Working memory
Working memory is the small, short-lived store that holds information while we actively think with it.
At a glance
Key signals
12% cross fields · reaches 7 more
- Cognitive Psychology
- Psychology
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Explanation
- Examples
- Misconception
- Sourced relations
- Attribution
Dependencies
What this concept builds on and what it makes possible — derived from the atlas’s dependency, causal and structural relations, not from every related edge.
Foundations · builds on
Working memorydepends onNeural RepresentationEstablished
Working Memory depends on Neural Representation.
Working memorydepends onNeuronEstablished
Memory rests on neurons.
Mechanism: Working memory is held in the sustained, patterned firing of networks of neurons in the prefrontal cortex.
Selective attentionenablesWorking memoryEstablished
Attention gates memory.
Mechanism: Attention selects which inputs enter the limited store, so only relevant items get held and used.
Enables · leads to
Cognitive developmentemerges fromWorking memoryEstablished
Thinking grows as memory grows.
Mechanism: Expanding working-memory capacity in childhood lets children hold and combine more ideas, enabling more complex reasoning.
Minddepends onWorking memoryEstablished
Mind depends on working memory.
Mechanism: The mind depends on memory to hold and manipulate information.
System context
Working memoryis part ofCognitive ControlEstablished
Working Memory is a part of Cognitive Control.
Mental representationis part ofWorking memoryEstablished
Memory holds representations.
Mechanism: The contents of working memory are mental representations — codes standing in for the things being thought about.
Structural role & consequence
Interpreted from the current atlas graph — what the connections mean, not just how many there are.
Removing this node lengthens the structural route between Neuron and Scaffolding from 2 to 10 steps (they stay connected — alternative routes exist).
structural · Structural removal simulation — not a historical or causal counterfactual.
Currently dark in the atlas: no key date stored · 17 of 17 of its relations lack claim-level evidence.
atlas representation · Describes the current Thinking OS representation, not the state of the world.
Builds on 3 foundations (requires / depends-on / derived-from / emerges-from).
structural · Structural graph analysis — not a claim of importance, causation or history.
Structural neighbourhood: 17 → 56 → 95 concepts reachable within 3 hops.
structural · Structural reach — being reachable is not the same as being understood.
cross-field
15 within-field, 2 cross-field
Strengths & constraints
Constraints
- Evidence coverage currently thin in the atlas — few of its relationships carry claim-level evidence. atlas representation
- No dated history stored — the atlas records no key date for this concept. atlas representation
Conditions
- Its dependency reading rests on 3 foundation relations. structural
- Read structurally — most of its relationships carry no external evidence yet, so claims here are graph-derived. structural
Dependency radial
What this concept builds on (left) and what it makes possible (right) — derived from dependency and causal relations.
What builds on this
1 concept build on this directly, 1 in total, across 2 disciplines.
Structural downstream reach along dependency edges — not a claim of historical necessity.
Seen through each discipline
How this concept sits in each of its fields — derived from its real connections in the graph, not asserted.
Through this lens it connects to Selective attention, Mental representation, Cognitive Load and Miller's Law.
Through this lens it connects to Mind, Selective attention, Cognitive development and Mental representation.
Through this lens it connects to Neural Representation, Selective attention and Cognitive Control.
Related ideas to explore
Concepts that look related but are not yet connected here — candidates for a connection to reason about, not established links.
This idea also appears in…
The same structure shows up in other disciplines. These are real recurrences drawn from the graph — a starting point for asking “what carries over, and what changes?”
Concepts
- Social cognitionSocial Psychology
explicitly analogous
crosses a discipline boundary
crosses a discipline boundary
- Connects 17 other ideas across 3 disciplines.
- A cross-disciplinary bridge — its connections reach into 7 other fields.
- Most of its connections are of the “Teaching link” kind.
Derived from the graph’s real structure — observations, not a score.
Sources
- Cognitive Perspectives of Working Memory Training (2019) verified
- Working Memory (2014) verified
- Working memory (2015) verified