ABSTRACT
Expressing one’s thoughts in writing is often a dreaded and onerous task. Other times it can be pure joy — fluent, fluid, and seemingly effortless. Most often, however, writing is very demanding, and relative to speaking, a process that requires extensive self-regulation and attentional control (see also Grabowski, chapter 4, and Kellogg, chapter 3 in this volume). Part of the reason for the relative difficulty of writing is that it requires that a number of subprocesses be simultaneously managed. Writers must change ideas into text, repair organization and mechanics, and monitor their success — all while trying to formulate a coherent message. Working memory capacity limits in multitask situations like this implicate the central executive component of Baddeley and Hitch’s model (1974). The central executive has limited resources that coordinate task performance through the selection, facilitation, and control of subprocesses. How the central executive contributes to successful and fluent writing may also help us understand the nature and timing of these various subprocesses.
