Pscyh: The WMM

• Central Executive(CE)


  Part of the working memory model
• Phonological Loop (PL)


  Part of the working memory model
• Visiospatial Sketchpad (VSS)


  Part of the working memory model
• Episodic Buffer(EB)


  Part of the working memory model
• Long-Term Memory(LTM)


  Part of the working memory model
• Working Memory Model


  • Supported by case study of KF
  • KF had poor short-term memory for auditory information but could process visual information normally
  • KF's phonological loop was damaged but his visuo-spatial sketchpad was intact
• A03: An issue with KF's case study is that it is unclear whether he had other cognitive impairments which might have affected his performance on memory tasks
• A03: There is challenging evidence that comes from clinical studies of people with brain injuries that may have affected many different systems
• A03: Support for the working memory model comes from Baddeley and Hitch's 1974 study where participants carried out a vision task and a verbal task at the same time, and their performance was similar to when they carried out the tasks separately
• A03: There is a lack of clarity over the nature of the Central Executive component of the working memory model
• Baddeley said the Central Executive is the most important component, but it was least understood
• A03: The Central Executive needs to be more clearly defined than just simply being "attention"
• The lack of clarity over the Central Executive component challenges the integrity of the working memory model
• A03: Findings of Shallice and Warrington's study

  • KF had very poor short-term memory (STM) recall for auditory stimuli
  • KF had increased STM recall for visual stimuli
  • He could recall words when he read them but not when read to him.
  • PLL damaged, but VSS intact
• A03: Findings of Shallice and Warrington's study

  Suggests the components of memory which process auditory and visual stimuli are separate (as described in the WMM through the phonological loop and the visuo-spatial sketchpad)
• A03: Dual-task performance studies(Baddeley)

  • Each participant must undertake a visual and verbal task simultaneously
  • And the same for same condition task
  • Found that performance was better when tasks were of different nature
  • Shows that there are different slave systems that process visual input and verbal input