Memory is stored in a grey matter around the brain. When grey matter is damaged due to accident or medical problem, the memory loss occurs. But there is no loss of consciousness with loss of memory. Consciousness acting through intelligence recalls memory from the grey matter when needed. Consciousness and memory are not same. It is like a man recalling his records from a note book.

Dear Driss Zaim,

There are some authors who equate working memory and consciousness or conscious awareness. I suggest you read the book Working Memory: State of the Science. In Chapter 3, by Cowan and colleagues, you'll find a great review of previous research going back to Wilhelm Wundt. When talking about their model of WM, Cowan and colleagues state that "people resonate to the embedded-processes view because it provides a basis for understanding that our unified sense of conscious awareness makes sense (originating from the focus of attention) and that our experience of purpose makes sense (originating from central executive processes)" (p. 76).

My Ph.D. advisor and I wrote a review about this book in case you are interested. There you can find a summary of the main points of each chapter. My co-advisor is the first author of chapter 8, related to WM and expertise.

Best regards.

Nobody can extend his working memory by swapping out some items into consciousness. The sum of items in consciousness plus items in working memory doesn't exceed Miller's seven plus or minus two.

That means, consciousness, for storing purposes, makes use of working memory. On the other hand, conscious contents are eventually copied into long term memory, which makes it possible to tell them to another person, maybe years later.

Regards,

Joachim

Driss Zaim Working memory is not the same as consciousness, because for one thing it is not about feeling, but it is key to executive functions and a functioning human self. It is the place where summary ideas are held for manipulation, corresponding to the RAM of a computer (though the processing is done differently).

Vikram Zaveri Loss of all short-term memory would remove what most call consciousness until it is restored. Long-term memory (to which short-term memory connects) is statically in the grey matter, but STM is the active firing of loops of neurons and their axons.

WM, and especially visual working memory (VWM), has also traditionally been linked to perceptual consciousness—that is, it is often assumed to operate on and maintain only consciously perceived information

WM, and especially visual working memory (VWM), has also traditionally been linked to perceptual consciousness—that is, it is often assumed to operate on and maintain only consciously perceived information