Working memory model

• Baddeley and Hitch studied the working-memory model
• Working memory model:

  • explanation of the short-term memory and how its organised
  • discusses the ;’mental space’ that’s active when storing temporary information (for example working out a maths problem)
  • consists of 4 different components
• Components of the WMM:

  • Central executive
  • phonological loop
  • visuo-spatial sketchpad
  • episodic buffer
• Central executive:

  • has a supervisory role
  • monitors incoming data
  • allocates ‘slave systems’ to tasks
  • limited processing and doesn’t store any info
• Phonological loop:

  • one of the ‘slave systems’
  • coding of acoustic sounds
  • preserves the order of information
  • has the phonological store and the articulatory process
  • limited capacity, temporary memory store
• Phonological store is the words you hear
• Articulatory process is used for maintenance rehearsal
• Visuo-spatial sketchpad:

  • stores visual or spatial info when required
  • e.g) counting words on your house (you have to visualise it)
  • limited capacity of 3/4 objects
  • Logie divided VSS into:
  • visual cache = stores visual data
  • inner scribe = records arrangement of objects on the visual field
• Episodic buffer:

  • added to the working-memory model 25 years later
  • records events that are happening
  • can be seen as a storage component of the CE
  • limited capacity of 4 chunks
  • links working memory to LTM
• Strength of WMM: Clinical evidence

  • Shallice and Warrington
  • Patient KF had poor STM for auditory sounds
  • Could process visual information normally
  • E.g Couldn’t process digits when they were read to him (auditory) but could process if he read them himself (visual)
  • Because there phonological loop was damaged but the visuospatial sketchpad was intact
• Strength of WMM: Dual-task performance

  • Baddeley
  • When a participant carried out a verbal and visual task at the same time their performance was the same as if they performed them separately
  • But when they performed two visual or two verbal tasks together performance declined substantially
  • Because the tasks are competing for attention from the same sub-system
• Limitation of WMM: Lack of clarity over the CE

  Baddeley recognised that the central executive is the most important but the least understood component of the WMM.Some psychologists believe that the CE may consist of separate subcomponents