The Working Memory Model

Question 1

Who proposed the WMM?

Answer 1

Baddeley and Hitch, argued STM is an active processor & has different components.

Question 2

What three subsystems did they propose?

Answer 2

Central Executive (CEO), which is divided into:
* Phonological Loop
* Episodic Buffer
* Visuospatial Sketchpad

Question 3

What is the central executive responsible for?

Answer 3

• deciding which tasks deserve attention
• filtering these tasks before passing the info to the appropriate subsystems.

Question 4

What are the features of the phonological loop?

Answer 4

• processes and stores visual & auditory info
  divided into:
• phonological store ‘inner ear’
  holds words for short period of 1-2 seconds
• articulatory process ‘inner voice’ silently repeats info

Question 5

What are the features of the episodic buffer?

Answer 5

Baddeley updated the model (2000) to integrate visual, verbal and spatial info from LTM into the coherent experience.

Question 6

What are the features of the visuo-spatial sketchpad?

Answer 6

• responsible for processing visual and spatial info
  divided into:
• visual cache - stores visual details of what things look like
• inner scribe - records the arrangement of objects in the visual field