The working memory model

• argues that short term memory is active
• the central executive- unitary store that has a limited capacity, receives info in numerous modes from the environment, decided which info is attented to and directs data to the appropriate slave systems.
• Episodic buffer- integrates info from the two other slave systems, maintains a sense of time sequencing so you can recall info in an
• the visuospatial sketchpad- processes visual info, capacity of 3-4 objects- subdivided into - visual cache which processes info about shape and colour of objects
• visuospatial sketchpad also entails the inner scripe which processes info about location and movement of objects
• Phonological loop- processes verbal info, has a capacity of the amount of words that can be said in 2 seconds, subdivided into- the phonological stores which processes hold spoken words. the articulatory control process which rehearses words held in the store
• The WMM is not fully explained, little is known about how the central executive works, some psychologists have argued it is not unitary, and Baddeley himself said it was the least understood component.
• Research support- KF after brain damage had digit span of one for short term recall of verbal info but he performed better if material was presented visually. supports claim of separate processes in STM.
• KF study is limited in generalisability, sample consisted of one person who had brain damage. the WMM may not be applicable to the wider, non-clinical population.
• research to support from KF, injured from a motorcycle accident, following this, KF was able to recall stored information from LTM, however he had issues with his STM, was able to remember visuals (including faces), but was unable to remember sounds (acoustic information). - suggests there is 2 components to STM- visual and sound info, supports idea of 2 slave systems, (visuospatial sketchpad and phonological loop)
• central executive 'the head of the model' controls attention, receives sense information and filters this before passing on to sub systems, limited on capacity, (4 items) working on one type of information at a time. but can switch attention between different inputs
• the central executive has a fairly limited capacity- for example baddeley observed that participants struggled to perform two tasks simultaneously, and suggested this was because both tasks were competing for central executive resources.
• phonological loop- two substores include- phonological store: a short term store that briefly retains words and the order that they appeared in (sometimes called the inner ear), and the articulatory store- rehearses words to keep them within the phonological loop (sometimes called the inner voice),
• the episodic buffer acts as a temporary storage system for integrating information from various sources including the phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad and long term memory.