Working memory model

• Phonological loop

  -auditory info

  -preserves order in which info arrives

  -phonological site = words you hear

  -articulatory = allows maintained rehearsal, capacity is around 2 seconds
• Episodic buffer

  -added to model by baddeley

  -temporary store for info integrates visual, spatial, and verbal info processed

  -maintains sense of time keeping

  -storage component of CE

  -limited capacity (4 chunks)

  -links working memory to LTM
• Visuo spatial sketch pad

  -stores visual and spatial info

  -limited capacity, according to baddeley around 3/4 objects

  -logie subdivide into visual cache and inner scribe

  -visual cache = stores visual data

  -inner scribe = records arrangement of objects
• Central executive

  -supervisory role, monitors incoming data

  -divides attention and allocates slave systems

  -limited processing

  -doesn't store info
• Strength of the WMM 

  -support from shallice and warringtons study of KF

  -KF had poor STM ability for auditory info but he could still process visual info normally 

  -his recall of letters and digits was better when he read them (visual) than when they were read to him (auditory) 

  -this supports the existence of separate visual and acoustic memory stores as his phonological loop was damaged but his VSS was intact 
• Limitation of of the WMM (AO3)

  -unclear if KF had any other cognitive impairments which may have affected his performance of memory tasks 

  -this challenges evidence that comes from clinical studies of people with brain injuries that may have affected many different systems 
• Limitation of WMM (CE)

  -lack of clarity over nature of central executive 

  -baddeley said its most important but least understood 

  -may consist of separated sub components 

  -this means the CE is an unsatisfactory component and challenges the integrity of the WMM