the working memory model

• this model was created in response to criticisms of the multistore model
• the working memory model is an improved version of the stm store in the multistore model
• the wmm explains how the brain holds and works on auditory and visual information in the stm
• the stm is used to process and combine different types of information
• the criticism regarding the multistore model was that the stm is an active processor, therefore it must be more than a store of information.
• components of the wmm: central executive, phonological loop, visuo-spatial sketchpad, episodic buffer.
• the episodic buffer was added by Baddeley later in 2000 in response to criticism that the model didn't completely explain how information was effectively combined from different memory stores
• information in the episodic buffer in the wmm is integrated and stored
• the phonological loop (pl) and the visuo-spatial sketchpad can be further divided into 2 more systems. pl - phonological store, articulatory control system. v-s s - visual cache, inner scribe.
• the wmm has 2 slave systems that are controlled by the central executive
• the central executive is also known has the 'head' of the model
• the phonological loop processes auditory information.
• the visuo-spatial sketchpad processes visual and spatial information, the 'inner eye'
• the phonological store holds onto words we hear, the 'inner ear'
• the visual cache is the passive store (it isn't modified), and stores form and colour. it is part of the visuo-spatial sketchpad
• the inner scribe holds onto the relationships between objects and 3D space. it is part of the visuo-spatial sketchpad
• the phonological loop has a limited capacity: what can be said in 2 seconds
• the central executive has a limited capacity: 4 items, 1 type of information at a time, as it switches between inputs/items.