The working memory model

What is the WMM?

A representation of how the STM is organised and how it functions

Who established the WMM and when?

Baddeley and Hitch (1974)

What are the subsystems of the WMM?

- Central executive (CE)

- Phonological loop (PL)

- Visuospatial sketchpad (VSS)

- Episodic buffer (EB)

Outline the central executive

- Co-ordinates the activities of the 3 other subsystems (‘supervisory role’)

- Has a limited processing capacity

- Does not store information

Outline the phonological loop

- Processes acoustic information (‘inner ear’)

- Contributes to our learning of the sounds of language by accessing the LTM to store and retrieve phonological information

- It is divided into 2 sections

What are the 2 sections of the phonological loop?

The phonological store

The articulatory process

What is the function of the phonological store?

Responsible for storing the words that you hear and read

What is the function of the articulatory process?

Responsible for maintenance rehearsal

Outline the visuospatial sketchpad

- Processes visual and spatial information (‘inner eye’)

- Contributes to our understanding of visual semantics by accessing the LTM to store and retrieve visuospatial information

- Has a limited capacity of 3-4 chunks of information

- Robert Logie divided it into 2 sections

What are the 2 sections of the visuospatial sketchpad?

The visual cache

The inner scribe

What is the function of the visual cache?

Responsible for storing visual data

What is the function of the inner scribe?

Responsible for recording the arrangement of objects in the visual field

Outline the episodic buffer

- Combines material from the other subsystems into a single memory rather than separate strands

- Provides a bridge between the working memory and the LTM

- Has a limited capacity of 4 chunks

What are the strengths of the WWM?

- Shallice and Warrington’s case study on KF (1970) supports the WMM because after KF developed amnesia, his STM for digits was worse when they were read out to him, but much better when he read the digits himself. This suggests KFs PL was damaged but his VSS was still intact, aligning with the WMMs claim that the STM has a separate store for acoustic information and visual information.

- Smith and Jonides study using brain scans (1997) provided evidence for the existence of different subsystems within the working memory.

- Dual-task performance (e.g. repeating a phone number while completing a true or false quiz) engages different subsystems of the WWM. This demonstrates that the STM can complete multiple tasks simultaneously as long as the tasks are not sent to the same subsystem.

What are the limitations of the WMM?

- It is unclear whether KF had other cognitive issues, apart from the damage to his PL, which would have affected his performance on STM tests.

- The CE is arguably the most important subsystem of the WMM and yet there is a lack of research on it. This means it is an unsatisfactory component, challenging the integrity of the WMM.