Working memory is the mental workspace you use to hold and use information for a short time: a direction someone just gave you, the three things you walked into the kitchen for, or the next step of a task while you are doing the current one. Many people with ADHD find this workspace smaller or more easily disrupted than they would like. That can look like losing the thread of a conversation, setting down keys and not recalling where, or starting a job and forgetting what you meant to do next. The useful response is to move more of that information into the world, so fewer things have to be held in mind at once.
Last updated: 5 November 2026
Reading time: about 18 minutes
How we wrote this article: this article was written by Saj Ali. It explains ADHD and working memory with published research and everyday strategies, and every research claim links to its source.
Working memory in brief
- What it is. The short-term workspace for holding and using information while you do something with it.
- How ADHD relates. Reviews find working memory differences in children and in adults with ADHD, on average, compared with people without ADHD.
- How it shows up. Lost belongings, missed steps, mid-conversation blanks and plans that evaporate when you are interrupted.
- What helps. Writing things down, giving objects a home, checklists, one instruction at a time and external cues.
- Start now. Pick one capture place for thoughts, and one home for your keys, phone and wallet.
Contents
- What Working Memory Is
- What Research Shows in ADHD
- How It Shows Up Day to Day
- Write It Down: One Capture Place
- Give Objects a Home
- Reduce How Much You Hold at Once
- Checklists, Templates and Visible Next Steps
- External Cues, Alarms and Other People
- Working Memory, Time and Attention
- At Work, in Study and at Home
- A Steady Way to Practise
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Key Takeaways
- Explore More on Self Help Supermarket
- Sources
What Working Memory Is
Working memory is not the same as long-term memory for your childhood or for facts you studied years ago. It is the brief workspace that lets you keep something available while you use it. You hear a postcode and hold it long enough to type it. You read the first half of a sentence and still have it when you reach the end. You carry “milk, stamps, and the dry cleaning ticket” from the hallway to the shop.
Alan Baddeley’s widely used model describes this workspace as a set of parts that handle sounds and language, visual and spatial information, and a central control system that coordinates them (Baddeley, 2003). You do not need the model in order to live well. It is a reminder that “memory” here means active holding and using, not a warehouse of the past.
Everyone’s working memory is limited. Distraction, stress, poor sleep and trying to do two thinking tasks at once all shrink what you can hold. People with ADHD often describe that limit as arriving sooner, and interruptions as more costly. A single extra thing, a notification or a comment from another room, can wipe the item you were carrying.
What Research Shows in ADHD
ADHD itself is defined by patterns of inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity that interfere with daily life (NIMH). Working memory sits inside the family of executive functions that support those everyday skills. Russell Barkley has long placed working memory among the self-regulatory functions that are central to ADHD, alongside the sense and use of time (Barkley, 1997) (Barkley, ADHD fact sheet).
In children, a meta-analysis by Rhonda Martinussen and colleagues combined 26 studies. They found that groups of children with ADHD, on average, showed poorer working memory than children without ADHD. The largest differences were in spatial storage and spatial “central executive” tasks (effect sizes of 0.85 and 1.06), with smaller though still present differences in verbal storage and verbal central executive tasks (0.47 and 0.43) (Martinussen et al., 2005). A later meta-analytic review by Kasper, Alderson and Hudec also concluded that children with ADHD showed poorer working memory than children without ADHD (Kasper et al., 2012).
In adults, Alderson, Kasper, Hudec and Patros examined the question across 38 studies. They found moderate working memory differences, on average, between adults with ADHD and adults without ADHD, in both phonological (verbal) and visuospatial working memory. How demanding the task was, especially its central-control demands, helped explain why effect sizes varied from study to study (Alderson et al., 2013).
These are group findings, not a test you have failed. Plenty of people with ADHD do well on some memory tasks and struggle in daily life, or the reverse. The research supports a practical stance: if you have ADHD and your mental workspace feels crowded or leaky, that pattern is recognised. You do not have to rely on “trying harder to remember” as the main strategy.
How It Shows Up Day to Day
- Walking into a room and losing the reason. The intention was present in the hallway and gone at the doorway, especially if something else caught your eye.
