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Working Memory

Neuroscience in the 21st Century

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Abstract

Working memory is a complex concept that underlies much of our higher cognitive abilities. It involves the selection, temporary storage, manipulation, and use of currently relevant information. Unlike long-term memory, only a very limited amount of information can be held in working memory at one time. Researchers have tried to measure this capacity of working memory, but the answer to that question depends on the type of information one is trying to remember and the way that the memory is tested. Working memory, particularly its executive component, seems to depend on the prefrontal cortex. This part of the brain has internal circuits that can sustain patterns of neural activity for a longer time than can other parts of the brain, resulting in flexible representations that can be protected from being overwritten by new sensory inputs. The prefrontal cortex also receives converging inputs from many different brain regions, enabling it to integrate and manipulate multiple pieces of information from the past and use that information to guide future behavior in new situations.

L. Ungerleider: deceased.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Section on Neurocircuitry, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, NIMH, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Leslie Ungerleider

  2. Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Susan Courtney

Authors
  1. Leslie Ungerleider
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  2. Susan Courtney
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Susan Courtney .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Rockefeller University Lab. Neurobiology & Behaviour, New York, NY, USA

    Donald W. Pfaff

  2. National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), Rockville, MD, USA

    Nora D. Volkow

  3. Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

    John Rubenstein

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© 2022 This is a U.S. Government work and not under copyright protection in the U.S.; foreign copyright protection may apply

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Ungerleider, L., Courtney, S. (2022). Working Memory. In: Pfaff, D.W., Volkow, N.D., Rubenstein, J. (eds) Neuroscience in the 21st Century. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6434-1_164-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6434-1_164-2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-6434-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-6434-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Working Memory
    Published:
    10 May 2022

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6434-1_164-2

  2. Original

    Working Memory
    Published:
    19 March 2016

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6434-1_164-1

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