The Working Memory Model

• • Developed by Baddeley and Hitch 1974, it explains how STM is organised and how it functions.
  • WMM is concerned with the part of the mind that is active
• Working Memory Model

  
• CENTRAL EXECUTIVE

  • supervisor of the management model
  • processes all incoming information from the senses and manages attention so it can decide which information is attended to
  • limited capacity so it allocates the other subdivisions known as 'slave systems' of this model to attend to relevant information.
• PHONOLOGICAL LOOP

  • deals with auditory information and codes acoustically
  • TWO SUBDIVISIONS;
  • PHONOLOGICAL STORE= inner ear, holds words and sounds we hear
  • ARTICULATORY CONTROL SYSTEM= inner voice, repeats the information we listened to, involves talking to yourself, can hold no more than 2 seconds worth of information.
• VISUO-SPATIAL SKETCHPAD

  • deals with visual and spatial material
  • limited capacity
  • TWO SUBCOMPONENTS;
  • VISUAL CACHE= stores visual material in terms of form and colour
  • INNER SCRIBE= stores spatial information in terms of how stimuli is arranged
• EPISODIC BUFFER

  • added in 2000 by Baddeley and Hitch
  • temporary store that accesses information from 2 slave systems
  • integrates information from 2 slave systems to maintain the sense of time, so that events occur in continuing sequences
  • helps to store information from CENTRAL EXECUTIVE whilst its dividing information from the slave systems
  • limited capacity