ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of methods and considerations that must be made when one studies working memory. Working memory is the mental system in which relevant information is maintained and used in ongoing processing. Critically, working memory represents maintenance that is intentional and selective. A. D. Baddeley's model conceives of working memory as arising from the interaction of three critical components. In practice complex span tasks are probably robust to differences in scoring method. The accuracy with which people complete the processing component of the complex span task is not a traditional dependent variable. The visual arrays task was designed to specifically test the storage capacity of visuo-spatial short-term memory. In the running memory span task, test-takers see a serially presented list of items of an indeterminate length. Confirmatory factor analysis is good for testing theoretical assumptions about the number of factors that influence task performance.
