The multicomponent model of working memory developed during the period when psycholinguistics was dominated by Chomsky’s transformational grammar and its potential implications. The original model had assumed a limited capacity attentional control system, the central executive, aided by temporary verbal storage from the phonological loop and visuospatial storage from the visuospatial sketchpad. Over the decades, each component of the model has been systematically explored by language studies, which have repeatedly resulted in challenges to earlier versions of the model and led to the addition of the fourth component of the episodic buffer and the recent incorporation of the concept of binding. Overall, the multicomponent model was developed using a different approach than Popper’s emphasis on falsification, and the model continues to evolve and has proven successful both in accounting for a broad range of data and in its application to the understanding of a wide array of language phenomena and populations. L11

Working memory is a system that allows for the maintenance of goal-relevant information in the face of concurrent processing and/or distraction. Working memory plays a role in many real-world cognitive tasks such as reading, reasoning, planning, and problem-solving. It consists of multiple components, including domain-general mechanisms associated with attention control and domain-specific processes associated with short-term storage. It is also a limited capacity system and working memory capacity is highly correlated with general fluid intelligence. This chapter provides a review of cognitive models of working memory, the measurement of working memory capacity, and evidence linking working memory capacity and intelligence. Several theoretical frameworks, such as executive attention theory and process overlap theory, are also discussed.