Wh at Is Working Memory?

Current frameworks of working memory (for an overview, see Miyake & Shah, 1999) originated from earlier models of short-term memory (e.g., Broadbent, 1958). Contemporary models typically go beyond these earlier models by assuming a multicomponent cognitive architecture rather than a unitary storage system. They also emphasize the function of such an architecture in complex cognition, such as the control of attention and the manipulation of informationhence, the term working memoryrather than information storage per se. One of the most influential frameworks for working memory in cognitive science is the multicomponent model proposed by Baddeley and Hitch (1974). The updated model (Baddeley, 2000, 2007) assumes an attentional control system, the