Ao3 limitations

• • It lacks a comprehensive understanding of the central executive, which is considered its most crucial component. ​
  • While the WMM argues that the central executive directs attention and allocates resources among the other subsystems, it provides little detail on how it functions or how it is structured. ​
  • Baddeley (1996) acknowledged this weakness, suggesting that the central executive is still somewhat of a "homunculus," an unclear construct that performs a wide range of tasks without specificity. ​
  • This vagueness = difficult to test the central executive experimentally.
• ·       The model fails to fully account for the role of LTM in working memory. ​

  ·       While the WMM includes an episodic buffer, which integrates information across different modalities and links working memory to LTM, it lacks detail on how working memory interacts with LTM beyond this function. ​

  ·       Studies, such as Logie (1999), suggest that LTM plays a more active role in supporting short-term memory than the model proposes, for example, by providing contextual information that aids understanding and recall. ​

  ·       This limited explanation of the link between LTM
• ·       It primarily focuses on verbal and visual information, neglecting other sensory modalities, such as taste, smell, and touch. ​

  ·       While the model provides detailed accounts of the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad, which handle auditory and visual-spatial information respectively, it lacks any component to process other sensory inputs. ​

  ·       Studies indicate that these senses also play a role in working memory, for instance, in professions where tactile memory is important, like surgery or art (Hampson & Morris, 1996). ​

  ·       overly simplistic
• ·       Limited ecological validity, as many of the supporting studies rely on artificial tasks that may not accurately reflect real-life memory use. ​

  ·       Research on working memory often involves highly controlled laboratory tasks, such as remembering lists of numbers or visual patterns, which do not necessarily represent the complexity of memory tasks people face in everyday life. ​

  ·       For instance, Baddeley’s (1975) dual-task studies, while supporting the model, involved simplistic tasks like repeating digits while following a moving light,