ABSTRACT
It is commonly agreed that working memory (WM) entails the online maintenance and processing of information necessary for higher level cognitive functioning. Functional definitions of WM about which there is consensus include the “moment-to-moment monitoring, processing, and maintenance of information” in everyday cognition (Baddeley & Logie, 1999, p. 28) and the system underlying the maintenance of information in the service of complex cognition (Miyake & Shah, 1999). There is less consensus about the cognitive architecture that underlies WM. Baddeley’s (e.g., Baddeley, 1986; Baddeley & Hitch, 1974) fractionation of short-term store (Atkinson & Shriffrin, 1971) into a multicomponent WM system with a domain-general central executive and two domain-specific subsidiary storage systems-verbal and visuospatial-has framed much of the theoretical debate and empirical research in this area. Although not all subscribe to this model of WM, the psychological reality of domain-specific verbal and visuospatial WM subcomponents is largely beyond dispute and is not reviewed here (see Shah & Miyake, 1996, for a brief review).
