This volume brings together cutting-edge research on the growing importance of working memory, from social evolution, to expertise, to brain training. It examines how working memory influences our lives, as well as the evidence on what can impact working memory, from sleep, to diet, to stress.

Working memory - the conscious processing of information - is increasingly recognized as one of the most important aspects of intelligence. This fundamental cognitive skill is deeply connected to a great variety of human experience - from our childhood, to our old age, from our evolutionary past, to our digital future. In this volume, leading psychologists review the latest research on working memory and consider what role it plays in development and over the lifespan. It is revealed how a strong working memory is connected with success (academically and acquiring expertise) and a poor working memory is connected with failure (addictive behavior and poor decision-making). The contributions also show how working memory played a role in our cognitive evolution and how the everyday things we do, such as what we eat and how much we sleep, can have an impact on how well it functions. Finally, the evidence on whether or not working memory training is beneficial is explored. This volume is essential reading for students, researchers, and professionals with an interest in human memory and its improvement, including those working in cognitive psychology, cognitive neuroscience, developmental psychology, gerontology, education, health, and clinical psychology.

"The collection's strength is its breadth: essays cover how working memory is related to general intelligence, specific expertise, and decision making; changes in working memory from childhood to old age; how working memory is affected by the body; and the potential for improvements in working memory through training...Summing Up: Recommended."- K. G. Akers, Emory University, for CHOICE, June 2013 "This volume represents how the concept of working memory has increased in importance in contemporary psychology over the past 40 years. Once a concept relevant to cognitive psychologists, now analyses of working memory have been extended into practically every area of psychology -- ?intelligence, emotion, development, expertise, anxiety, emotion and addiction, among other topics. This volume provides cutting edge chapters by experts examining the central importance of working memory in contemporary psychology. The volume would be perfect for a seminar as well as an important reference for experts."-Henry L. Roediger, III, Ph.D., Washington University in St. Louis