Pennsylvania Association for Addiction Professionals (PAAP) Practice Test

Working memory is the mental workspace we use to hold and actively manipulate information over short periods. It’s something we’re consciously aware of and can control, like keeping a phone number in mind while we dial or performing a calculation in our head. This memory system has a limited capacity—usually only a few bits of information at once—so information can quickly fade or be displaced as new items are added or as we switch tasks.

This distinguishes it from other memory types. It’s not permanent like long-term memory, so the information doesn’t stay with us indefinitely. It’s not purely sensory or unconscious either, unlike sensory memory, which holds brief sensory traces that we don’t actively work with. So the description that best fits short-term or working memory is that it is consciously activated but has limited capacity.