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Working memory is used to manipulate and rearrange information within the span of attention. Information can originate from memory or from perception, and can be stored for up to 20 seconds before it decays. Information can be held in different forms, such as the verbal meaning of words (e.g. a word “house”), the visual or spatial content of attended material (e.g. “the shape of a house”) or its episodic context (e. g. “it's the place where I live”).

Attention and executive function refers to the execution of the processes that interface between long-term memory, working memory, perception and cognition; the number of different things that can be kept in working memory at once; and the choice and focus of information that is processed.

Working memory is known to be organised into “chunks” or items. This type of memory can be thought of as a rough working area for items being attended to. Examples of its use include remembering a phone number that’s being read out, or a list of words presented in a drop down menu, or where the objects on a table are in relation to each other.

The capacity of working memory is known to be limited to around 7 chunks or items, although the amount of information that can actually be simultaneously stored and processed depends on the form of the information, the way in which it is chunked together, and how the present information links together and with stored memories.