working memory model

• developed by Baddeley and Hitch (1974)
• components of the working memory model

  • central executive
  • slave systems
• three slave systems

  • phonological loop
  • episodic buffer
  • visuospatial sketchpad
• phonological loop

  • limited capacity
  • deals with auditory information and preserves the order of information
  • baddeley (1986) divided it into phonological store and articulatory process
  • phonological store: holds words you hear
  • articulatory process: used for words that are heard or seen, repeats these words silently
• episodic buffer

  • added by baddeley (2000)
  • integrates information from the central executive, the phonological loop, and the visuospatial sketchpad
  • maintains a sense of time sequencing
  • sends information to the long term memory
• visuospatial sketchpad

  • temporarily stores visual and spatial information
  • logie (1995) divided it into visual cache and inner scribe
  • visual cache: stores information on visual items
  • inner scribe: stores arrangement of objects in the visual field
• (+) support from dual task studies

  • hitch + baddeley (1976): dual task performance effect
  • task one occupied central executive, task two either involved articulatory loop or central executive and articulatory loop
  • found that task one was slower when task two involved articulatory loop and central executive
  • demonstrates dual task performance effect and existence of central executive
• (+) support from case studies

  • KF - short term forgetting of auditory information was much greater than his forgetting of visual information
  • auditory problems were limited to verbal materials like numbers and letters, not meaningful sounds like phone ringing --> indicates damage to phonological loop
  • supports existence and role of phonological loop
• (-) relies on evidence from brain damaged patients

  • process of a brain injury is traumatic which may itself change behaviour so a person performs worse on a visual task
  • individuals with brain damage may face other challenges such as attention difficulties which may be affecting their performance on certain tasks
  • results of a single case study are difficult if not impossible to replicate and can't be generalised to individuals without very specific injury