WMM AO3

CE strengths

• Description of the different STM processes and how they are coordinated

• Most important and most flexible component

CE weaknesses

• vague in explanation

• Likely to be made up of several smaller components

• Complex - Harder to investigate

EB Strengths

• Explains where memories retrieved from LTM are processed/stored

• Explains complex processes in WM that the original model couldn’t explain e.g. Baddeley’s research in 2000

EB Weaknesses

• Little information and not understood fully

• Lack of research - low credibility

PL Strengths

• Explains how someone can process auditory information at the same time as visual information in the STM

• Explains the processes of STM such as maintenance rehearsal (loop)

PL Weaknesses

• Vague description of phonological store

• Connections to CE not fully explained

VSS Strengths

• Explains how visual information can be processed at the same time as auditory

• Explains processes of STM such as maintenance rehearsal (inner scribe)

VSS Weaknesses

• Model implies all info starts visual and turns spatial - unlikely for all cases

• Lieberman (1980) - blind people have excellent spatial awareness and have never received visual information

Research Support (+)

• Gathercole & baddeley found pts had difficulty simultaneously tracking a moving point of light and describing the angles on a hollow letter F, as both tasks require the use of VSS

• Other pts had little difficulty tracking the light and performing a simultaneous verbal task, as both involve the VSS and PL, indicating VSS to be a separate slave system

• Suggests the WMM is a good model of memory as research shows the VSS is a separate slave system to the PL