Working Memory: Private Speech and Other Performatory Vehicles of Thought

Language and inner speech are central to our commonsense ideas about consciousness. And in current cognitive theory, working memory often plays a central role as a system that maintains information—often in linguistic form—so that it can be used to accomplish cognitive tasks. Limits on working memory are thus a major constraint on the coordinative modes that we can adopt in performing mental routines. In this chapter, I examine these topics from the vantage point of the experienced cognition framework.