La mémoire de travail : structure, fonctionnement, capacité
Marie‐France Ehrlich, Max Delafoy · L’Année psychologique · 1990
Summary : Working memory : structure, function and capacity. Investigations of the processes underlying complex cognitive tasks all assume the intervention of a working memory. This is considered to be a system responsible for both temporary storage and information processing. The purpose of this paper is to survey the studies published during the last fifteen years, focusing on experiments dealing with working memory in reading and comprehension. In the first part, the data which allow us to distinguish working memory from short-term memory are presented ; the second part is focused on Baddeley's model and the third one deals with the question of the capacity of working memory, particularly with the Daneman's approach. Working memory is not an unequivocal conceptual entity. In conclusion, we attempt to describe the evolution which can be seen in the studies published in recent years. Working memory tends to be considered not as an unified, general purpose system, but as composed of several specialized systems, each of them being implied in specific tasks. In this view, it is clear that the investigation of working memory must be narrowly tied to the study of the processes underlying particular cognitive activities. Key-words : working memory, reading, text comprehension.