Discuss the Working Memory Model
AO1 This is an alternative ST memory model to the MSM, it was developed by Baddeley and Hitch.
It was developed due to the dual- task effect which refers to the fact that when activities that
are similar are performed at the same time e.g two acoustic activities, performance was
impaired however this was not the case when the activities are different.
Central executive- this receives sensory information and divides the information between the
two slave groups- the phonological loop and the visuo- spatial sketchpad. It has a limited
capacity and is only able to focus on one piece of information at a time.
Phonological loop- this store is responsible for processing acoustic information and has a
limited capacity. This is further divided into two stores, the articulatory process (silently
repeats information) and the phonological store (holds information)
Visuo- spatial Sketchpad- this is responsible for processing visual/ spatial information, it has
a limited capacity and can be further divided into two stores, the visual cache (stores
information about visual objects) and the inner scribe (stores the arrangement of objects)
Episodic Buffer- this is a general store for all information and sends it on to the LTM (was
added on later)
AO3 1. Lack of clarity over the central executive as psychologists don’t fully understand what
the true role of it is, meaning the WMM has not fully been explained.
2. Explains dual task effect as Baddeley conducted a study using participants who were
asked to complete two visual tasks and then a visual and a verbal task. He found that
participants had more difficulty in completing the two visual tasks than the visual and
verbal task, this is because the two visual tasks use the same slave system so were
competing for the same resources. Therefore, he concluded that there must be two
separate stores in the STM.
3. Research support from KF who had brain damage by Shallice and Warrington. They
found that he had poor STM ability for verbal information but his STM ability for visual
information was normal. Providing evidence that the phonological loop and the visuo-
spatial sketchpad are separate stores. However, this research is limited as it is a case
study, so only one participant who had brain damage, meaning the results are not
generalisable to the public as the results can be easily influenced by participant
variables. Furthermore, due to the researchers getting heavily involved, the results
lose subjectivity as they could be subject to researcher bias which would decrease the
validity of the findings.
4. Evidence from brain scans from Braver who got participants to complete tasks
involving the CE while they were having brain scans. They found greater activity in the
pre-frontal cortex and activity in this area increased when the task got harder,
showing the CE is its own separate store. Research using brain scans is highly scientific
and objective, increasing the validity of the findings and contributing the concept of
psychology as a science.
AO1 This is an alternative ST memory model to the MSM, it was developed by Baddeley and Hitch.
It was developed due to the dual- task effect which refers to the fact that when activities that
are similar are performed at the same time e.g two acoustic activities, performance was
impaired however this was not the case when the activities are different.
Central executive- this receives sensory information and divides the information between the
two slave groups- the phonological loop and the visuo- spatial sketchpad. It has a limited
capacity and is only able to focus on one piece of information at a time.
Phonological loop- this store is responsible for processing acoustic information and has a
limited capacity. This is further divided into two stores, the articulatory process (silently
repeats information) and the phonological store (holds information)
Visuo- spatial Sketchpad- this is responsible for processing visual/ spatial information, it has
a limited capacity and can be further divided into two stores, the visual cache (stores
information about visual objects) and the inner scribe (stores the arrangement of objects)
Episodic Buffer- this is a general store for all information and sends it on to the LTM (was
added on later)
AO3 1. Lack of clarity over the central executive as psychologists don’t fully understand what
the true role of it is, meaning the WMM has not fully been explained.
2. Explains dual task effect as Baddeley conducted a study using participants who were
asked to complete two visual tasks and then a visual and a verbal task. He found that
participants had more difficulty in completing the two visual tasks than the visual and
verbal task, this is because the two visual tasks use the same slave system so were
competing for the same resources. Therefore, he concluded that there must be two
separate stores in the STM.
3. Research support from KF who had brain damage by Shallice and Warrington. They
found that he had poor STM ability for verbal information but his STM ability for visual
information was normal. Providing evidence that the phonological loop and the visuo-
spatial sketchpad are separate stores. However, this research is limited as it is a case
study, so only one participant who had brain damage, meaning the results are not
generalisable to the public as the results can be easily influenced by participant
variables. Furthermore, due to the researchers getting heavily involved, the results
lose subjectivity as they could be subject to researcher bias which would decrease the
validity of the findings.
4. Evidence from brain scans from Braver who got participants to complete tasks
involving the CE while they were having brain scans. They found greater activity in the
pre-frontal cortex and activity in this area increased when the task got harder,
showing the CE is its own separate store. Research using brain scans is highly scientific
and objective, increasing the validity of the findings and contributing the concept of
psychology as a science.
