WORKING MEMORY: CHARACTERISTICS, HOW IT WORKS, COMPONENTS, EXAMPLES - NEUROPSYCHOLOGY - 2025

The working memory is a cognitive element that serves to store and manipulate for a short period of time the data necessary to perform complex psychological tasks. For example, this mental element helps us with learning, thinking and understanding our environment.

Working memory plays a role in tasks such as selecting information, storing data, reasoning, and moving from short-term to long-term memory. On the other hand, many experts believe that working memory is the element with the greatest weight in the level of intelligence of each person.

A classic test to measure working memory capacity is to study the number of items, usually words or numbers, that an individual can remember and manipulate at one time using only their short-term memory. It has been found that the average is seven items, this being the maximum number of items that a person can retain in this part of their memory.

Although some researchers consider that short-term memory and working memory are the same, most experts believe that both elements of our mind are different and fulfill different tasks.

Working memory characteristics

Has a limited capacity

Although much research has been done on the limits of human memory, we have not yet been able to determine what they are, or even if there are any limits. However, this research has almost always focused on long-term memory, which is what allows us to remember almost unlimited amounts of information.

Working memory is different. Studies carried out focusing on it have discovered that a normal person can only retain approximately seven different elements in this part of memory, in such a way that if this number is exceeded it will be necessary to forget a previous one to store a new one in it.

This characteristic also occurs in a similar way in short-term memory, although not so exaggerated.

Work actively

The main difference between working memory and the other components of human memory is that it is not only limited to passively store data, but also allows us to manipulate and work with it. This allows us to use it to perform complex cognitive tasks, and makes it a fundamental element in our psyche.

For example, working memory plays a very important role in tasks such as reading, solving mathematical problems or different types of learning, especially those related to a complex skill.

Its contents are constantly updated

Because the working memory only has the capacity to store seven elements or items, its nature is much more volatile than the rest of the memory components. Thus, the long-term can retain information or memories for many decades, while the short-term is capable of doing so in a space of several hours.

In contrast, working memory is only capable of retaining data for a few seconds unless the person is making a continuous and conscious effort to keep the information stored there. If this does not happen, its contents are constantly being renewed, as we turn our attention to different elements of the environment.

It is related to intelligence

Within the most classical theories of psychology, working memory is often associated with what is known as the "G factor." This would be the component that could explain the differences that exist between people's levels of intelligence, in such a way that individuals with better working memory would have greater mental capacity.

This relationship would have to do with the ability that working memory provides us to manipulate information and use it for highly complex tasks. However, not all experts agree that the level of working memory and intelligence are as directly related as previously thought.

How it works and components of working memory

The first theory on working memory was that of Baddeley and Hitch, presented in 1974. In it they discussed the multicomponent model of working memory. The hypothesis proposed that it was a cognitive element that contained three segments: the central executive, the phonological loop, and the articulatory loop.

Central executive

In this model, the central executive would be in charge of regulating the attention of the other two elements, which would be in charge of manipulating the data collected through the senses or thought. Each of them would be focused on a specific type of task.

Working memory model. Cheese360 at English Wikipedia The central executive would have among its main tasks the redirection of attention capacity towards the relevant information of the environment, suppressing irrelevant stimuli and impulses that were not appropriate for the present task. In addition, it would also have to coordinate different cognitive processes whenever more than one activity was being carried out at the same time.

Phonological loop

On the other hand, the phonological loop aims to store the information from sounds and language and prevent its loss by repeating it constantly, in a continuous process that is what gives it its name. For example, in order to remember a phone number in the short term, we have to repeat it over and over again until we can dial them.

The central executive takes memory from unlimited long-term memory. Blacktc

Articulatory tie

The other secondary system is the articulatory loop. Its function is to store visual and spatial information, and for example it can be used to build visual images in our minds and manipulate them. Some experts consider that this component can be divided into two subsystems, one in charge of the visual part and the other of the spatial one.

Episodic buffer

In 2000, Baddeley himself added a fourth component to his theory, known as the episodic buffer. This would be in charge of working with mental representations that include a mixture of types of information; that is to say, they had visual, auditory, spatial and other elements.

