{"id":58093,"date":"2022-02-17T12:29:44","date_gmt":"2022-02-17T16:29:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=58093"},"modified":"2022-02-26T19:07:42","modified_gmt":"2022-02-26T23:07:42","slug":"working-memory-capacity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/working-memory-capacity\/","title":{"rendered":"How Working Memory Capacity Impacts Productivity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is working memory<\/a>? How does it affect your ability to be productive?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your brain has a certain amount of working memory capacity. You can pay attention to only so much at a time. Naturally, this limitation affects your ability to get things done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continue reading to learn about working memory capacity and how it impacts productivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Working Memory Capacity and Productivity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Your brain isn\u2019t optimized for the modern world in part because you can pay attention to only a limited amount of information. <\/strong>This has to do with how attention works<\/a> in your brain. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you pay attention to a task, it occupies some portion of your working memory<\/em>. (Bailey refers to your working memory as your \u201cattentional space.\u201d) Working memory holds information that your mind is actively processing. Imagine it as your brain\u2019s temporary storage solution: When your friend tells you their new phone number, you hold those digits in your working memory long enough to type them into your phone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working memory is essential to focus because focusing on a task requires you to remember information long enough to act on it. If you didn\u2019t have a working memory, you wouldn\u2019t be able to have a conversation: By the time someone reached the end of their sentence, you\u2019d have forgotten what they said at its beginning, so you wouldn\u2019t be able to understand their meaning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The amount of working memory a task occupies depends on its complexity: The more complex a task, the more working memory it requires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But your working memory can only hold so much information at a time. As Bailey notes, our conscious brains are incapable of processing too much information: Of the 11 million bits of information our brains process every second, our conscious brains can only process 40 of them. Therefore, you can only pay attention to the things that fit in your working memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working memory capacity <\/em>refers to the amount of information your working memory can hold simultaneously.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Difference Between Working Memory and Short-Term Memory<\/strong>

Bailey\u2019s explanation of attentional space is a little confusing, primarily due to his usage of the terms \u201cmental scratchpad,\u201d short-term memory, and working memory. He uses \u201cmental scratchpad\u201d to refer to both short-term and working memory, which implies that he\u2019s using the terms interchangeably. But he then discusses how you hold something in your short-term memory after<\/em> you focus on it, which implies that they are different.

Compounding this confusion, the distinctions between the terms \u201cshort-term memory\u201d and \u201cworking memory\u201d are unclear in the academic field in general. Some researchers use the terms synonymously<\/a>, but others don\u2019t: Working memory usually \u201crefers to structures and processes used for temporarily storing and manipulating information,\u201d while short-term memory is \u201cthe capacity for holding, but not manipulating, a small amount of information in mind in an active, readily available state for a short period of time.\u201d<\/a>

In our guide, we\u2019ve exclusively used the term working memory for several reasons. First, Bailey refers most often to working memory. More importantly, the exact distinctions between working memory and short-term memory are tangential to his main point<\/a>, which is that you can only pay attention to a limited amount of information at one time. <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So exactly how much information can you pay attention to simultaneously? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Studies suggest that the average person can hold only four bits of information in their working memory\u2014and the maximum is seven. (Shortform note: The exact amount of information that fits in your working memory may depend on the type\u2014studies suggest that people can hold seven digits but only five words<\/a>.) Memorization techniques like chunking use this knowledge to their advantage: Remembering a list of 15 items is easier if you group it into three groups of five. (Shortform note: If you use this idea to memorize a random string of numbers, like Moonwalking with Einstein<\/em> recommends<\/a>, you might call it \u201carbitrary chunking,\u201d since you arbitrarily impose the grouping and artificially create a unifying meaning for each chunk of numbers.)  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bailey argues that this cognitive limitation also explains why you often see groups of up to seven\u2014like the days of the week\u2014but rarely see groups beyond that. (Shortform note: A clear exception is groups of 12, like the months of the year, the 12 Apostles, or the 12 grades in school.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Many Tasks You Can Focus on at Once<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As for tasks, Bailey identifies three general patterns of tasks you can focus on comfortably. (Shortform note: These patterns might not work for everybody: Research suggests that your working memory capacity peaks at young adulthood and declines as you age. Similarly, mental illnesses like schizophrenia and depression are associated with your working memory capacity<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#1: You Can Focus on Multiple Simple Tasks<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Bailey explains that many tasks are automatic and require little to no active intervention. Such tasks use very little working memory, partly because you do them mostly automatically. You likely expend some cognitive energy to begin these tasks, and there may be moments mid-task when the task demands more of your attention. But generally speaking, your brain reverts to autopilot mode once you get going. For example, beginning your skin care regimen might require conscious effort. If you put your lotion on the wrong shelf, you\u2019ll focus on finding it. But otherwise, your skincare regimen likely doesn\u2019t demand much conscious thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since these tasks require so little attention, they\u2019re the only kind you can successfully multitask: You can easily focus on them simultaneously. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

#2: You Can Focus on One Complex Task and One Simple Task<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Some tasks don\u2019t require as much attention as writing a term paper, but they require more attention than drinking coffee. You can combine these tasks with a simpler task. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is why you can listen to the radio as you get ready for work in the morning. You mostly pay attention to getting dressed and eating breakfast (the more complex tasks), but you direct a small portion of your attention to the radio (the simpler task).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Counts as a Simple Task<\/strong>

Bailey refers to simple tasks as \u201chabitual tasks,\u201d which he defines as tasks that require \u201clittle mental intervention.\u201d This seems self-explanatory, but his examples are somewhat confusing. For example, he defines grocery shopping as a habitual task. If you\u2019re following a list, shopping for groceries requires little mental intervention. But if you decide what you want to buy while you\u2019re at the store, shopping for groceries likely requires considerable mental intervention.

Additionally, the better you get at a task, the less working memory it takes up. So buying groceries likely requires little mental intervention if you\u2019ve been to the same store 100 times. But if you\u2019re new to grocery shopping\u2014or shopping in a new store where you don\u2019t know the layout\u2014the added layer of difficulty means the task takes up more of your working memory.

The conclusion is likely that there is no universal definition of a simple task\u2014how much working memory a task uses up differs based both on who does the task and how they do the task. <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

#3: You Can Focus on One Complex Task<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Some complex tasks, like writing a term paper, are cognitively demanding and require focus. As such, they take up most of our working memory\u2014but the exact amount varies moment to moment as you move through the task. So even when you\u2019re performing a cognitively demanding task, you should have some working memory to spare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bailey states that having this spare working memory is beneficial for the following reasons: <\/p>\n\n\n\n