Awareness as the heart of working memory (opens in new tab)

The assumption that attention and short-term memory combine to play a crucial role in cognition continues to influence cognitive modeling. We trace the development of the multicomponent model of working memory, initially consisting of a limited-capacity central executive controlling two domain-specific systems: the phonological loop and the visuospatial sketchpad. The later introduction of the episodic buffer addressed the need to explain how information from different sources is bound into u...