Working Memory

Working memory can be thought of as the “mental workspace” of our brains, where we hold, sustain, manipulate, and integrate the information that we are currently using.^​1​

What we call working memory (WM) is made up of several other cognitive processes and functions (i.e. attentional control, short-term memory), and is an integral part of many others (i.e. planning, inhibition). It has a very limited capacity, usually being able to accurately hold and work with only 3-4 pieces of information at a time.^​2​

Short-Term Memory

While working memory includes the passive, short-term storage of information, it also includes “active, conscious processing,” which the idea of short-term memory does not. For example, if you were asked to remember a span of digits for a short period of time, that would be short-term memory. If you are asked to repeat those numbers backwards, you will use working memory. ^​3​

Attentional Control

Selective attention is a central component of working memory.^​2​ Attention a limited cognitive resource which is shared between the processing and maintenance aspects of WM, causing problems when, for example, a processing task is taking so much attention than there is none to spare for maintenance tasks, and information is forgotten.^​3​ It is the individual differences in attentional control abilities that are responsible for one’s WM capacity, which then affects other EFs such as inhibition.^​4​ Attentional control has also been linked to different processes such as goal pursuit^​5​ and rumination.^​6​

Inhibition

Inhibition, though considered a separate executive function by many researchers, relies heavily on working memory,^​4​ and both are considered to be interactive, with deficits in one likely to impair the other.^​7​

Emotional regulation, in particular, appears to rely heavily on WM, with studies showing that people with higher WM capacities being able to more successfully suppress emotions when appropriate (or demanded), and “more capably appraised emotional stimuli in an unemotional manner and thereby experienced (…) and expressed (…) less emotion in response to those stimuli.”^​5​ It is assumed that this works because “working memory capacity sustains goal-relevant responses in the presence of competing responses or distractions,” and thus allows the brain to prioritize the goal behavior over the distracting emotional impulses.^​​5​

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