Talking of short-term memory as a single
unified concept is like calling a
multi-tool a mere flip knife. It's like saying
pizza is made from pizza. It's time to
find out what the short-term memory
equivalents of flour, eggs, tomato and
cheese are. And so we open our recipe
book to Baddeley and Hitch's working
memory model. This cognitive model
proposed a new structure for short-term
memory. Though, doesn't really say much
about short-term memories relationship
with long-term memory. Anyway, here are
the ingredients: the Central Executive,
one phonological loop, one visual spatial
sketchpad and an episodic buffer. Let's
start with the important sounding
central executive. A great name but not
so much is known about this central
element of the model. The central
executive has been included in the model
in an effort to account for the
organization of information, attended by
the slave systems. You could say that the
central executive is something of a line
manager. It determines information but
doesn't do a huge amount itself. On to
the slave systems and the hugely
hard-working phonological loop, a
temporary storage system for auditory
information. The store can be subdivided
into two parts, the Phonological Store
(the inner ear), which stores what you hear
and the Articulatory Process (the inner
voice), which rehearses words to keep them
in working memory whilst needed. The
second slave system is the Visuo-Spatial
Sketchpad, responsible for dealing with
spatial and visual information.
Compliments to the imaginative naming
committee.
The visuospatial sketchpad also has two
constituent parts: the Visual Cache, which
stores visual data such as shape and
color and the Inner Scribe which records
the arrangements of objects and
transfers information to the central
executive.
Probably in the hope of an
end-of-year bonus.
The final slave system
in Baddely and Hitch's model is the
Episodic Buffer.
As with the Central
Executive less is known about this
element of the model than the
Phonological Loop and Visuo-Spatial
Sketchpad. But theorists included it in
the model in a bid to account for the
interaction between working memory and
long-term memory.
So does Working Memory
work as a model for memory?
Well aside
from the limited information about the
Central Executive and Episodic Buffer,
yes, it does! Baddeley and Hitch's own
research using a dual task paradigm
demonstrates that people are able to
complete two tasks simultaneously if
they are using different processing
systems. But it becomes difficult to
complete two tasks at the same time, if
they use the same slave system. Try these
examples yourself and you'll probably
get similar results. First try to pat
your stomach and rub your head at the
same time. Both of these tasks employ the
Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad. It's hard. If you
managed it, it took effort. Now pat your
head and say the alphabet. Easy! You're
still completing two tasks, but because
one task relies on the Phonological Loop
whilst the other calls upon the
Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad, you're able to
multitask with few or no errors. Evidence
from the KF Case Study adds further support
for the suggestion that the slave systems
are not only operationally distinct, but
anatomically separate too. KF experience
brain damage as a result of a motorbike
accident, but whilst his verbal memory
was impaired, his ability to recall and
learn visual information was largely
unaffected.
Baddeley and Hitch open the door to
understandings of short-term memory
being a complex interaction between
several processes rather than a unified
store. But this model is unlikely to
provide the complete picture. Share your
thoughts in the comments below and make
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