Models of working memory:Mechanisms of active maintenance and executive control (1999)

Abstract

What is working memory, anyway?’ Despite the seminal definition (Baddeley & Hitch 1974; Daneman & Carpenter 1980) of working memory (WM) being the system or mechanism at the basis of maintaining task-relevant information during the performance of a cognitive task (p. 1), and despite the familiarity of the term, addressing the question of what WM really is does not seem to be in the same ballpark of easily-put answers; it is not even in the same league.What is working memory, anyway?’ Despite the seminal definition (Baddeley & Hitch 1974; Daneman & Carpenter 1980) of working memory (WM) being the system or mechanism at the basis of maintaining task-relevant information during the performance of a cognitive task (p. 1), and despite the familiarity of the term, addressing the question of what WM really is does not seem to be in the same ballpark of easily-put answers; it is not even in the same league