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. 2021 Aug 31;36(6):861-873.
doi: 10.1093/arclin/acab060.

Developing the Concept of Working Memory: The Role of Neuropsychology1

Alan D Baddeley  1
Affiliations

Developing the Concept of Working Memory: The Role of Neuropsychology1

Alan D Baddeley. Arch Clin Neuropsychol. .

Abstract

The evolution of the concept of a multicomponent working memory is described with particular reference to the contribution from neuropsychology. Early evidence from patients with the classic amnesic syndrome, together with others showing the opposite deficit of impaired short-term but preserved long-term memory argued strongly for a separation between long- and short-term memory systems. Simulation of the short-term deficit in healthy participants using a dual task approach suggested the need to assume a three component system serving as a multi-purpose working memory comprising an overall attentional control system, the Central Executive, aided by separable temporary buffer stores for phonological and visuospatial information. An account is then given of the way in which evidence from patients was combined with the study of healthy participants to test and expand the model over subsequent years. This led to the need to propose a fourth component, the Episodic Buffer, a system that combines information from multiple sources and makes it accessible to conscious awareness. I conclude with a brief account of how the multicomponent approach resembles and differs from that of other current models of working memory.

Keywords: Amnesia; Central executive; Frontal lobes; Phonological loop; Visuospatial sketchpad; Working memory.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The original version of the multicomponent model proposed by Baddeley and Hitch (1974).
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Evidence for the role of the phonological loop in long-term language acquisition leads to specifying a two way link between working memory and LTM.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
The episodic buffer is proposed as a multi-code storage system that links the components of working memory with both LTM and conscious awareness.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
The current model illustrating the flow of information from perception to the episodic buffer.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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