- Losing track in conversations. You are listening, a side thought appears, and the other person’s last sentence has vanished. You ask them to repeat it and feel rude, even though the effort to listen was real.
- Misplacing everyday objects. Keys, phone, wallet, glasses and tickets do not have a single story of where they went because they were set down during another thought.
- Halfway-through tasks. You start cooking, begin to tidy, answer a message and return to a pan you no longer remember setting to heat.
- Instructions that evaporate. Three steps given verbally become one step, or the third step overwrites the first.
- Reading without holding. You reach the end of a paragraph and cannot say what it contained, not because the content was too hard but because it did not stay long enough to use.
- Plans that die when interrupted. A knock at the door wipes the next item on your mental list. Unless that item exists somewhere outside your head, it may not return.
- Mental maths and sequences. Holding a number while doing something with it, or remembering a PIN, a code or a series of turns, feels disproportionately effortful.
These moments are frustrating in themselves, and they can pick up an emotional charge. If you have been criticised for “not listening” or “not caring”, each blank can sting. Rejection sensitive dysphoria may amplify that sting. Separating the workspace limit from your intentions helps you choose tools instead of self-blame.
Write It Down: One Capture Place
The single most useful change is to stop using your head as the only holding area. Working memory is for using information now. It is a poor long-term storage shelf. As soon as something matters beyond the next few seconds, put it somewhere you will see later.
Choose one capture place, not five. A small notebook in a pocket, a notes widget on your phone lock screen, a running list at the top of your computer, or a voice memo you process once a day can all work. The system fails when thoughts are scattered across torn paper, half a dozen apps and “I will remember that”. Our journaling guide is one way to empty the workspace onto a page at the beginning or end of the day.
Capture is also how you survive interruptions. Before you turn to the person who just said your name, write the next step of the task you are leaving (“add salt after it boils”). The note is a hook for your future self. Peter Gollwitzer’s implementation intentions use a similar idea: a specific “if X, then I will Y” plan is easier to resume than a vague intention to continue later (Gollwitzer and Sheeran, 2006).
If writing in the moment feels slow, use very short phrases. “Call dentist. Invoice 12. Bin bags.” You are not producing prose. You are moving items out of a crowded workspace.
Give Objects a Home
Objects you use every day should not depend on memory to be found. A bowl by the door for keys, a hook for the bag you take to work, a charging place for the phone, a tray for the wallet and travel card: these are working-memory tools in physical form. You are not “being tidy for its own sake”. You are removing a daily search that costs time and stress.
The home has to be in the path you already walk. A beautiful organiser in another room will not be used. The bowl works because your hand meets it as you come in. If you work in more than one place, give yourself a travel version: a small pouch that always contains keys, cards, cable and medication, packed as a unit.
When something is out of place, return it as soon as you notice, rather than holding “I must put that back” as another item in mind. That sentence is easy to lose. The action takes ten seconds and then occupies zero workspace.
Reduce How Much You Hold at Once
Working memory struggles most when several items must be juggled together. The remedy is to lower the number of items, not to scold the workspace for its size.
Ask for instructions in writing, or repeat them back and jot them down. In meetings, write decisions and owners as they happen rather than trusting that the room will remember. When you give instructions, offer one step at a time if the task is new, or a written checklist if there are several steps. This helps children, colleagues and your future self equally.
Avoid stacking thinking tasks. Do not try to invent a reply, remember a deadline and navigate an unfamiliar journey in the same minute if you can separate them. Pull over, park the extra thoughts on paper, then continue. Sleep, hunger and stress all reduce spare capacity, so the same person who manages well on a calm morning may lose more items on a short, raw afternoon. Our pages on sleep and anxiety are relevant when those are crowding the workspace too.
Screens add load when notifications keep arriving. Each ping is a new item that can overwrite the one you were holding. Batching messages, and using full-screen modes during a task, are memory supports as much as they are productivity tactics.
Checklists, Templates and Visible Next Steps
If a task has a reliable sequence, do not store the sequence in your head. Write it once as a checklist: leaving the house, publishing a post, closing the shop, packing a child’s bag, the steps of a weekly report. Then run the list rather than reconstructing it from memory each time.
