Outline and evaluate the working memory model.
The working memory model was proposed in 1974 by Baddeley and Hitch, who felt that Atkinson and Schifrin’s multi store model, was too simplistic, therefore the working memory model acted as an alternative, unlike the multi store model the working memory model presents short term memory stores because it focuses on the short term memory. The term working memory is used by Baddeley and Hitch to refer to the part of the memory that is active, for example calculating sums or reading a sentence all of which are collecting data to be stored.
There are three parts main of the original working memory model: the central executive, phonological loop, visual spatial sketch pad and the later added episodic buffer. The central executive controls attention and draws on the other the other two systems also known as slave systems. The central executive only has a limited capacity, which is supported by the dual task technique. This is when an individual struggles to do tasks that require the same component – this is because they are competing for the central executive’s capacity. There is evidence to suggest that there may be more than one component of the central executive, for example Eslinger and Damasio study. Their findings were that a patient, who had recently had a brain tumour removed, performed well on tasks that required reasoning, but not on decision making tasks.
The two slave systems in the working memory model have similarities – this is because both the visual spatial sketchpad and the phonological loop both deal with different kinds of sensory information. The visual spatial sketch pad (also known as the inner eye) manipulates images in two and three dimension, for example two dimensions would be remembering a person’s face from long term memory and you can imagine a room in your house in three dimensions. The