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Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology pp 720–724Cite as

Central Executive

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Definition

Working memory (WM) has been defined as the “blackboard of the mind” and the “mental sketchpad” (Baddeley 1986). It enables the online holding and mental manipulation of information. Human beings use WM processes all the time. For example, WM is used to perform rapid mathematical functions in our heads and to understand the inherent meaning in speech and writing. WM is also important for reasoning and problem solving (Baddeley 1999). Psychologists have posited several types of memory in the intact human mind. Although philosophers have long been theorizing about distinctions within memory, there has been experimental evidence supporting the divisions of memory for only the past 30–40 years (Baddeley 1999).

Historical Background

Baddeley and Hitch (1974) developed a theory of a WM system that has become the dominant theory in cognitive psychology for the organization of WM (Fig. 1). Baddeley’s model addressed weaknesses of previous short-term memory (STM) models, including...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Butler Hospital Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI, USA

    Nicole C. R. McLaughlin

Authors
  1. Nicole C. R. McLaughlin
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Correspondence to Nicole C. R. McLaughlin .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA

    Jeffrey S. Kreutzer

  2. Kessler Foundation, Pleasant Valley Way, West Orange, NJ, USA

    John DeLuca

  3. Independent Practice, Wynnewood, PA, USA

    Bruce Caplan

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McLaughlin, N.C.R. (2018). Central Executive. In: Kreutzer, J.S., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_1883

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