Templates do the same job for thinking you repeat. A blank agenda for meetings, a starting outline for a type of email, a meal formula for busy nights: each one saves you from holding structure and content at the same time. The first draft of a template can be messy. It only needs to be better than starting from a blank page while also trying to remember last time’s steps.
Visible next steps help mid-task as well. A sticky note that says “now: attach the PDF” is more robust than the thought “I must not forget the attachment.” If you are entering a stretch of hyperfocus, that note is also how you find your way back when the spotlight moves.
External Cues, Alarms and Other People
Anything that prompts you at the right moment is doing working-memory work on your behalf. Alarms labelled with the action (“put the bins out”, “leave now”) beat untitled chimes. Calendar events that include the link, the room and the document you will need beat events that only name the meeting. Photos of a whiteboard, or a quick voice note after a phone call, beat hoping the details will stay.
Body doubling helps here too, though it is better known as a starting tool. Another person keeps the session itself in view, which reduces the chance that you will wander into a different task and lose the one you sat down to do. A short check-in at the beginning, where you say the task out loud, is a spoken note to your own memory. Hosted options are compared in our body doubling apps guide if you want that structure on a timetable.
Other people can also be memory partners if the relationship can hold that kindly. “Please text me the time and the door code” is a clear request. “You should remember without help” is a standard that many ADHD nervous systems will not meet consistently, no matter how much they care.
Working Memory, Time and Attention
Working memory, time blindness and attention overlap in daily life even though they are not the same idea. To leave the house on time you must hold the leaving plan, sense how long getting ready is taking, and resist more interesting side tasks. If any one of those pieces drops, the others feel the strain.
That is why a single tool often helps more than one difficulty. A visible timer supports time and also frees you from rehearsing “I must watch the clock” in working memory. A written plan supports memory and also makes procrastination less likely, because the next action is already chosen. A body doubling session supports starting, staying and remembering what you came to do.
Barkley’s account of ADHD as a self-regulation difference, rather than a simple shortage of attention, is helpful here. The point is not that you cannot attend to anything. It is that organising yourself across time, while holding goals in mind, is effortful and benefits from supports outside the head (Barkley, 1997) (Barkley, ADHD fact sheet).
At Work, in Study and at Home
At work, write things down in front of people if that is acceptable in your culture. Taking notes in a meeting is usually read as professionalism, not as weakness. After a verbal request, send a one-line summary: “Just to confirm, I will send the file by 4pm.” That email is a shared memory. If your role allows it, keep templates for recurring tasks and checklists for anything that has gone wrong once because a step was skipped.
In study, annotation and retrieval practice reduce the need to hold an entire argument in mind while you read the next paragraph. Margin notes, flashcards and short spoken summaries after each section move information toward longer-term memory instead of asking working memory to carry the whole load.
At home, keep household knowledge visible: a shared list on the fridge, a whiteboard of this week’s events, labelled cupboards if that helps other people join the system. When someone asks you to do something, capture it before you say yes if your hands are already full. “Yes, and I am writing it down now” is a complete response.
With children, give one instruction at a time, wait, and use pictures or lists for morning and evening routines. Many adults with ADHD recognise those childhood supports as things they still benefit from, which is a sign of good design, not of immaturity.
A Steady Way to Practise
You will still lose things sometimes. A system is not a personality transplant. The measure of a good setup is that fewer important items depend on an undisturbed mental workspace, and that when something drops you have a place to look first.
Start with two anchors only: one capture place for thoughts, and one home for the objects you refuse to keep losing. When those feel normal, add a checklist for one repeating task that often unravels. Build slowly enough that the system itself does not become another thing you have to remember.
This article is practical information, not a diagnosis or a memory test. If daily functioning, attention or memory changes are worrying you, a qualified clinician can help you sort out what is going on and what kinds of support, including an ADHD assessment where appropriate, might help.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is working memory, in plain language?
It is the short-term mental workspace you use to hold information while you do something with it, such as a direction, a next step or a few items you meant to collect.
Is working memory the same as being forgetful about the past?
