Latest Issue of the MindBrainEd Think Tank + (ISSN 2434-1002) 3 MindBrained Bulletin Think Tank Work Mem Mar 1 2 | Page 5

Think Tank:
Working Memory
Caroline Handley
Just what is working memory anyway? And what
does it mean for language teachers?
Watching Peter Doolittle’s TED talk (an excellent introduction to working memory),
two questions came instantly to mind, one based on prior reading about the brain,
and the other more of a speculation about the implications for foreign language
learning.
First, I was immediately reminded to question how working memory is defined. Just
what do we mean when we talk about working memory capacity anyway? In Peter’s
talk, and in the literature, the dividing line between working memory and attention
seems very fuzzy, to the point where you have to wonder, does it really exist at all?
Individual differences in working memory capacity are frequently associated with
differences in the ability to control internal and external distractions (mind-
wandering and off-task sensory input). Similarly, mind wandering is associated with
the default network, and a reduction in default network activity co-occurs with an
increase in activation across the prefrontal cortex during successful completion of
working memory tasks. So when we talk about students having high or low working
memory capacity, are we really just talking about differences
in the ability to focus effectively on the target task? Moreover,
if working memory is the capacity to attend to what we are
currently doing, how does this disassociate from the aspect of
consciousness typically referred to as awareness? This implies
that working memory could basically be understood as
attention to tasks whose performance requires conscious
cognitive processes (i.e., are not automatically carried out by
subconscious neural processes). Another way of looking at this (as discussed in
information theory) is the signal to noise ratio: People with high working memory
capacity are good at focusing on the signal while ignoring the noise, whereas people
with low working memory capacity don’t filter out so much noise and so process and
store less of the signal.
What does this mean for educators? For me, there are three main implications for
the classroom. One, this fuzziness is reassuring, as although I know I can’t do much
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