older adult samples (n = 40 each), LTM gist retrieval was reduced for objects encoded in sets exceeding WM capacity. Experiment 2 shows that this boundary holds even when retaining items in LTM is essential. Under intentional long-term learning, young (n = 81) and older (n = 40) adults’ LTM gist retrieval remained affected by overloading WM at encoding. Results invite leading memory theories to reconsider the universality of relatively automatic gist encoding.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Psychology
Additional Information:	License information from Publisher: LICENSE 1: URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, Type: open-access
Publisher:	Springer
ISSN:	1069-9384
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	23 February 2026
Date of Acceptance:	31 July 2025
Last Modified:	23 Feb 2026 13:46
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/185123

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