Working Memory

Active mental workspace used to manipulate information, not just hold it briefly.

Why care vs short-term memory?

You can hold seven digits in your head (STM) but only do mental arithmetic on a few of them at once. STM is storage; working memory is processing.

Alan Baddeley’s model has three parts:

• Central executive: control system, decides what to attend to and coordinates the others
• Phonological loop: keeps verbal and auditory information alive
• Visuospatial sketchpad: holds and manipulates images and spatial layouts