Short-Term and Working Memory

Scope: Active maintenance, manipulation, working-memory updating, rehearsal, chunking; visual working memory; verbal working memory; spatial working memory; umbrella hed_working_memory.

Out of scope: Working memory load (task parameter, not process); working memory capacity (individual difference); long-term memory; bare “maintenance” (merged into hed_active_maintenance).

The duplicate hed_updating / hed_updating_wm pair (pre-reframe residue from when Updating was split across the executive-function and working-memory categories) was consolidated on 2026-04-17 into a single hed_working_memory_updating row. The renaming also improves specificity — plain “Updating” was memory-context-underspecified. See .status/working_memory_updating_rename_2026-04-17.md. hed_maintenance merged into hed_active_maintenance 2026-04-19 — “active maintenance” is the preferred term; Goldman-Rakic (1995) reference absorbed; “Maintenance” added as alias. :::

This category contains 9 processes.

Active maintenance

Process ID: hed_active_maintenance

Also known as: Maintenance — Generic term for holding information over a delay; merged 2026-04-18. Active maintenance emphasizes the volitional, attention-demanding character.

Holding information active over a delay without manipulation, through volitional, attention-demanding processes; a core subprocess of working memory.

Tasks

The following tasks engage this process:

Fundamental references

  • Goldman-Rakic (1995) Neuron 14:477–485

  • Cohen, Perlstein, Braver, Nystrom, Noll, Jonides & Smith (1997) Nature 386:604–608

Recent references

  • D’Esposito & Postle (2015) Annual Review of Psychology 66:115–142

Chunking

Process ID: hed_chunking

Binding of multiple items into a single unit in memory to expand effective capacity.

Tasks

The following tasks engage this process:

Fundamental references

  • Miller (1956) Psychological Review 63:81–97

Recent references

  • Thalmann, Souza & Oberauer (2019) JEP: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 45:37–55

Manipulation

Process ID: hed_manipulation

Transformation of information held in working memory (reordering, reversing, combining) beyond simple maintenance.

Tasks

The following tasks engage this process:

Fundamental references

  • D’Esposito, Postle, Ballard & Lease (1999) Brain and Cognition 41:66–86

Recent references

  • Nee, Brown, Askren, Berman, Demiralp, Krawitz & Jonides (2013) Cerebral Cortex 23:264–282

Rehearsal

Process ID: hed_rehearsal

Covert repetition of material to refresh its representation in short-term memory, especially for verbal material (articulatory rehearsal).

Tasks

The following tasks engage this process:

Fundamental references

  • Baddeley, Thomson & Buchanan (1975) Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior 14:575–589

Recent references

  • Camos, Lagner & Barrouillet (2009) Journal of Memory and Language 61:457–469

Spatial working memory

Process ID: hed_spatial_working_memory

Short-term storage of spatial locations and spatial relations.

Tasks

The following tasks engage this process:

Fundamental references

  • Smith & Jonides (1997) Cognitive Psychology 33:5–42

Recent references

  • Zimmermann & Eschen (2021) Current Opinion in Psychology 38:84–89

Verbal working memory

Process ID: hed_verbal_working_memory

Short-term storage of phonological/verbal information, historically “phonological loop”; supports digit span, Sternberg with letters.

Tasks

The following tasks engage this process:

Fundamental references

  • Baddeley (1986) Working Memory

  • Paulesu, Frith & Frackowiak (1993) Nature 362:342–345

Recent references

  • Acheson, Hamidi, Binder & Postle (2011) Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 23:1358–1367

Visual working memory

Process ID: hed_visual_working_memory

Short-term storage and manipulation of visual information; capacity limited to ~3–4 items.

Tasks

The following tasks engage this process:

Fundamental references

  • Luck & Vogel (1997) Nature 390:279–281

Recent references

  • Ma, Husain & Bays (2014) Nature Neuroscience 17:347–356

Working memory

Process ID: hed_working_memory

System for the short-term maintenance, updating, and manipulation of task-relevant information over delays of seconds.

Tasks

The following tasks engage this process:

Fundamental references

  • Baddeley & Hitch (1974) in Psychology of Learning and Motivation

  • Baddeley (2003) Nature Reviews Neuroscience 4:829–839

Recent references

  • Oberauer, Lewandowsky, Awh, Brown, Conway et al. (2018) Psychological Bulletin 144:885–958

Working memory updating

Process ID: hed_working_memory_updating

Also known as: Updating — Pre-2026-04-17 name; renamed for specificity — plain ‘Updating’ was memory-context-underspecified.; Updating (WM) — Duplicate entry merged 2026-04-17.

Replacement or revision of information currently held active in working memory with newly task-relevant content. One of three core executive functions in the Miyake et al. unity/diversity framework; decomposable into retrieval, transformation, and substitution subcomponents (Ecker et al.); implemented by a cortico-striatal gating mechanism that opens to admit new content and closes to protect maintenance. Distinct from long-term-memory reconsolidation (which occurs when retrieval triggers a prediction error and targets stored representations rather than the focus of attention). Indexed behaviorally by N-Back, running-span, and keep-track performance.

Tasks

The following tasks engage this process:

Fundamental references

  • Miyake, Friedman, Emerson, Witzki, Howerter & Wager (2000) Cognitive Psychology 41:49–100

Recent references

  • Ecker, Lewandowsky, Oberauer & Chee (2010) Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 36:170–189

  • Frank, Loughry & O’Reilly (2001) Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience 1:137–160

  • Wahlheim & Zacks (2025) Trends in Cognitive Sciences 29(4):380–392 — situates working-memory updating within the broader event-segmentation account of memory updating at event boundaries