Psychology - Working Memory Model

Running head: PSYCHOLOGY - WORKING MEMORY MODEL
PSYCHOLOGY - WORKING MEMORY MODEL
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1PSYCHOLOGY - WORKING MEMORY MODEL
The working memory model, proposed by Baddeley and Hitch in the year 1974 stated
that there are majorly four separate components that are compose the working memory of the
people concerned. The four major components of the model are central executive, phonological
loop, visuo-spatial scratch pad and episodic buffer (Baddeley, 2000). The short term memory
model is also referred to as the Atkinson and Shiffrin's 'multi-store' memory model. The model
suggested that the human memory had three distinct sections within itself, a long-term store, a
short-term store and the sensory register. The following paper takes an attempt at the outlining
of the working memory model as originally proposed by Baddeley and Hitch in the year 1974.
The essay attempts to throw further light on the issues that are presented by the authors that
rendered the earlier short term memory model inadequate. The paper then proceeds to discuss
the working memory model as a proper and satisfactory replacement for the short-term memory
model that was proposed earlier. The essay attempts to discuss the replacement in terms of the
researches that have been conducted in the previous years.
The working memory model that has been proposed by Baddeley and Hitch in the year
1974 was proposed to be an alternative for the existing model of the short-term memory. The
working memory model was majorly formulated on the basis of the findings that were derived
from the dual-task studies (Schulze et al., 2010). The model states that there are majorly four
separate components that are compose the working memory of the people concerned. The four
major components of the model are central executive, phonological loop, visuo-spatial scratch
pad and episodic buffer (Berry et al., 2018). The working memory is also known as the short
term memory of the person concerned and is responsible for the immediate awareness of the
concerned person. The short term memory can be distinguished well from the long term
memory of the person on the basis of the information that is contained within the given memory
strand. The term “working memory” is a refined term for the older concept of the short term
memory of the given person. The “short term memory” and the “working memory” are known to
have been synonymous terms and are at times used alternatively in the similar situations
(Gathercole & Baddeley, 2014). However, the term short term memory is generally known to
have been referring to the information storage of the humans while the term “working memory”
is used to deal with the storage of the information on the matters that deal with both the storage
as well as the manipulation of the information contained in the human mind at the given point of
time.
The first major component of the working memory model is the component of the central
executive. This component is helpful in the matters that are related to the areas of providing

2PSYCHOLOGY - WORKING MEMORY MODEL
proper solutions to the given problems as well as undertaking decisions in the given scenarios.
The central executive is known for the control over the attention that is invested by the
concerned person. The concerned component is known to have been playing a major role in the
matters that are related to the planning and the synthesizing of the information that are present
in the long term memory of the person and further considers the information that is required
from the subsidiary systems (Koopmann-Holm & O'Connor, 2017). The component of the
central executive is known to have been implementing the measures that are required for the
processing of the required information from various modalities and is known to have been
extremely flexible in operations. Allen, Baddeley and Hitch (2017) state that there is a limitation
on the storage capacity of the component thus it has led to the conditions wherein only a limited
amount of factors can be attended to in the given time.
The second factor that affects the working memory model refers to the phonological
loop. The working memory of the person is known to have been storing a stipulated number of
the phonological speech sounds and the other sounds that are attached to the speech activities
that are present within the given language (Baddeley, Hitch & Quinlan, 2018). The working
memory is known to have been composed of two different components majorly the process of
the articulation of the concerned speech sounds and the store of the phonological elements
within the given organization. The phonological storage allows the various items that were
coded in an acoustic manner to be stored for a short timespan (Hu et al., 2016). The process of
the articulation of the concerned speech sounds are also stored in the phonological loop with
the conditions that allow the repetition of the sounds in a sub-vocal area thereby facilitating the
proper articulation of the given speech sound.
The third factor affecting the working memory model refers to the visuo-spatial scratch
pad. This is helpful in the storage of the visual and the spatial information that is required for the
setting up as well as the manipulation of the mental images that are linked with the given
phonological articulation (Logie, 2014). This component is often compared to the inner eye of
the humans. The given component is composed of two different yet independent systems.
However, the systems within the component are known to have a limited amount of capacity.
The experts like Baddeley (2015) suggest that a person might be rehearsing a number of
factors in the phonological loop while at the same time he might be making decisions on the
matters that are related to the spatial layout of a completely different set of letters that are
present on the visual-spatial scratch pad.