Working memory is an executive function par excellence in mental life, making possible all other intellectual efforts, from speaking a sentence to tackling a knotty logical proposition.2 The prefrontal cortex executes working memory—and, remember, is where feelings and emotions meet.3 When the limbic circuitry that converges on the prefrontal cortex is in the thrall of emotional distress, one cost is in the effectiveness of working memory: we can’t think straight, as I discovered during that dread calculus exam.
