working memory model

• The WMM was composed by Baddeley and hitch as a model for STM
• The central executive monitors information from different sources and then decide what to pay attention to by allocating tasks to the sub-components.
• The episodic buffer is a general store for STM. It receives info from the CE and passes it to the LTM, responsible for time ordering info to sub-components.
• The phonological loop is responsible for processing auditory info and has two sub stores in it.

  Phonological store=holds and stores speech for up to 2 seconds.

  Articulatory Control process= allows maintenance rehearsal to happen
• The visuo-spatial sketchpad is a temporary store of visual information that is used to perform visual tasks.

  Inner scribe= record arrangement of objects in visual field.

  Visual cache= stores visual data
• there is supporting evidence from the study of KF (suffered a brain injury). Caused him to have poor auditory processing but could still process visually. This evidence found that his phonological loop was damaged but his VSSP was still intact. Supporting the existence of a separate visual and acoustic component within STM.
• Dual task performance studies the separate existence of the VSSP. Baddeley made pp conduct a visual and verbal task at the same time, their performance was similar. But when asked to do the same task performance declined. This is because both visual tasks compete for the same sub system. Shows that there are separate sub systems.
• One problem is the lack of clarity over the nature of the CEs role. Baddeley stated that even though it is the most important, it was the least understood. There is a lot of contradictory statements if it is simply attention. Suggests that it is an unsatisfactory component and the exact role is unclear.