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Problems For The Current Model: The Phonological Loop: Limits and Limitations

- Baddeley and Hitch proposed a three-component model of working memory in 1974 that has been successful in accounting for data from normal adults as well as neuropsychological, developmental, and neuroimaging research. However, some phenomena are not fully explained by the original model. - The author proposes a fourth component, the episodic buffer, which provides temporary storage of information in a multimodal code and is capable of integrating information from the other components and long-term memory into a single episodic representation. - The revised model focuses on integrating information rather than isolating the subsystems, providing a better basis for understanding executive control in working memory.

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73 views2 pages

Problems For The Current Model: The Phonological Loop: Limits and Limitations

- Baddeley and Hitch proposed a three-component model of working memory in 1974 that has been successful in accounting for data from normal adults as well as neuropsychological, developmental, and neuroimaging research. However, some phenomena are not fully explained by the original model. - The author proposes a fourth component, the episodic buffer, which provides temporary storage of information in a multimodal code and is capable of integrating information from the other components and long-term memory into a single episodic representation. - The revised model focuses on integrating information rather than isolating the subsystems, providing a better basis for understanding executive control in working memory.

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Jorge
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© © All Rights Reserved
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The episodic buffer: a new component of working memory?

Alan Baddeley

In 1974, Baddeley and Hitch proposed a three-component model of working memory. Over the
years, this has been successful in giving an integrated account not only of data from normal adults,
but also neuropsychological, developmental and neuroimaging data. There are, however, a
number of phenomena that are not readily captured by the original model. These are outlined
here and a fourth component to the model, the episodic buffer, is proposed. It comprises a limited
capacity system that provides temporary storage of information held in a multimodal code, which
is capable of binding information from the subsidiary systems, and from long-term memory, into a
unitary episodic representation. Conscious awareness is assumed to be the principal mode of
retrieval from the buffer. The revised model differs from the old principally in focussing attention
on the processes of integrating information, rather than on the isolation of the subsystems. In
doing so, it provides a better basis for tackling the more complex aspects of executive control in
working memory.

Theoretical structures within cognitive science come in different forms, ranging from detailed
mathematical or computational models of narrow and precisely defined phenomena, to broad
theoretical frameworks that attempt to make sense of a wide range of phenomena and that leave
open much of the more detailed specification. The purpose of such a framework is to represent
what is currently known while at the same time prompting further questions that are tractable.
This is likely either to extend the range of applicability of the model, or to increase its theoretical
depth, subsequently leading to more precisely specified sub-models. The concept of working
memory proposed by Baddeley and Hitch provided such a framework for conceptualizing the role
of temporary information storage in the performance of a wide range of complex cognitive tasks
(see Box 1). It represented a development of earlier models of short-term memory, such as those
of Broadbent, and Atkinson and Shiffrin, but differed in two ways. First it abandoned the concept
of a unitary store in favour of a multicomponent system, and second it emphasized the function of
such a system in complex cognition, rather than memory per se. Over the 25 years since the
publication of our initial paper, the concept of working memory (WM) has proved to be
surprisingly durable. In one form or another, it continues to be actively used within many areas of
cognitive science, including mainstream cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, neuroimaging,
developmental psychology and computational modelling. However, there have always been
phenomena that did not fit comfortably within the Baddeley and Hitch model, particularly in its
more recent form. An attempt to come to terms with these has led to a reformulation of the
theoretical framework, which will be described below. The reformulation leads to the proposal of
a new component of working memory, the ‘episodic buffer’.

Problems for the current model

The phonological loop: limits and limitations


The phonological loop gives a reasonably good account of a wide range of data (see Box 2). There
are, however, phenomena that do not seem to fit neatly into the picture without serious further
modification. Consider, first, the effect of articulatory suppression, whereby the subject continues
to utter an irrelevant word such as ‘the’, while attempting to remember and repeat back a visually
presented sequence of numbers. According to the model, suppression should prevent the
registration of visual material in the phonological loop, producing a devastating impact on
subsequent recall. Suppression does have a significant effect, but by no means devastating; in a
typical study, auditory memory span might drop from 7 to 5 digits. Furthermore, patients with
grossly impaired shortterm phonological memory, resulting in an auditory memory span of only
one digit, can typically recall about four digits with visual presentation. How are such digits stored?
An obvious possibility is in terms of the visuospatial sketchpad. However, the evidence indicates
that this system is good at storing a single complex pattern, but not suited to serial recall.
Furthermore, if visual coding were involved then one might expect suppression to make recall
performance very sensitive to effects of visual similarity. A recent study by Logie et al. does indeed
show visual similarity effects13. They are, however, small and not limited to conditions of
articulatory suppression.

Box 1. The concept of working memory

The term working memory is used in at least three different ways in different areas of cognitive
science. It is used here, and in cognitive psychology generally to refer to a limited capacity system
allowing the temporary storage and manipulation of information necessary for such complex tasks
as comprehension, learning and reasoning (Refs a,b). In the animal learning laboratory the term
refers to the storage of information across several trials performed within the same day, as
demanded by tasks such as the radial arm maze (Ref. c). In artificial intelligence, production
system architectures apply the term to the component, often unlimited in capacity, that is
assumed to be responsible for holding the productions (Ref. d). These three meanings are thus not
interchangeable. Performance of rats on a the radial arm maze, for example, probably relies upon
long-term memory (LTM), while the unlimited capacity of the working memory component
typically assumed by production system architectures differs markedly from the capacity limitation
assumed by most of the models proposed within cognitive psychology. The multi-component
model of working memory (WM) that forms the basis of this review developed from an earlier
concept of short-term memory (STM), that was assumed to comprise a unitary temporary storage
system. This approach was typified by the model of Atkinson and Shiffrin (Ref. e). However, their

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