THE WORKING MEMORY MODELBaddeley and Hitch, 1974

Central Executive

Phonological Store

Visuo-Spatial Store

Articulatory processes

Visuo-spatial processes

PHONOLOGICAL LOOP VISUO-SPATIAL SKETCHPAD

The Matrix Task (Brooks)

1

In the next square down put a ‘2’. In the next square left put a ‘3’…In the next square good put a ‘2’. In the next square luck put a ‘3’…

The Matrix Task (Brooks)Recall of instructions

Recall of spatial instructions

Recall of verbal instructions

Effect of Secondary Tracking Task

Recall of instructions

Spatial Verbal Spatial VerbalWITHOUT TRACKING WITH TRACKING

Nature of the Active Process

• Concreteness: - concrete words are recalled better than abstract words (Paivio, 1972).

• Pegword Method: - relies on the formation of images to associated target items with concrete items.

Dual Task MethodologyBaddeley & Lieberman, 1980; Logie,

1986Word recall

Imagery Words

(pegword) (rote repetition)

1 task2 tasks

Nature of the Active Process

• Concreteness: - concrete words are recalled better than abstract words (Paivio, 1972).

• Pegword Method: - relies on the formation of images to associated target items with concrete items.

• Dual Task Methodology - spatial and visual tasks impair the efficiency of the pegword method (Baddeley & Lieberman, 1980; Logie, 1986).

Independence of the Slaves

Word recall

Rote Repetition Imagery

No distraction

Articulatory Suppression

So What?Importance of the Visuo-Spatial

SketchpadPATIENT ‘ELD’:

•Acquisition of new visual information ie., faces

•Acquisition of new spatial information ie., locations and directions

•Independence of processing of visuo-spatial information and phonological information

A Role of the Central Executive

A Supervisory Attentional System (SAS)

• The CE as a regulator of processing

• The CE as a controller of actions (Shallice, 1982)

- contentional scheduling of practised actions

- conscious control of new or novel actions

• The CE as the point of retrieval from long term memory

• The CE as a seat of consciousness

The Working Memory Model - Summary

•STM is an active system

•STM is a multi-component system

- A central executive; A phonological loop; A visuo-spatial sketchpad

•Each slave has both a passive, limited store and an active process

•Each slave process has been described by the use of dual-task methodology

•The WM model is a flexible and versatile contributor to everyday tasks.