Understanding Psychology (10th Ed)

FIGURE 4 
Working memory is an active “workspace” in which information is retrieved and 
manipulated and in which information is held through rehearsal (Gathercole & Baddeley, 
1993). It consists of a “central executive” that coordinates the visual store (which concentrates 
on visual and spatial information), the verbal store (which concentrates on speech, words, and 
numbers), and the episodic buff er (which represents episodes or occurrences that are 
encountered). 
(Source: Adapted from Baddeley, Chincotta, & Adlam, 2001.)
Verbal store
(speech, words, numbers)
Episodic buffer
(episodes or occurrences)
Central executive
(coordinates material)
Visual store
(visual and spatial material)
36
2 
5 
1 
2 
153 
24 
dog 
cat 
feL82795_ch07_206-239.indd Page 214 7/31/10 1:08 PM user-f465
feL82795_ch07_206-239.indd Page 214 7/31/10 1:08 PM user-f465
/Users/user-f465/Desktop
/Users/user-f465/Desktop

---

 
Module 20 
The Foundations of Memory 
215
although people and events stored in memory before the injury remain intact (Milner, 
1966). Because information that was encoded and stored before the injury can be 
recalled and because short-term memory after the injury appears to be operational—
new material can be recalled for a very brief period—we can infer that there are two 
distinct types of memory: one for short-term and one for long-term storage. 
Results from laboratory experiments are also consistent with the notion of sepa-
rate short-term and long-term memory. For example, in one set of studies, people 
were asked to recall a relatively small amount of information (such as a set of three 
letters). Then, to prevent practice of the initial information, participants were required 
to recite some extraneous material aloud, such as counting backward by threes 
(Brown, 1958; Peterson & Peterson, 1959). By varying the amount of time between 
the presentation of the initial material and the need for its recall, investigators found 
that recall was quite good when the interval was very short but declined rapidly 
thereafter. After 15 seconds had gone by, recall hovered at around 10% of the mate-
rial initially presented. 
Apparently, the distraction of counting backward prevented almost all the initial 
material from reaching long-term memory. Initial recall was good because it was 
coming from short-term memory, but those memories were lost at a rapid rate. Even-
tually, all that could be recalled was the small amount of material that had made its 
way into long-term storage despite the distraction of counting backward. 
The distinction between short- and long-term memory is also supported by the 
serial position effect, in which the ability to recall information in a list depends on 
where in the list an item appears. For instance, often a primacy effect occurs, in which 
items presented early in a list are remembered better. There is also a recency effect , in 
which items presented late in a list are remembered best (Bonanni et al., 2007; Tan 
& Ward, 2008; Tydgat & Grainger, 2009).