ABSTRACT
The chapter offers a general perspective on working memory, setting the stage for exploration in the following chapters of the way that it fits into the modular mind. The first topic is the Baddeley and Hitch model, including its contributions and its limitations. This is followed by a consideration of the relation between working memory and long-term memory, emphasizing the idea that working memory is the activation of memories in situ, and then the standard appeal to attention as the source of the activation. After a short introduction to working memory capacity, we then turn to the most important part of the discussion, considering what is not known about working memory. The primary conclusion is that a great deal remains open, including the fundamental questions of its architecture, its relation to long-term memory, the source of the activation that underlies it, the nature of working memory capacity, and the most fundamental question of all: Is there really such a thing as working memory?
