Baddeley and Hitch 1976
Aim: To investigate if participants can use different parts of working memory at the same time.
Method: Conducted an experiment in which participants were asked to perform two tasks at the same
time (dual task technique) - a digit span task which required them to repeat a list of numbers, and a
verbal reasoning task which required them to answer true or false to various questions (e.g. B is
followed by A?).
Results: As the number of digits increased in the digit span tasks, participants took longer to answer the
reasoning questions, but not much longer - only fractions of a second. And, they didn't make any more
errors in the verbal reasoning tasks as the number of digits increased.
Conclusion: The verbal reasoning task made use of the central executive and the digit span task made
use of the phonological loop.
Aim: To investigate if participants can use different parts of working memory at the same time.
Method: Conducted an experiment in which participants were asked to perform two tasks at the same
time (dual task technique) - a digit span task which required them to repeat a list of numbers, and a
verbal reasoning task which required them to answer true or false to various questions (e.g. B is
followed by A?).
Results: As the number of digits increased in the digit span tasks, participants took longer to answer the
reasoning questions, but not much longer - only fractions of a second. And, they didn't make any more
errors in the verbal reasoning tasks as the number of digits increased.
Conclusion: The verbal reasoning task made use of the central executive and the digit span task made
use of the phonological loop.
