{"id":14751,"date":"2023-07-16T07:48:01","date_gmt":"2023-07-15T22:48:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/?p=14751"},"modified":"2023-07-16T07:48:01","modified_gmt":"2023-07-15T22:48:01","slug":"the-working-memory-model-baddeley-and-hitch-1974-a-simple-summary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2023\/07\/16\/the-working-memory-model-baddeley-and-hitch-1974-a-simple-summary\/","title":{"rendered":"The Working Memory Model (Baddeley and Hitch, 1974)- A Simple Summary"},"content":{"rendered":"

At first glance the working memory model can be very complicated and overwhelming. This post will break it down into four simple steps so you can understand it. <\/strong><\/p>\n

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  1. Step One: What is “working memory?”<\/strong><\/li>\n
  2. Step Two: What are the “slave systems?”<\/strong><\/li>\n
  3. Step Three: What is the “central executive?”\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n
  4. Step Four: What is the “episodic buffer?”<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The Working Memory Model<\/h2>\n
    \"File:Baddley's

    Don’t be intimated by the complicated sounding names. They’re quite easy to understand if you try hard enough.<\/p><\/div>\n

    1. What is “working memory”?<\/h2>\n

    The working memory model is an explanation for how short-term memory works. Working memory is another name for short-term memory – the stuff you’re thinking about right now. There are two main types of working memory: visual and auditory. We can imagine how things look in our mind using visual<\/em> working memory. We can remember words, language and sounds using auditory<\/em> working memory.<\/p>\n

    You know when you get a song stuck in your head and it can’t get out? That’s auditory working memory. Ever tried to remember where you left your phone by imagining all the places you’ve been? That’s visual working memory.<\/p>\n

    Alan Baddeley defines working memory as “…a brain system that provides temporary storage and manipulation of the information necessary for such complex cognitive tasks as language comprehension, learning, and reasoning.” (Baddeley, 1992) I like to define it as “the information held in our conscious attention.”\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    2. What are the “slave systems?”<\/strong><\/h2>\n

    One important claim of the working memory model is that short-term memory has different parts for different types of memory (visual and auditory). That’s where the slave systems come in – they contain our visual and auditory working memory.<\/p>\n

    The slave systems have complicated names which sound scary at first but are easily understood when you think of how you use them.<\/p>\n