Baddeley

Baddeley is a surname. Notable individuals include Alan D. Baddeley, a British psychologist known for his work on human memory. Along with Graham Hitch, Baddeley proposed the working memory model in 1974, a framework to account for how short-term maintenance and manipulation of information occur.

The model originally comprised three components: a central executive that directs attention and coordinates two subsidiary systems—the phonological loop, which handles verbal and auditory information, and the visuospatial sketchpad, which handles visual and spatial data. In 2000, Baddeley and colleagues added a fourth component, the episodic buffer, a limited-capacity store that integrates information from the phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, and long-term memory, and helps produce a coherent conscious experience.

The working memory model has influenced cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, and education. It has driven research into phenomena such as the phonological similarity effect, the word length effect, and articulatory suppression, and it has been used to interpret memory deficits in various clinical populations and to inform educational strategies.