The brain’s short-term workspace for holding and manipulating information in the moment. If you’re doing mental math, following multi-step directions, or trying to remember a phone number long enough to dial it, you’re using your working memory. It’s like a tiny whiteboard in your mind: you can jot down a few pieces of info (like digits, words, or ideas) for a short time. However, that board is limited in size – most people can only hold about 5-9 items at once – and if you get distracted, things erase quickly. Strong working memory is crucial for tasks like reading (remembering what happened a paragraph ago), note-taking, and problem-solving. The cool thing is, you can train it with certain brain exercises or strategies (for example, chunking information, as mentioned above, is one way to stretch your working memory capacity). Think of it as the RAM of your brain’s computer – small, but vital for keeping things running smoothly in the moment.
Keywords: working memory, short-term memory, memory exercises
