INSTRUCTOR: In this video, we'll look at three characteristics of working memory, which is a part of the information processing system. I'm guessing that most of you are more familiar with this part of the information processing system being labeled as short-term memory. Short-term memory was the label initially used because it reflects the short duration of this memory system -- information is only kept here for a short period of time unless you do something with it.

But the label "short-term" implies that this is just a storage area, a memory system where you can temporarily hold information, like you might use these boxes.

What we came to understand, though, is that this memory system is more like this picture. It is this memory system that does the mental work of thinking. Working memory is the part of the system that is responsible for manipulating, transforming, or rehearsing information. Working memory does the work. Understanding working memory, then, is key to understanding how cognitive information processing theorists explain learning.

Overall, there are three characteristics of working memory I want to cover in this video. And the first of these is that this is the memory system that holds all of the information you are currently aware of at any point in time. So if sometime tomorrow you find yourself thinking about what to have for dinner, and you begin to wonder if you have all of the ingredients you need, that information-- the information you are aware of-- is active in working memory.

The second characteristic is that working memory is limited in capacity. What this means is that you can only think about a limited amount of information at any one time. An example can be used to put this in the context of your thinking. Specifically, remember back in the first unit when you were learning about negative reinforcement, and how this is different from punishment? Well, if you had started to also think about what you were going to have for dinner that evening, the effect would be that this food-related information would take up the limited capacity, and behaviorism-related information-- it would be pushed out. The limited capacity of working memory would prevent you from being able to think of both dinner ingredients and behaviorism at the same time.

The next characteristic to be familiar with is that working memory is the memory system that actually carries out the processes. It does the mental work of thinking.

Well, you probably came up with the word "learning." The point is that the mental work you did to figure that out was work done by the working memory system. Putting this characteristic together with the idea that working memory has limited capacity leads us to be able to say two things.

First, another way of talking about limited capacity is to say that we have limited cognitive resources. Those resources refer to what working memory can dedicate to any mental task at any point in time. We can only think of so many things at once because we have limited cognitive resources.

The second thing we can say pertains to the demands that are placed on those cognitive resources. Specifically, holding and working on information both take some of your cognitive resources. Because of this, whenever we consider the demands that a task places on someone's cognitive abilities, we have to consider both how many pieces of information have to be held onto and all of the mental transformations that have to be done to that information.

A brief activity can illustrate this phenomena for you. For this activity, I will give you the instructions, and then the video will end. I want you to carry out the activity and reflect on your experience. We'll pick up with that experience when you start the next tape.

This activity involves the alphabet, and you have to do it without the use of any paper or visual aid. Ready for the instructions? Here they are-- begin with the letter w. Now, as quickly as you can, start with w, and say the alphabet backwards. Go.