No. You can have a detailed long-term memory and still find it hard to hold a new instruction for thirty seconds, especially if something interrupts you.
Do people with ADHD have weaker working memory?
On average, reviews find differences. Martinussen and colleagues reported working memory impairments in children with ADHD across 26 studies, and Alderson and colleagues found moderate working memory differences in adults across 38 studies.
Why do I forget why I walked into a room?
The intention was being held in working memory and was overwritten by a new sight, thought or interruption. A note, or saying the intention out loud as you walk, gives it somewhere else to live.
How can I remember instructions better?
Ask for them in writing, repeat them back, and write them down at once. One step at a time is easier to hold than a spoken list of five.
What is the best app for ADHD working memory?
The best one is the one you will open. A single notes app, a paper notebook or a voice memo folder all work if they are your only capture place.
Can body doubling help working memory?
Yes. Saying your task at the start of a session, and working alongside someone so you are less likely to wander, reduces the number of things your memory has to police.
How is this related to time blindness?
To use time well you must hold a plan in mind and sense duration. Supports such as timers, written schedules and alarms help both.
Should I do working memory brain training?
Everyday supports (writing things down, homes for objects, checklists, lower load) have a clear practical role. If you are offered formal training, ask a qualified clinician what the evidence is for your situation.
Is it rude to write things down while someone is talking?
Usually it is a form of respect: you are making sure their request survives. A simple “I am noting that down so I do not lose it” explains the gesture.
Key Takeaways
- Working memory is the short-term workspace for holding and using information, not your store of the distant past.
- Child and adult reviews find working memory differences, on average, in ADHD compared with people without ADHD.
- Daily signs include lost belongings, vanished intentions, missed steps and conversations that are hard to hold.
- Move important items out of your head and into one capture place as soon as they matter.
- Give keys, phone and wallet a home in the path you already walk.
- Lower the load: written instructions, one step at a time, checklists, templates and fewer notifications.
- Timers, alarms and body doubling can hold the plan while you get on with the task.
Explore More on Self Help Supermarket
Use these pages alongside this one:
- ADHD – the wider guide to attention and support
- ADHD Time Blindness – holding time as well as facts
- ADHD Hyperfocus – capturing insights before the spotlight moves
- ADHD Body Doubling – saying the task out loud and staying with it
- Journaling for Mental Health – emptying the workspace onto a page
- Productivity – systems that remember so you do not have to
- Procrastination – when a lost next step becomes delay
- Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria and ADHD – why rejection hits so hard
- ADHD Symptoms in Adults – how ADHD shows up in daily life
- Browse all self-help techniques – compare every method on Self Help Supermarket.
Sources
- Baddeley, A. (2003). Working memory: looking back and looking forward. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 4, 829-839. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn1201
- National Institute of Mental Health (US). Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Last reviewed August 2026. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder-adhd
- Barkley, R. A. (1997). Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, self-regulation, and time: Toward a more comprehensive theory. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 18(4), 271-279. https://doi.org/10.1097/00004703-199708000-00009
- Barkley, R. A. The important role of executive functioning and self-regulation in ADHD. Fact sheet. russellbarkley.org. https://www.russellbarkley.org/factsheets/adhd-facts.pdf
- Martinussen, R., Hayden, J., Hogg-Johnson, S., and Tannock, R. (2005). A meta-analysis of working memory impairments in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 44(4), 377-384. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.chi.0000153228.72591.73
- Kasper, L. J., Alderson, R. M., and Hudec, K. L. (2012). Moderators of working memory deficits in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): A meta-analytic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 32(7), 605-617. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2012.07.001
- Alderson, R. M., Kasper, L. J., Hudec, K. L., and Patros, C. H. G. (2013). Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and working memory in adults: A meta-analytic review. Neuropsychology, 27(3). https://doi.org/10.1037/a0032371
- Gollwitzer, P. M., and Sheeran, P. (2006). Implementation intentions and goal achievement: A meta-analysis of effects and processes. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 69–119. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2601(06)38002-1
Self Help Supermarket guides are for general information and are not a substitute for professional medical or psychological advice.