Processing speed and working memory

Processing speed is one of the most important cognitive skills, and one of the ones that most determines our results in tasks such as learning, understanding or reasoning. It can be defined as the cognitive element that determines the time it takes a person to perform a certain mental task.

Processing speed is closely related to the speed with which the individual perceives, processes and reacts to all kinds of stimuli received from their environment and from within, regardless of their nature. Although their scope is not directly related to that of working memory, both have a very significant impact on psychological performance.

Thus, while processing speed affects how quickly we can manipulate and understand the information we receive from our environment, working memory determines how effectively we can perform these mental tasks. Therefore, they are two of the elements that most determine our levels of general intelligence.

Brain regions of working memory

The activity carried out by working memory is carried out in specific regions of the brain. Specifically, working memory seems to be associated with the functioning of neocortical areas.

In this sense, to be able to start working memory, the activation of the prefrontal cortex is required. This upper region of the brain is considered basic for storing and manipulating new information in the mind.

Frontal lobe (orange), parietal lobe (pink), occipital lobe (purple), temporal lobe (green)

The role of the prefrontal cortex in working memory is fundamental, however, multiple studies indicate how the functioning of working memory lies in the interaction between the prefrontal cortex and different areas of the postrollandic cortex.

Thus, working memory does not occur in a single part of the brain. This cognitive construct requires the activation of a specific neuron circuit.

Although working memory is initially activated thanks to the activation of the prefrontal cortex, in order for it to function properly, other neuroanatomical structures such as the temporal lobe and the occipital lobe must be activated.

The temporal lobe has been shown to allow the storage and manipulation of verbal information in the short term. This area of ​​the brain would give rise to the activity of the phonological loop. For its part, the occipital lobe is responsible for processing visual information, so it carries out activities relevant to the viso-spatial agenda.

Examples of working memory

Source: pexels.com

As we have already seen, working memory is the mental capacity that allows us to keep the information we need in our brain while we complete a specific task. This process is very useful in many situations, including the following:

- Match two or more elements that apparently have no connection. This occurs, for example, when remembering and relating the data that was mentioned during a discussion to give them coherence.

- Associate a new idea with something that we have already learned in the past. In this way, working memory allows us to expand our knowledge.

- Retain data while we focus on something different. For example, we can prepare the ingredients we need to cook a specific dish while chatting on the phone normally.

Activities to work on working memory

Working memory is one of the most important elements of our mind, since it allows us to concentrate on the task we are doing at all times, remember information in the short and medium term, and carry out new learning. However, to this day no way has yet been discovered to train this ability directly.

Even so, various investigations have shown that certain changes in lifestyle and the repetition of some activities can indirectly improve our working memory. The most important are the following:

Sleep well

Resting properly at night has a very positive impact on many areas of life, but one of the most affected by this factor is working memory. Lack of sleep can decrease our ability to retain and manipulate information with it.

Lead a healthy lifestyle

Lack of exercise or eating unhealthy foods can worsen our working memory capacity. In extreme cases, what is known as "cognitive fog" may appear, a phenomenon experienced by people who have great difficulty thinking clearly.

Reduce distractions

For working memory to function properly, we must find ourselves in an environment as free from distracting stimuli as possible. Therefore, if you eliminate everything that takes you out of your task, you will realize that it is much easier for you to concentrate, reason and learn new information.

References

1. "What is working memory?" in: Cognifit. Retrieved on: February 10, 2020 from Cognifit: cognifit.com.
2. "Working memory" in: Simply Psychology. Retrieved on: February 10, 2020 from Simply Psychology: simplypsychology.org.
3. "Working Memory: What It Is and How It Works" in: Understood. Retrieved on: February 10, 2020 from Understood: understood.org.
4. "Working Memory: A Complete Guide to How Your Brain Processes Information, Thinks and Learns" in: Scott H. Young. Retrieved on: February 10, 2020 from Scott H. Young: scotthyoung.com.
5. "Working memory" in: Wikipedia. Retrieved on: February 10, 2020 from Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org.