دامنه خاص در مقابل نگهداری عمومی دامنه در حافظه کاری

Working memory is the structure devoted to the maintenance and processing of information. Due to the evanescence of percepts and to forgetting of mental representations resulting from time-based decay and interference, maintenance of information at short term during concurrent processing activities is fundamental for achieving any cognitive task. In this respect, understanding the nature of the mechanisms and systems fulfilling this maintenance function is of particular importance for human cognition, and various responses have been put forward in the past. This chapter reviews evidence in favor or against domain-specific and domain-general maintenance mechanisms. This leads to present our current thinking on how to reconcile domain-specific and domain-general approaches by assuming the existence of two independent systems of maintenance. We propose how these two systems can interplay within a time-based resource sharing framework of working memory and highlight prior research that sustains our view.