Which one of the following examples best describes thinking in working memory?

• A. Feeling anxious before taking an exam
• B. Automatically reading words on a billboard while driving
• C. Mentally calculating $27\times 13$ without writing anything down
• D. Recalling the name of your third grade teacher from long-term memory

Answer: (C)

Verified step by step guidance

1. Understand the concept of working memory: it is the cognitive system responsible for temporarily holding and manipulating information needed for complex tasks such as reasoning, learning, and comprehension.
2. Identify the key feature of working memory in the examples: it involves active mental processing or manipulation of information, not just passive recall or automatic responses.
3. Analyze each example: feeling anxious is an emotional state, automatically reading words is an automatic process, recalling a name is retrieving from long-term memory, and mentally calculating 27 × 13 involves actively holding and manipulating numbers in mind.
4. Recognize that mentally calculating 27 × 13 without writing anything down requires you to keep the numbers in your mind and perform operations on them, which is a clear example of working memory in action.
5. Conclude that the example involving mental calculation best illustrates thinking in working memory because it requires active manipulation of information held temporarily in the mind.