
You’re heading to the market. You need to pick up eggs, cheese, milk, bread, tomatoes, carrots, and string beans. Can you keep those items in mind by repeating them to yourself? You arrive at your usual market, but it is unexpectedly closed. A passerby gives you verbal directions to a new market. Can you close your eyes and visualize the route? Both activities tap working memory — that is, your memory for information that you need to actively keep “in mind” and manipulate often.
We use this type of memory every day. For example, when we are comparing two or more options — whether dinner entrees, health plans, or mutual funds — we are using our working memory to keep the details of the different options in mind.
The frontal lobes direct the components of working memory
The two...
Read More