Models of Working Memory: Mechanisms of Active Maintenance and Executive Control (Volume 0)

Working memory is currently a "hot" topic in cognitive psychology and neuroscience. Because of their radically different scopes and emphases, however, comparing different models and theories and understanding how they relate to one another has been a difficult task. This work offers a much-needed forum for systematically comparing and contrasting existing models of working memory. It does so by asking each contributor to address the same comprehensive set of important theoretical questions on working memory. The answers to these questions elucidate the emerging general consensus on the nature of working memory among different theorists and clarify incompatible theoretical claims that must be resolved in future research. As such, this volume serves not only as a milestone that documents the state of the art in the field, but also as a theoretical guidebook that will promote new lines of research and more precise and comprehensive models of working memory.

Working memory is a transient memory that plays an essential role in the performance of virtually all complex cognitive activities. Recently dubbed as "the hub of cognition," it is currently one of the hottest topics in cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience. This volume systematically compares existing models of working memory by asking each contributor to address the same set of important and controversial theoretical questions. The volume also provides a much needed synthesis of seemingly disparate models and outlines future research directions for the field.