The authors summarize developments in the concept of working memory as a multicomponent system, beginning by contrasting this approach with alternative uses of the term working memory. According to a 3-component model, working memory comprises a phonological loop for manipulating and storing speech-based information and a visuospatial sketchpad that performs a similar function for visual and spatial information. Both are supervised by a central executive, which functions as an attentional control system. A simple trace-decay model of the phonological loop provides a coherent account of the effects of word length, phonemic similarity, irrelevant speech, and articulatory suppression in verbal short-term memory tasks. This model of the loop has also proved useful in the analysis of neuropsychological, developmental and, cross-cultural data. The notion of the sketchpad is supported by selective interference with imagery in normal adults and by specific neuropsychological impairment. Analysis of the central executive is illustrated by work on deficits in the ability to coordinate subproccesses in Alzheimer's disease (AD). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved)