Working Memory: The Multiple-Component Model

Abstract

FIVE CENTRAL FEATURES OF THE MODEL (1) According to our view, working memory comprises multiple specialized components of cognition that allow humans to comprehend and mentally represent their immediate environment, to retain information about their immediate past experience, to support the acquisition of new knowledge, to solve problems, and to formulate, relate, and act on current goals. (2) These specialized components include both a supervisory system (the central executive) and specialized temporary memory systems, including a phonologically based store (the phonological loop) and a visuospatial store (the visuospatial sketchpad). (3) The two specialized, temporary memory systems are used to actively maintain memory traces that overlap with those involved in perception via rehearsal mechanisms involved in speech production for the phonological loop and, possibly, preparations for action or image generation for the visuospatial sketchpad. (4) The central executive is involved in the control and regulation of the working memory system. It is considered to play various executive functions, such as coordinating the two slave systems, focusing and switching attention, and activating representations within longterm memory, but it is not involved in temporary storage. The central executive in principle may not be a unitary construct, and this issue is a main focus of current research within this framework. (5) This model is derived empirically from studies of healthy adults and children and of brain-damaged individuals, using a range of experimental methodologies. The model offers a useful framework to account for a wide range of empirical findings on working memory.