Essay on Baddeley and Hitch’s Working Memory Model

This essay addresses the working memory model which was proposed by Baddeley and Hitch (1974 in Smith Kosslyn, 2007) as a response to Atkinson and Shiffrins (1968 in Smith, 2007) multi-store model. According to Baddely and Hitch the multi-store model failed to explain most of the complexities of the human memory and viewed it as being too simplistic. They argued that the short term memory store must have more components rather it being a single inflexible store as suggested previously by Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968). The working memory model is therefore an enhancement of the multi store model. According to Baddeley and Hitch working memory is a limited- capacity system that stores and processes information. According to Baddeley and†¦show more content†¦This is interpreted as because the capacity of the phonological loop is limited in time (in Smith, 2007). Further evidence for the existence of the phonological loop comes from Conrads and Hulls (1975 in Passer, 2009) experiment in which they examined the effect of phonological similarity. They found that serial recall in a list of similar sounding words tended to yield poorer results with participants finding it difficult to remember compared to words that sounded different. It has also been found that recall in semantically similar words tended to have little or no effect, supporting the idea that verbal information is transferred in a phonological manner in working memory. In addition, Vallar and Papagno (1995 in Smith, 2007) found that the phonological store in brain damaged patients were dysfunctional. Moreover, Hardyk and Petrinovich (1970 in Parkin, 1993) found the articulatory loop to be crucial when being presented with complex information. In their study they measured participants throat muscle and forearm muscle activity although some may argue that this was not a good technique to carry out. Their findings led to them conclude that when participants were presented with complex material their articulatory loop would come in to function (in Parkin, 1993). In addition, memory span tasks support the existence of the articulatory loop showing that task ability heavily depends on aShow MoreRelatedWorking Memory : The State Of Memory1367 Words   |  6 PagesWorking Memory describes the state of memory we are actively engaged with. It performs the functions of receiving, temporarily holding and manipulating information (Baddeley, 2010). To assess memory psychologists have found it helpful to define their theories as models. Atkinson and Shiffrin ‘s 1968 Stage Model of Memory defined 3 main components of memory systems; sensory memory from perception of experience that becomes short-term memory (STM), which through rehearsal loads more permanent connectionsRead MoreEssay on The Sophistication of the Brain1473 Words   |  6 Pagesinformation, which is similar to the long term memory store in the brain. Short term memory is stored in the brain, much like RAM in a computer (Lytton, 2002). Information processing theories try to explain the conscious mental processes that occur when a stimulus is processed. (Parkin, 2000) Cognitive psychology is a scientific prospective in psychology, however it is not entirely objective. Cognition refers to the study of conscious mental processes, such as memory, attention, perception, language and thinkingRead Moreevaluation of the WMM2112 Words   |  9 Pages– Evaluation of the Working Memory Model Atkinson’s and Shiffrin’s (1968) multi-store model was extremely successful in terms of the amount of research it generated. However, as a result of this research, it became apparent that there were a number of problems with their ideas concerning the characteristics of short-term memory. Building on this research, Baddeley and Hitch (1974) developed an alternative model of short-term memory which they called working memory. Baddeley and Hitch (1974) arguedRead MoreWorking Memory and Its Benefits Essay2434 Words   |  10 Pagesability is called the Working Memory. The term working memory was coined by Miller, Galanter, and Pribram in 1960 (Baddeley, 2003). It refers to the temporary storage in the brain for manipulation of necessary information to execute cognitive tasks. According to Baddeley and Hitch’s study (1974), working memory comprises three main components, a control system, the central executive and two storage systems, the visuospatial sketchpad and the phonological loop (as cited in Baddeley, 2003). The phonological