The multi-component model of working memory: Explorations in experimental cognitive psychology
Abstract
There are a number of ways one can hope to describe and explain cognitive abilities, each of them contributing a unique and valuable perspective. Cognitive psychology tries to develop and test functional accounts of cognitive systems that explain the capacities and properties of cognitive abilities as revealed by empirical data gathered by a range of behavioral experimental paradigms. Much of the research in the cognitive psychology of working memory has been strongly influenced by the multi-component model of working memory [Baddeley AD, Hitch GJ (1974) Working memory. In: Recent advances in learning and motivation, Vol. 8 (Bower GA, ed), pp 47-90. New York: Academic Press; Baddeley AD (1986) Working memory. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press; Baddeley A. Working memory: Thought and action. Oxford: Oxford University Press, in press]. By expanding the notion of a passive short-term memory to an active system that provides the basis for complex cognitive abilities, the model has opened up numerous questions and new lines of research. In this paper we present the current revision of the multi-component model that encompasses a central executive, two unimodal storage systems: a phonological loop and a visuospatial sketchpad, and a further component, a multimodal store capable of integrating information into unitary episodic representations, termed episodic buffer. We review recent empirical data within experimental cognitive psychology that has shaped the development of the multicomponent model and the understanding of the capacities and properties of working memory. Research based largely on dual-task experimental designs and on neuropsychological evidence has yielded valuable information about the fractionation of working memory into independent stores and processes, the nature of representations in individual stores, the mechanisms of their maintenance and manipulation, the way the components of working memory relate to each other, and the role they play in other cognitive abilities. With many questions still open and new issues emerging, we believe that the multicomponent model will continue to stimulate research while providing a comprehensive functional description of working memory.
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Manipulating information in working memory places heavier demands on EF than simple maintenance.
“For example, manipulating information in WM places heavier demands on EF (i.e., the central executive component of WM) than simple maintenance (e.g., Baddeley and Repovs, 2006).”
From Advancing understanding of executive function impairments and psychopathology: bridging the gap between clinical and cognitive approaches (2015) · cites this paper as Baddeley and Repovs, 2006
Working memory maintenance can be divided into verbal and visuospatial, while the central executive component of working memory is believed to be domain-general.
“WM maintenance can further be divided into verbal (e.g., words, letters and numbers) and visuospatial (e.g., shapes, patterns and spatial locations), while the central executive component of WM is believed to be domain-general (e.g., Baddeley and Repovs, 2006).”
From Advancing understanding of executive function impairments and psychopathology: bridging the gap between clinical and cognitive approaches (2015) · cites this paper as Baddeley and Repovs, 2006
The general structure of both common and specific elements of EF is shared by several different models of EF.
“This general structure of both common and specific elements of EF is shared by several different models of EF (e.g., Duncan et al., 1997; Baddeley and Repovs, 2006), although different models have focused on different components of EF, and different levels of analysis (e.g., behavioral vs. neural).”
From Advancing understanding of executive function impairments and psychopathology: bridging the gap between clinical and cognitive approaches (2015) · cites this paper as Baddeley and Repovs, 2006
Cognitive load theory holds that working memory has a finite capacity, so instructional designers should avoid overloading students.
“It is based on idea that there is only a finite capacity for working memory available [39,46] so designers of learning material should avoid overloading students.”
From Learn Piano with BACh: An Adaptive Learning Interface that Adjusts Task Difficulty Based on Brain State (2016) · cites this paper as [39]
Cognitive workload is limited in its capacity to handle information.
“The fundamental idea behind both Baddeley's working memory model [39] and CLT [46] is that cognitive workload is limited in its capacity to handle information.”
From Learn Piano with BACh: An Adaptive Learning Interface that Adjusts Task Difficulty Based on Brain State (2016) · cites this paper as [39]
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- Authors
- RepovŠ, G., & Baddeley, A.
- Affiliations
- University of Ljubljana (SI)
- University of York (GB)
- Corresponding author
- RepovŠ, G.
- Venue
- Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2006-04
- Volume
- 139
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 5-21
- ISSN
- 0306-4522 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2140802989
- Cited by
- 795
- References
- 8
- Citations by year
- 2026: 15 · 2025: 20 · 2024: 26 · 2023: 28 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 43 · 2020: 32 · 2019: 33 · 2018: 37 · 2017: 42 · 2016: 29 · 2015: 53 · 2014: 65 · 2013: 52 · 2012: 49
- FWCI
- 6.71
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
- Keywords
- working memory, multicomponent model, central executive, phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, episodic buffer, dual-task paradigm, neuropsychology, short-term memory, episodic representation, cognitive architecture
- MeSH terms
- Brain, Cognition, Humans, Memory, Short-Term, Models, Neurological, Neuropsychology, Neurosciences, Cognitive Science
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