Synopses & Reviews
Working Memory, Thought, and Action is the magnum opus of one of the most influential cognitive psychologists of the past 50 years.This new volume on the model he created (with Grahame 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.
Review
"Researchers who are looking for up-to-date research summaries will find the book rewarding. Those working in other fields, such as anxiety and depression, will find sufficient reason to pay attention to the role of working memory in these areas...In short, this is a book that deserves wide readership."--PsycCritiques
Review
"Researchers who are looking for up-to-date research summaries will find the book rewarding. Those working in other fields, such as anxiety and depression, will find sufficient reason to pay attention to the role of working memory in these areas...In short, this is a book that deserves wide readership."--PsycCritiques
Review
"Certainly researchers who are looking for up-to-date research summaries will find the book rewarding. Those working in other fields, such as anxiety and depression, will find sufficient reason enough to pay attention to the role of working memory in these areas. The accessible and amiable writing style will ensure that student readers will not be intimiated. In short, this is a book that deserves a wide readership."-- PsycCRITIQUES
Review
"Researchers who are looking for up-to-date research summaries will find the book rewarding. Those working in other fields, such as anxiety and depression, will find sufficient reason to pay attention to the role of working memory in these areas...In short, this is a book that deserves wide readership."--PsycCritiques
Synopsis
The first edition of Working Memory was published in 1986 and was both widely cited and highly influential. The follow-up to this classic book has two aims - to discuss the developments that have occurred within the multicomponent model, since the publication of Working Memory, and secondly, to place the concept of multicomponent working memory in a broader context. The updating section of the book comprises two chapters each on the phonological loop, the visuo-spatial sketchpad, the central executive and the episodic buffer, with further 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 chapters on social psychology, anxiety, depression, consciousness and on the control of action. The final "life, the universe and everything" chapter 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 world leaders in memory research will doubtless emulate the success of its predecessor, and be a major publication within the psychological literature.
About the Author
Alan Baddeley succeeded Donald Broadbent as Director of the APU in Cambridge. Some 20 years later he moved to Bristol University. He is now at University of York where he has re-established his old collaboration with Graham Hitch. His interests are in human memory in general and working memory more specifically, and in combining basic and applied research. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society, of the European Academy and is a foreign member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has received the APA Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award, the Aristotle Prize for contributions to European Psychology, and was awarded the CBE for contributions to the study of memory.
Table of Contents
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