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” (the canonical row is hed_active_maintenance).
Note
Open issues: Working-memory SPLIT (umbrella item 3 from the earlier decisions log) still pending — whether hed_working_memory should be retained as an umbrella alongside the component rows, or whether pages should link only to the components.
This category contains 9 processes.
Active maintenance¶
Process ID: hed_active_maintenance
Holding information active over a delay without manipulation, through volitional, attention-demanding processes; a core subprocess of working memory.
Tasks that engage this process: Change Detection Task, Corsi Block-Tapping Task, Delayed Match-to-Sample Task, Digit Span Task, N-Back Task, Operation Span Task, Sternberg Item Recognition Task
Fundamental references
Further references
D’Esposito & Postle (2015) Annual Review of Psychology 66:115–142 (DOI)
Chunking¶
Process ID: hed_chunking
Binding of multiple items into a single unit in memory to expand effective capacity.
Tasks that engage this process: Digit Span Task
Fundamental references
Miller (1956) Psychological Review 63:81–97 (DOI)
Further references
Thalmann, Souza & Oberauer (2019) JEP: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 45:37–55 (DOI)
Manipulation¶
Process ID: hed_manipulation
Transformation of information held in working memory (reordering, reversing, combining) beyond simple maintenance.
Tasks that engage this process: Corsi Block-Tapping Task, Digit Span Task
Fundamental references
Further references
Nee, Brown, Askren, Berman, Demiralp, Krawitz & Jonides (2013) Cerebral Cortex 23:264–282 (DOI)
Rehearsal¶
Process ID: hed_rehearsal
Covert repetition of material to refresh its representation in short-term memory, especially for verbal material (articulatory rehearsal).
Tasks that engage this process: Digit Span Task, Free Recall Task
Fundamental references
Baddeley, Thomson & Buchanan (1975) Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior 14:575–589 (DOI)
Further references
Camos, Lagner & Barrouillet (2009) Journal of Memory and Language 61:457–469 (DOI)
Spatial working memory¶
Process ID: hed_spatial_working_memory
Short-term storage of spatial locations and spatial relations.
Tasks that engage this process: Corsi Block-Tapping Task, Virtual Morris Water Maze Task, Virtual Radial Arm Maze Task
Fundamental references
Further references
Zimmermann & Eschen (2021) Current Opinion in Psychology 38:84–89
Verbal working memory¶
Process ID: hed_verbal_working_memory
Also known as: phonological loop - Baddeley working memory model
Short-term storage of phonological/verbal information, historically “phonological loop”; supports digit span, Sternberg with letters.
Tasks that engage this process: Digit Span Task, Operation Span Task, Sternberg Item Recognition Task
Fundamental references
Further references
Acheson, Hamidi, Binder & Postle (2011) Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 23:1358–1367 (DOI)
Visual working memory¶
Process ID: hed_visual_working_memory
Short-term storage and manipulation of visual information; capacity limited to ~3–4 items.
Tasks that engage this process: Change Detection Task, Delayed Match-to-Sample Task, Multiple Object Tracking Task
Fundamental references
Further references
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 that engage this process: Digit Symbol Substitution Task, N-Back Task, Operation Span Task, Raven’s Progressive Matrices Task, Sternberg Item Recognition Task, Tower of London Task, Trail Making Task
Fundamental references
Baddeley & Hitch (1974) in Psychology of Learning and Motivation (DOI)
Baddeley (2003) Nature Reviews Neuroscience 4:829–839 (DOI, PubMed)
Further references
Oberauer, Lewandowsky, Awh, Brown, Conway et al. (2018) Psychological Bulletin 144:885–958 (DOI)
Working memory updating¶
Process ID: hed_working_memory_updating
Also known as: Memory Updating - Frequently used in literature to describe the process of changing the contents of working memory.
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 that engage this process: N-Back Task, Oddball Task, Rapid Serial Visual Presentation Task
Fundamental references
Miyake, Friedman, Emerson, Witzki, Howerter & Wager (2000) Cognitive Psychology 41:49–100 (DOI, PubMed)
Further references
Ecker, Lewandowsky, Oberauer & Chee (2010) Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 36:170–189 (DOI)
Frank, Loughry & O’Reilly (2001) Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience 1:137–160 (DOI, PubMed)
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 (DOI, PubMed)