Notes

recording events (episodes) that are happening. The buffer links working memory to LTM.

STRENGTHS -
. Case of KF supports separate STM stores - Shallice and woorington (1970) carried out a case study of a patient KF who had brain damage. He has poor STM ability for verbal information but could process visual information normally (diffiuculty with sounds but could recall letters/digits). So his phonological loops had been damaged but other areas of memory were intact. This suggests there are separate visual and acoustic stores. However, evidence from brain-damaged patients may be unreliable bc it concerns unique cases of P's who have has traumatic experiences. generalisation difficult.
. Dual task performance studies support the VSS - Baddeley et al (1975) found P's has more difficulty doing 2 visual tasks (tracking a light and describing the letter F) than doing a visual and verbal task at the same time. The greater the difficulty is bc both visual tasks compete for the same limited resources. When doing a verbal and visual task simultaneously, there is no competition. Therefore, dual task performance activity provides evidence for the existence of the visuo-spatial sketchpad. The MSM can't explain this.
. The word length effect supports the phonological loop - Baddeley (1975) found people have more difficulty remembering a list of words (e.g. association) than short words. This is the word length effect. This is bc there is limited space for rehearsal in the articulatory process (probably about 2 seconds). Word length effect disappears if a person is given a repetitive task tying up the articulatory process, demonstrating the process at work.
. The model has support from brain scanning studies - Braver et al's (1997) P's did tasks involving the Central executive while they were having a brain scan. Activity seen in an area known as the prefrontal cortex. Activity in this area increased as the task became harder. This makes sense in terms of the WMM: as demands on the CE increase, it has to work harder to fulfil its function. So this study provides evidence that the CE may have a physical reality in the brain.
LIMITATIONS -
. The lack of clarity over the central executive - Cognitive psychologists suggest that the CE is unsatisfactory and doesn't really explain anything. The CE should be more clearly specified than just being simply 'attention'. Some psychologists believe it may consist of separate components. This means that the WMM hasn't been fully explained.

EXPLANATIONS FOR FORGETTING: INFERENCE