What's the News: The left and right halves of the brain have separate stores for working memory, the information we actively keep in mind, suggests a study published online yesterday by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. People can, on average, hold only four pieces of information in working memory---say, where four strangers are seated in a room. The current study suggests that, in fact, working memory capacity is two plus two---two items stored in each side of the brain---rather than four items stored anywhere. This understanding could be used to design learning techniques and visual displays that maximize working memory capacity. How the Heck:
The researchers had two monkeys---which, like humans, can on average hold four pieces of information in mind---do a standard working memory task used in both primates and people. The monkeys were shown between two and five squares on a screen. The squares disappeared ...
