The cognitive neuroscience of working memory.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative review synthesizing cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging literature.
PubMed 25251486 · doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-010814-015031
What was done
This is a narrative review synthesizing psychological theories and cognitive neuroscience research—specifically multivariate human functional MRI studies and neurobiological models—regarding the neural architecture and control mechanisms of working memory.
What was found
The abstract reports no numerical results or quantitative effect estimates. It describes a theoretical framework in which working memory encodes information by allocating attention to internal representations (semantic long-term memory, sensory, or motoric) within brain regions that process these stimuli in non-working memory contexts. Executive control is exerted by the prefrontal cortex, which biases the salience of these representations and selects context-dependent rules via interactions with striatal circuits and ascending dopaminergic neuromodulation.
Why it matters
The review frames working memory not as an isolated storage module, but as an emergent property of attentional modulation over distributed perceptual and long-term memory networks regulated by frontostriatal systems.
Limits
As a narrative review, it lacks a systematic literature search methodology, explicit inclusion criteria, and formal risk-of-bias assessment. The abstract provides no primary human sample size, quantitative data, or statistical tests.
Cited by
- supports Working memory is primarily modulated by dopamine signaling.