Baddeley and Hitch's Working Memory Model 🧠

Introduction

• Short-term memory often talked about as a unified concept.
• Analogy: Calling short-term memory a unified concept is like calling a multitool a flip knife or saying pizza is made from pizza.
• The goal is to break down short-term memory into its components similar to ingredients of a pizza.

Key Components

Central Executive

• Function: Manages and organizes information processed by other systems (slave systems).
• Analogy: Line manager; doesn’t do much itself but directs other systems.
• Unknowns: Limited understanding of its exact operations.

Phonological Loop

• Function: Temporary storage for auditory information.
• Subdivisions:
  • Phonological Store (Inner Ear): Stores auditory information.
  • Articulatory Process (Inner Voice): Rehearses words to maintain them in working memory.

Visual-Spatial Sketch Pad

• Function: Manages visual and spatial information.
• Subdivisions:
  • Visual Cache: Stores visual details like shape and color.
  • Inner Scribe: Records object arrangements, transfers info to the central executive.
• Analogy: Works for a bonus by effectively managing and transferring information.

Episodic Buffer

• Function: Accounts for the interaction between working memory and long-term memory.
• Unknowns: Limited understanding, similar to the central executive.

Functionality of the Model

• Dual Task Paradigm: Baddeley and Hitch's research demonstrates the model:
  • Experiment: Easier to complete two tasks that use different slave systems simultaneously.
  • Examples:
    • Patting stomach and rubbing head (both use visual-spatial sketch pad) is difficult.
    • Patting head and reciting alphabet (one uses phonological loop, the other visual-spatial sketch pad) is easier.

Supporting Evidence

• KF Case Study:
  • KF's Condition: Brain damage affected verbal memory but not visual memory.
  • Implication: Supports the idea that slave systems are distinct and anatomically separate.

Conclusion

• Impact: Shifted the understanding of short-term memory to be complex and multi-faceted.
• Limitations: Model may not provide the complete picture of short-term memory.

Additional Information

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