What is organic?

Abstract

Presents an argument that tasks of working memory capacity reflect a common construct, that that construct is fundamentally important to higher order cognition, that it is distinguishable from a construct for short-term memory, and that it is at least related to, if not isomorphic to, general fluid abilities and executive attention. The author also argues that one particularly important function of the working memory system is for keeping information quickly retrievable and usable under conditions in which there is interference form information that is strongly elicited by task context but that nevertheless would lead to a response inappropriate for the current task. The author describes the results of several studies showing that individual differences in working memory capacity are important in tasks that would not seem to rely on the number of things a person could remember but that would rely on the ability to keep one piece of information highly active. Working memory capacity is not about memory per se; it is about individual differences in executive attention.