Working memory is the whole of what a human is conscious of at any given moment. Working memory is a kind of short-term memory, capable of holding an average of five informational elements at one time. If we don’t give an element of information enough focus while it is in our working memory, it loses its place to incoming stimuli and fails to be stored in long term memory. In The Shallows, the concept of working memory is vital for Carr’s explanation of intelligence because it serves as the middleman between short term and long term memory.
Get the entire The Shallows LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
The timeline below shows where the term Working Memory appears in The Shallows. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 7
Another scientific concept that helps to understand how the Internet affects our learning is working memory . A particular type of short-term memory, working memory is what we are conscious of...
(full context)
Chapter 9
...bike. Explicit memories are recollections of facts and happenings in our past experienced in conscious working memory . Carr points out that the memories we are usually referring to when we talk...
(full context)
The Internet, in fact, places so much pressure on working memory that consolidation of long-term memories is obstructed. Consolidation of long-term memory depends on our level...
(full context)