Working memory is the system that actively holds multiple pieces of transitory information in the mind for execution of verbal and nonverbal tasks — such as reasoning and comprehension — and makes them available for further information-processing. It is not the same as short term memory. Working memory tasks require monitoring (i.e. manipulation of information or behaviors) as part of completing goal-directed actions in the setting of interfering processes and distractions. The cognitive processes needed to achieve this include the executive and attention control of short-term memory, which permit interim integration, processing, disposal, and retrieval of information. These processes are sensitive to age: working memory is associated with cognitive development, and research shows that its capacity tends to decline with old age. Working memory is a theoretical concept central both to cognitive psychology and neuroscience. In addition, neurological studies demonstrate a link between working memory and learning and attention.
Theories exist both regarding the theoretical structure of working memory and the role of specific parts of the brain involved in working memory. Research identifies the frontal cortex, parietal cortex, anterior cingulate, and parts of the basal ganglia as crucial. The neural basis of working memory has been derived from lesion experiments in animals and functional imaging upon humans.
Read more about Working Memory: History, Theories, Capacity, Development, Training, Neural Maintenance, Learning, Attention, Research
Famous quotes containing the words working and/or memory:
“I was the one who was working to destroy the one thing to which I was committed, that is, my relationship with Gilberte; I was doing so by creating, little by little and through the prolonged separation from my friend, not her indifference, but my own. It was toward a long and cruel suicide of the self within myself which loved Gilberte that I continuously set myself ...”
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922)
“Men like my father cannot die. They are with me still real in memory as they were in flesh. Loving and beloved forever. How green was my valley then.”
—Philip Dunne (1908–1992)