Working memory has been an important concept for psychological science for over 30 years, taking its modern form and inspiration from the work of Baddeley and Hitch (1974), Whilst our collective understanding of the term has evolved and diversified, we show that working memory still remains highly relevant to issues in cognition; contemporary research indicates how both theoretical models and the concept of working memory has much to offer the research discipline. We introduce five empirical studies for this special issue on working memory and show how each paper contributes to the broader understanding of cognition. More specifically these papers constrain ongoing debates about the domain-specific nature of short-term and working memory, the binding of different types of representations, the nature of executive control, and the role of working memory in action control. We attempt to place these four research themes under a larger research framework into which the five experimental articles are located.

Key words: memory, working memory, dual task methodology, working memory span