The working memory model

• The visuospatial sketchpad - this processes visual and spatial information
• The phonological loop - this processes auditory information and stores it in a speech based form acting as an inner voice when rehearsing things. It consists of the articulatory control process and the phonological store.
• The episodic buffer - briefly stores information from the 2 slave systems and integrates the information they process along with information from the LTM. ( i.e link the STM to LTM).
• The central executive - this controls the slave systems (phonological loop and visuo-spatial sketchpad) by deciding which system is required to process information and send the information there for processing and storage.
• The central executive has limited capacity
• The model proposes that we cannot properly perform 2 tasks using the same slave system at the same time. However, it does suggest that we can carry out 2 tasks using the different slave systems at the same time, and perform them just as if we did them separately.
• (+) Logie et al asked participants to play a computer game while also performing another visuo-spatial test, they found that the participants performance was much worse than those who didn't do an additional visuo-spatial task.
• (+) b= hese results suggest that we can't effectively do 2 tasks using the same slave system at the same time, just like the model suggests
• (+) Brain damage patients have supported the model's idea that the STM is more complex than just one store. E.g the study of KF who after suffering brain damage had very poor recall of auditory information, however completely functioning recall of visual and spatial stimuli. This 14 suggests that only the phonological loop was damaged / affected, proving the WMM’s theory that STM is in two separate stores.
• (-) The central executive has not been properly defined E.g the term ‘process’ is vague and so the role of the most important component of the WMM lacks detailed explanation which causes doubts about the accuracy of the rest of the model.
• Furthermore the capacity of the central executive that's identified as ‘limited’ hasn't actually been measured.
• (+) Unlike the multistore model the WMM sees rehearsal as an optional process, rather than it being the only way of keeping information in the STM as suggested by the multi store model e.g this might explain how information that we haven't rehearsed can end up in our long term memory.