Working Memory Model-Baddeley and Hitch

central executive

the part of working memory that directs attention and processing

visuospatial sketchpad

A component of working memory where we create mental images to remember visual information

phonological loop

the part of working memory that holds and processes verbal and auditory information

phonological store

Component of the phonological loop of working memory that holds a limited amount of verbal and auditory information for a few seconds.

articulatory control

Inner voice that rehearses information from phonological buffer

episodic buffer

A component of working memory where information in working memory interacts with information in long term memory (eg. relating information you are processing to a previous memory)

Baddeley and Hitch-Aim

To investigate if participants can use different parts of working memory at the same time.

Baddeley and Hitch-Procedure

Conducted an experiment in which participants were asked to perform two tasks at the same time (dual task technique) - a digit span task which required them to repeat a list of numbers, and a verbal reasoning task which required them to answer true or false to various questions (e.g., B is followed by A?).

Baddeley and Hitch-Results

As the number of digits increased in the digit span tasks, participants took longer to answer the reasoning questions, but not much longer - only fractions of a second. And, they didn"t make any more errors in the verbal reasoning tasks as the number of digits increased.

Baddeley and Hitch-Conclusions

The verbal reasoning task made use of the central executive and the digit span task made use of the phonological loop.