WMM (Working Memory Model)

• Who created the model?

  Baddeley & Hitch (1974).

  Was developed as a new approach to understanding how STM works.
• What are the parts of the WMM?

  1. Central Executive.
  2. Visuospatial sketch pad, Episodic buffer, Phonological loop.
  3. Long-Term Memory.
• What does the model try and do?

  Tries to overcome some of the weaknesses of the multi-store model as it accounts for the evidence that STM is not a single unitary store.

  Instead, STM is seen as an active processor or a 'workspace', in which we carry out various tasks using old & new memories due to the ability for each of the multiple components to link to LTM.
• What is the encoding of the Central Executive? (CE)

  Modality free
• What is the capacity of the CE?


  Limited (Attentional capacity / resources)
• Description of CE:


  Its an attentional process that monitors incoming data, makes decisions and allocates slave systems to taks. The CE has a very limited processing capacity.
• What research supports the CE?


  Braver et al (1997).
• What is the capacity of the Visuo-spatial Sketchpad? (VSS)


  Limited - approx 3-4 objects
• Description of VSS:


  Second slave system is the VSS. The VSS stores visual and/or spatial information. E.g. visualising how many windows you have in your house. Its subdivided into:

  1. The visual cache - stores visual data
  2. The inner scribe - records the arrangement of objects in the visual field
• What research supports the VSS?


  Gathercole & Baddeley (1993).
• What is the encoding of the Phonological Loop? (PL)


  Sound
• What is the capacity of the PL?


  Limited - approx 2 seconds
• Description of the PL:


  It deals with auditory info (i.e. coding is acoustic) and preserves the order in which the information arrives. Its subdivided into:

  1. The phonological store - stores the words you hear (hold spoken words for 1.5-2 seconds)
  2. The articulatory control system - allows maintenance rehearsal. The capacity of this loop is believed to be two seconds worth of what you can say
• What research supports the PL?


  Baddeley (1975).
• What is the capacity of the Episodic Buffer? (EB)


  Limited - approx 4 chunks of info (Baddeley 2012)
• Description of the EB:

  Added by Baddeley in 2000. Its a temporary store for information, integrating the visual, spatial and verbal info processed by other stores and maintaining a sense of time sequencing - basically recording events (episodes) that are happening. It can be seen as the storage component of the CE. The EB links working memory to LTM and wider cognitive processes such as perception
• What research supports the EB?


  Alkhalifa (2009).