Practitioner Review: Verbal Working Memory Development and its Disorders

Abstract
Working memory refers to the systems responsible for the temporary storage and manipulation of information during the performance of cognitive tasks. There is a good deal of evidence that verbal short-term memory functions as a working memory system. We review advances in our understanding of the nature and limitations of verbal short-term memory and the reasons for its development with age, and go on to consider the common association between impairments of verbal short-term memory and other impairments of cognitive development. We conclude by considering the relationship between short-term memory development and cognitive development.