FIVE CENTRAL FEATURES OF THE THEORY

1. (1) We define working memory in terms of its function, namely maintaining efficient selective access to information that is needed to complete a given task. This function can be achieved in everyday skilled performance by a wide range of different mechanisms. In contrast, traditional short-term working memory employs only a small subset of those alternatives.

2. (2) The amount of information that can be maintained in accessible form in working memory for a specific task is not limited by a fixed capacity. As part of the extended skill acquisition necessary to attain very high levels of performance, experts acquire knowledge and skills to rapidly encode information in long-term memory such that the information can be efficiently accessed with retrieval cues (longterm working memory or LT-WM) whenever it is later needed to complete the task. Similar acquired mechanisms mediate the large working memory in skilled everyday performance.

3. (3) LT-WM is mediated by associative recall from long-term memory, and to function reliably it provides different types of mechanisms for overcoming the problems of interference resulting from repeated associations to related retrieval cues.

4. (4) LT-WM reflects a complex skill acquired to meet the particular demands of future accessibility for information with tasks within a particular domain of expertise. Domain-relevant skills, knowledge, and procedures for the task are so tightly integrated into the skills for encoding of information that the traditional assumption of a strict separation between memory, knowledge, and procedures is not valid for skilled performance.

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