A LITTLE LIGHTBULB MOMENT
Psychology: cognition, learning and development
Working memory
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The idea behind the cue
Working memory is the limited-capacity system that temporarily holds and manipulates information for ongoing tasks. It is active rather than passive and supports reasoning, comprehension, and mental arithmetic. It is easily disrupted by distraction or overload.
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Short & simple
Hold the code while opening the lock
Acronym
SWD — Sparkly Wombats Dance.
Story
Leo repeats a new phone number to himself while searching for paper. The number stays active just long enough for him to write it down, but a distracting text message knocks it out of mind.
Connect the pieces
- S (Sparkly) → Short: Contents are short-lived unless rehearsed or encoded.
- W (Wombats) → Work: It is active, not passive, and supports reasoning, comprehension, and mental arithmetic.
- D (Dance) → Distraction: It is easily disrupted by distraction or overload.
- Sparkly · Short: Contents are short-lived unless rehearsed or encoded.
- Wombats · Work: It is active, not passive, and supports reasoning, comprehension, and mental arithmetic.
- Dance · Distraction: It is easily disrupted by distraction or overload.
Know the limits
Not the same as long-term memory; contents are short-lived unless rehearsed or encoded.
Further reading · OpenStax science textbooks ↗Check your understanding
Which process is most directly involved when mentally adding 27 + 15 by keeping partial sums active?
A. Sensory adaptation
B. Working memory
C. Classical conditioning
D. Procedural memory
Reveal explanation
Working memory
Mental arithmetic requires holding and manipulating information in working memory.