Working memory in Music: Main Theoretical Milestones and Some of the Challenges in its Study

Abstract

The working memory as a phenomenon provides many debates about human storage capacity, even before the emergence of experimental psychology. This paper will discuss two main theoretical concepts: Baddeley's multifaceted holding mechanism (1986; 2000) and Cowan's embedded-processes model (1988; 2005). We showed their common and complementary elements, bringing a non-hegemony approach, considering that some musical tools remain misunderstood. The pure concept of limit, generally discussed under chunking terms, is a challenge for this investigation, since it is supposed to be a simplifying construct that does not express all influence of previous knowledge. Also, behavioral and neuroimage evidence shows that the storage capacity will range according to each parameter that was seized.