Ellen R. Stoltzfus

This book compares and contrasts different conceptions of working memory. This is one of the most important notions to have informed cognitive psychology over the last 20 years or so. Primarily, 'working memory' has referred to the human cognitive system responsible for temporary storage of verbal information, but this book goes further and includes proponents of several different yet dominant views of working memory. Contents include: The Seven Ages of Working Memory, Working Memory and Aging, Working Memory and Retrieval. Both the conceptual and methodological basis of the study of working memory relevant to advanced undergraduates, postgraduates, and research workers in the fields of cognition, intellectual development, and cognitive neuropsychology are covered.

The purpose of this contribution to the Counterpoints series is to compare and contrast different conceptions of working memory. This is one of the most important notions to have informed cognitive psychology over the last 20 years or so, and yet it has been used in a wide variety of ways. This, in part, is undoubtedly because contemporary usage of the phrase `working memory, encapsulates various themes that have appeared at different points in the history of research into human memory and cognition. This book presents three dominant views of working memory.