A "central executive" is responsible for supervising the integration of information and for coordinating subordinate systems responsible for the short-term maintenance of information. The central executive is responsible for, among other things, directing attention to relevant information, suppressing irrelevant information and inappropriate actions, and coordinating cognitive processes when more than one task is simultaneously performed. The theory proposed a model containing three components: the central executive, the phonological loop, and the visuospatial sketchpad with the central executive functioning as a control center of sorts, directing info between the phonological and visuospatial components. In 1974, Baddeley and Hitch introduced the multicomponent model of working memory. Of those, the two that have been most influential are summarized below.īaddeley and Hitch's model of working memory
Numerous models have been proposed for how working memory functions, both anatomically and cognitively. In 19, Carlyle Jacobsen and colleagues were the first to show the deleterious effect of prefrontal ablation on delayed response. The earliest mention of experiments on the neural basis of working memory can be traced back to more than 100 years ago, when Hitzig and Ferrier described ablation experiments of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) they concluded that the frontal cortex was important for cognitive rather than sensory processes. Most theorists today use the concept of working memory to replace or include the older concept of short-term memory, marking a stronger emphasis on the notion of manipulating information rather than mere maintenance. Short-term memory is the ability to remember information over a brief period (in the order of seconds). What we now call working memory was formerly referred to variously as a "short-term store" or short-term memory, primary memory, immediate memory, operant memory, and provisional memory. In 1968, Atkinson and Shiffrin used the term to describe their "short-term store". The term "working memory" was coined by Miller, Galanter, and Pribram, and was used in the 1960s in the context of theories that likened the mind to a computer. 7.2 Attempts to identify individual genes.6.5 Effects of alcohol on neurophysiology.6.4 Effects of stress on neurophysiology.6.1 Neural mechanisms of maintaining information.