Working Memory

Last week I met with a friend who now works for a company called COGMED. This company specializes in assisting people to improve their working memory. As we all need it for working and learning I thought it would be useful to my readers to learn about some of the important aspects of working memory.

Let’s start by defining what it is… Working memory is the ability to keep information in your mind for a brief period of time; this is essential for problem solving and for control of attention. When we improve our working memory we can increase our attentiveness and perform better.

When our working memory is not functioning properly, we may experience a range of difficulties such as being unable to take notes and listen at the same time, inconsistency in remembering maths facts, struggling with reading comprehension or not understanding the context in a story or a conversation - amongst other things.

In the following link you can review the checklist and identify how you rate in regards to working memory: http://www.cogmed.com/working-memory-checklist

The good news is that according to Dr. Torkel Kingberg, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the Karolinska Institute who has been studying the neural basis of working memory and the associated deficits, working memory can be improved with training. Worth having a look at their website.