Warrington and Shallice (1970)

• Aim: 

  To investigate if there are separate working memory stores for visual and verbal information.
• Participant: 

  KF, a brain-damaged patient who had been in a motorcycle accident.
• Procedure:

  1. KF was subjected to various tests.
  2. Words and numbers were presented to KF in two ways:

  • Orally (auditory presentation)
  • Visually (written form)
• Results:

  1. KF's long-term memory (LTM) was intact; he could learn new information.
  2. KF quickly forgot numbers and words presented orally.
  3. KF could remember words and numbers presented visually.
  4. His impairment was mainly for verbal information, while visual memory was largely unaffected.
• Conclusions:

  1. The study supports the Working Memory Model's claim of separate short-term memory components.
  2. It provides biological evidence for distinct stores for visual information (visuospatial sketchpad) and verbal information (phonological loop).
• Implications:

  1. Supports the Working Memory Model over the simpler Multi-Store Model.
  2. Suggests that brain damage can selectively impair specific components of working memory