'Working Memory, Thought, and Action' is the magnum opus of one of the most influential cognitive psychologists of the past 50 years. This update on the model he created (with Graham Hitch) discusses the developments that have occurred within the model in the past twenty years, and places it within a broader context.
Working memory is a temporary storage system that underpins our capacity for coherent thought. Some 30 years ago, Baddeley and Hitch proposed a way of thinking about working memory that has proved to be both valuable and influential in its application to practical problems. This book updates the theory, discussing both the evidence in its favour, and alternative approaches. In addition, it discusses the implications of the model for understanding social and emotional behaviour, concluding with an attempt to place working memory in a broader biological and philosophical context. Inside are chapters on the phonological loop, the visuo-spatial sketchpad, the central executive and the episodic buffer. There are also chapters on the relevance to working memory of studies of the recency effect, of work based on individual differences, and of neuroimaging research.
The broader implications of the concept of working memory are discussed in the chapters on social psychology, anxiety, depression, consciousness and on the control of action. Finally, Baddeley discusses the relevance of a concept of working memory to the classic problems of consciousness and free will.
This new volume from one of the pioneers in memory research will doubtless emulate the success of its predecessor, and be a major publication within the psychological literature.
1: Introduction and overview
2: Why do we need a phonological loop?
3: The phonological loop: challenges and growing points
4: Visuospatial short-term memory
5: Imagery and the visuospatial sketchpad
6: Recency retrieval and the constant ratio rule
7: Fractionating the central executive
8: Long-term memory and the episodic buffer
9: Exploring the episodic buffer
10: Individual differences in working memory
11: What limits working memory span
12: Neuroimaging working memory
13: Working memory and social behaviour
14: Working memory and emotion I: fear and craving
15: Working memory and emotion II: depression and the well-springs of action
16: Working memory and consciousness
17: Multilevel control of action
18: Working memory in context: life, the universe and everything