The Working Memory Model was proposed by Baddeley and Hitch in 1974
The Central Excecutive allocates data to the subsystems (Visuospatial Sketchpad & Phonological Loop) and helps with cognitive tasks e.g problem solving
The Visuospatial Sketchpad stores and processes information in a visual or spatial form and is used for navigation
The Visuospatial Sketchpad is composed of the Visual Cache (visual data) and the Inner Scribe (spatial arrangement)
The Phonological Loop deals with spoken and written material
The Phonological Loop is composed of the Phonological Store and the Articulatory Control Process
The Phonological Store processes speech perception and stores words for 1-2 seconds
The Episodic Buffer integrates all forms of information and maintain sequencing, and acts as a back-up store to communicate LTM with WM
The Episodic Buffer is limited to around 4 chunks
The Episodic Buffer was added by Baddeley in 2000 after it failed to explain why people could instantly recall information
Baddeley & Hitch (1975) carried out the dual task study to show separate existence of the two main slave systems
The Dual Task Study used two conditions: tracking movinglight & describing capital letter F, tracking moving light & repeating verbalsound
Baddeley & Hitch found that the participants found the second condition much easier
Patient KF supported the WMM as he had serious damage to to his STM for verbal information but STM for visual information was unaffacted
Braver et.al. used brain scanning to investigate the central excecutive by giving participants logic and reasoning tasks while using brain scanning equipment
Braver et.al. found that the occipital lobe is used for visual tasks