Working memory model

• Who proposed the Working Memory Model?

  Baddeley & Hitch (1974)
• Explain the Central Executive.

  Monitors incoming data, focuses and divides our attention and allocates tasks to subsystems.

  The CE does not store information and has little processing capacity.
• Explain the Phonological Loop.

  Deals with auditory information and preserves the order in which the information arrives. It is divided into two parts:

  1. The Phonological store (stores words)
  2. The articulatory process (maintenance rehearsal)
• Explain the Visuo-spatial sketchpad.

  Stores visual and/or spatial information. this has a limited capacity of about 3-4 items according to Baddeley (2003).

  Logie (1995) subdivided the VSS into two parts:

  1. The visual cache (stores visual data)
  2. The inner scribe (records the arrangement of objects in the visual field).
• Explain the episodic buffer.

  A temporary store for all types of visual, spatial and verbal information processed by other stores and maintaining a sense of time sequencing. It has a limited capacity of about 4 chunks.
• Strengths of the Working Memory Model.

  Research support from Shallice & Warrington's (1970) case study of patient KF. This strongly supports the existence of separate visual and acoustic stores.
• Limitations of the Working Memory Model.

  Lack of clarity over the nature of the central executive.

  Baddeley (2003) 'The Ce needs to be more clearly specified than just being simply 'attention'.' Some psychologists believe the CE may consist of separate subcomponents.

  This challenges the integrity of the WMM.