For example, working memory carries the beginning of the sentence you are reading now long enough for you to understand the entire sentence by the time you reach the end of it. It stitches one moment to the next, giving you a contiguous understanding of what’s going on. It allows you to follow a conversation, to comprehend the plotline of a movie, and to multiply twelve by fourteen in your head. You use your working memory to keep a phone number or passcode in your consciousness just long enough to enter the numbers into your phone or computer before they vanish from your mind.
