The human working memory (WM) is the cognitive system responsible for the temporary storage and processing of information vital to task completion. In contrast, human long-term memory (LTM) is the system that holds information for prolonged periods of time, organizing acquired knowledge into distinct categories, such as facts, events, skills and habits.
For decades, most psychologists and neuroscientists have viewed these two memory components as separate systems, one tackling short-term and the other long-term tasks, supported by distinct neural processes. Therefore, most studies conducted so far have focused on only one of these systems, instead of exploring the potential connections between working memory and long-term memory processes.
Researchers at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and other institutes recently set out to simultaneously investigate the neural underpinnings of both WM and LTM, to determine whether these systems utilize some common mechanisms to store information. Their findings, published in Neuron, suggest that the two systems interact in the hippocampus, with persistent WM activity predicting the formation of LTM.
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