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Working Memory

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences

  • 243 Accesses

Synonyms

Active memory; Working memory capacity

Definition

A system for the temporary storage and manipulation of information

Introduction

Working memory can generally be defined as the cognitive capacity for the temporary storage and manipulation of information. It is a construct that encompasses elements of both memory and attention and over the last decade or two has become a topic of increasing interest to a diverse population of researchers. The rise in popularity in the study of working memory is largely attributable to its robust relationships with many cognitive abilities known to influence daily functioning. These related constructs include fluid intelligence (Kyllonen 1996; Shelton et al. 2010), short-term memory (Engle et al. 1999), long-term memory (Cantor and Engle 1993), and attention (Engle 2002), as well as academically relevant outcomes such as math (Passolunghi 2006) and reading achievement (Daneman and Carpenter 1980; Turner and Engle 1989).

Overview

In their seminal...

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

    Eddie A. Christopher & Thomas S. Redick

Authors
  1. Eddie A. Christopher
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  2. Thomas S. Redick
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eddie A. Christopher .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Virgil Zeigler-Hill

  2. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. University of North Carolina-Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, USA

    Charlie Reeve

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing AG

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Christopher, E., Redick, T. (2016). Working Memory. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1039-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1039-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

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