working memory model

who was the working memory model created by and why?

the working memory model was created by Baddeley and Hitch (1974) to replace the STM store of the MSM (multi store model of the memory) due to criticisms of the STM

fact about STM (1)

STM must be more complex than just a single unitary store that only exists to pass information on to LTM

fact about STM (2)

STM must be an active processor, holding multiple different types of information simultaneously while being worked on

whats the central executive?

‘head of the model’ controls attention, receives sense of information and filters this before passing on to sub systems. limited in capacity (4 items), working on one type of information at a time, but can switch attention between different inputs

whats the phonological loop?

the phonological loop processes auditory coded information

whats the primary acoustic/phonological store?

the primary acoustic/phonological store is the inner ear, holding words recently heard

whats the articulatory process?

the articulatory process is the inner voice, it holds information via sub-vocal repetition

whats the visuo-spatial sketchpad?

the visuo-spatial sketchpad processed visual and spatially coded information, thought of as the ‘inner eye’

whats the visual cache?

the visual cache is a passive store of form and colour

whats the inner scribe?

the inner scribe is an active store holding relationships between objects in 3D space

whats the episodic buffer?

the episodic buffer was added to the WMM in 2000, as the model needed a general store to hold and integrate information from the VSS, PL, CE and LTM

ev/ao3 for wmm:

Shallice and Warrington (1970) investigated the clinical case of KF. it was found KF has selective impairment to his verbal short memory, caused by a brain injury, however the visual functioning of his STM is not affected. This suggests that PL and VSS subsystems are separate processes located in separate brain regions