The WMM

• WMM: Baddeley + Hitch (1974) -

  • CE - Central Executive: processes all info coming into STM & directs it to slave systems. CE has a very limited capacity.
  • Phonological Loop - deal with acoustic info & helps keep in order.

  ~ Phonological Store - 'inner ear'

  ~ The Articulatory Process - 'inner voice' verbal rehearsal system, where maintenance rehearsal occurs.
• • Visuo-spatial sketchpad - visual or spatial info rehearsed, made up of visual cache which stores visual data, inner scribe deals with spatial info.
  • Episodic Buffer - added 2000. Temporary store for info, integrates info from all other parts of WMM, can record events that are happening & sends info to LTM.
• AO3 -

  • Dual-task performance: doing 2 tasks simultaneously as long as separate slave systems are being used. Supports the idea of the STM having separate slave systems. 2 separate for visual & audio which was a criticism of the MSM.
  • KF, motorcycle accident & he had amnesia could remember what he saw but not what he heard supports the phonological loop & VSS being separate.
• AO3 -

  • Lack of clarity, Baddeley said the 'CE is the most important but least understood component' too simplistic & do not have a full understanding on memory. Also does not explain the transfer of information from STM to LTM.
  • Lab studies for a lot of the studies into memory, artificial tasks lacking mundane realism. Not representative lacks ecological validity.
• • visuo-spatial sketch/scratch pad = temporary storage of visual and spatial information; inner eye; visual coding; can hold 3–4 items; visual cache, visual scribe
  • phonological loop: phonological store + articulatory process = limited capacity temporary storage system; holds acoustic information according to tone, volume, pitch, etc; inner ear; verbal rehearsal loop, sub-vocal speech; duration 1.5–2 secs; inner voice
  • episodic buffer – integrates/synthesises information from other stores; link to LTM; modality free.
• AO3 Central Executive -

  • Central executive is vague and untestable (despite being the component in overall charge)
  • Central executive itself may be divided into separate sub-components
  • Baddeley himself said that it is the most important yet least understood component which leads to an inadequate understanding of memory.
• AO3 WMM -

  • use of evidence to support KF case study – separate visual and verbal stores in STM
  • explains how cognitive processes interact
  • a view of memory that is active rather than passive (in contrast to the multi-store model)
  • explains results of dual task studies, e.g. Baddeley
  • vague, untestable nature of the central executive & episodic buffer - most important yet least understood components