My research investigates both the neural mechanisms and the cognitive systems that underlie working memory, with special emphasis on how the cerebral speech apparatus – both its perceptual and motor poles – is utilized in the context of verbal memory maintenance. In so doing, it is important to characterize the extent to which basic linguistic processes such as speech perception and production are dissociable from “pure” memory functions. By the same token, although language comprehension and production are intrinsically memory demanding, it remains to be elucidated how memory resources are marshalled in the context of basic linguistic processing. Certainly, questions as to the interface or the intertwining of memory and language will be easier to approach once we have a better understanding as to how, even on classic tasks such as serial recall and item recognition, memories are represented in the mind and brain. Thus, my research program concentrates on the extent to which the sensorimotor systems that support perception and action in the “here and now” can be recruited, whether for replay of the past or simulation of the future, during the act of memory.