Working Model Of Memory AO3

• The WMM is an advance from the passivity of the MSM


  There is research to support STM being more than one component
• Research supporting STM being more than one component

  • Baddeley et al (1975) found participants could carry out a visual and verbal task at the same time, but not two visual (or verbal) tasks
• The WMM is supported by highly controlled lab studies which may undermine the validity of the model
• The WMM does not account for musical memory - it's possible to listen to instrumental music whilst performing other auditory tasks, criticising the model
• Central Executive (CE)


  The most important but least understood component of the WMM
• Research suggests the CE could be more than one component, not unitary, as in this model
• Evidence against the CE being unitary


  • Eslinger and Damasio studied a patient who could perform well on reasoning tasks but had poor decision making skills
• The validity of the whole WMM is questionable as the most important part (the CE) is not well explained
• It's not even clear how the CE allocates to slave systems in the WMM
• Clinical evidence supporting STM being more than one component

  • KF could recall digits better if he read them (VSS) than if they were read to him (PL) - this selective impairment supports the model
  • Brain imaging studies (MA, 2002) found different areas of the brain active for verbal tasks (inferior frontal cortex) and visual tasks (visual cortex) - this is consistent with the idea that working memory consists of separate components