Working Memory Model

• Context of the working memory model


  Baddeley and Hitch (1935) devloped the working memory model in response to shortcomings of Atkinson and Shiffrin's multi-store model.

  According to the WMM, short term memory is an active store
• Components of the working memory model


  • Phonological loop
  • Visuospatial sketchpad
  • Central Executive
  • Episodic Buffer
• Explanation of the phonological loop


  The phonological loop retains verbal and auditory information using subvocal rehearsal, and is divided into two sub-components called the primary acoustic store and the articulatory process
• Explanation of the visuospatial sketchpad

  The visuospatial sketchpad is a short term store for visual information (stored in the visual cache) and spatial information (stored in the inner scribe)
• Explanation of the episodic buffer

  The episodic buffer is a multi-modal store that combines information across all five sense to form memories of 'episodes'
• Explanation of the central executive


  The central executive is a system that is involved in controlling the activity of the three working memory stores, directing information to the relevant stores and allocating attention across the stores. It is responsible for our ability to multi-task
• Strength: working memory model has supporting evidence


  • It is supported by the results of dual-task studies
  • In Gathercole and Baddeley' study, they found that participants who performed one visual task and one verbal task at the same time performed better than those who performed two visual tasks at once because they were using distinct stores to retain verbal and visual information, meaning that their short term memory stores were not overloaded
  • These results provide support for the existence of the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad
• Limitation: artificiality of working memory model research


  • Much of the research support for the model comes from laboratory experiments
  • Although this gives researchers a high level of control over extraneous variables, the experiments can lack ecological validity
  • The types of memory tasks used are artificial and may not resemble the ways in which we use memory in every day life which are often more complicated than following a moving dot meaning the results of dual task studies may not generalise to every day life
  • WMM may not provide a complete account for how memory works in everyday life
• Limitation: working memory model's component has a lack of studies 


  • The central executive has been criticised for lacking falsifiability
  • It is argued that there is no result that can disprove the existence of the central executive; in a dual-task study, if participants can perform two tasks at once, this is argued to be due to the central executive allocating attention across stores, but if participants can't, this is due to the central executive being overloaded
  • The central executive cant be used to generate testable hypotheses, limiting its utility as a scientific concept