The Working Memory Model (WMM) offers a framework for understanding cognitive processes involved in temporarily storing and manipulating information. Specifically regarding Landry and Bartling’s 2011 articulatory suppression study, the WMM explains the observed decline in performance on verbal working memory tasks when participants are asked to repeatedly say an irrelevant word aloud. This suppression effect occurs because the articulatory loop, a component of the WMM responsible for processing auditory information and rehearsing verbal material, becomes overloaded. The concurrent articulation task interferes with the phonological loop’s ability to maintain and rehearse verbal information, leading to reduced recall accuracy and span.
Understanding the impact of articulatory suppression is crucial for comprehending the limitations of verbal working memory. This insight is valuable across various fields, including education, cognitive psychology, and communication sciences. It informs strategies for enhancing memory performance, developing effective communication methods, and addressing learning difficulties associated with verbal processing. The Landry and Bartling study, positioned within the broader context of research on the phonological loop and articulatory suppression, solidified empirical support for the WMM’s explanatory power regarding verbal working memory limitations.
Further exploration of working memory limitations can involve examining the interplay between other components of the WMM, such as the visuospatial sketchpad and the central executive, and their respective roles in cognitive processing. Additionally, investigating individual differences in working memory capacity and their impact on learning and performance represents a significant area of ongoing research.
1. Articulatory Suppression
Articulatory suppression plays a crucial role in understanding the results of Landry and Bartling’s (2011) experiment within the framework of the Working Memory Model (WMM). It serves as a critical manipulation that reveals the functional limitations of the phonological loop, a key component of the WMM responsible for processing and retaining verbal information.
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Disruption of the Phonological Loop
Articulatory suppression, typically achieved by requiring participants to repeatedly utter an irrelevant sound (e.g., “the, the, the”), occupies the articulatory control process within the phonological loop. This prevents the rehearsal of target verbal information, hindering its maintenance and subsequent recall. The Landry and Bartling study demonstrated this disruption by observing a significant decrease in participants’ ability to remember lists of words while concurrently performing articulatory suppression.
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Evidence for the Phonological Similarity Effect
Research using articulatory suppression provides evidence for the phonological similarity effect. This effect, where similar-sounding words are harder to recall than dissimilar-sounding words, is attributed to the phonological loop. Articulatory suppression eliminates the phonological similarity effect, suggesting that the effect relies on the articulatory control process. This supports the WMM’s distinction between phonological storage and articulatory rehearsal.
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Impaired Serial Recall
Articulatory suppression primarily affects serial recall, the ability to remember items in a specific order. This is consistent with the role of the phonological loop in maintaining the temporal sequence of verbal information. By disrupting the rehearsal process, articulatory suppression hinders the ability to retain the order of presented items, as demonstrated by Landry and Bartling’s findings of reduced recall accuracy under suppression conditions.
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Implications for Working Memory Capacity
The impact of articulatory suppression on verbal working memory tasks, such as those employed by Landry and Bartling, demonstrates the limited capacity of the phonological loop. The inability to effectively rehearse verbal information when the articulatory control process is occupied highlights the crucial role of this component in maintaining information within working memory. This contributes to our understanding of individual differences in working memory capacity and the factors that can constrain cognitive performance.
In summary, articulatory suppression serves as a powerful tool for investigating the workings of the phonological loop within the WMM. The results of Landry and Bartling’s study, alongside other research utilizing articulatory suppression, solidify the model’s explanation of verbal working memory limitations and provide valuable insights into the cognitive processes involved in verbal information processing.
2. Phonological Loop Overload
Phonological loop overload stands as a central concept in understanding how the Working Memory Model (WMM) explains the results of Landry and Bartling’s (2011) articulatory suppression experiment. The phonological loop, responsible for processing and temporarily storing auditory and verbal information, possesses a limited capacity. When this capacity is exceeded, performance on tasks requiring verbal working memory suffers. Landry and Bartling’s study demonstrated this overload effect by introducing a secondary taskarticulatory suppressionthat competes for the phonological loop’s resources. Participants tasked with remembering a list of words while simultaneously repeating an irrelevant sound experienced a significant decline in recall accuracy and span. This decline directly results from the limited processing capacity of the phonological loop being overwhelmed by the dual demands of rehearsal and suppression.
Consider the real-world scenario of trying to memorize a phone number while engaging in a conversation. The conversation, analogous to articulatory suppression, occupies the phonological loop, making it difficult to effectively rehearse and retain the phone number. This exemplifies how phonological loop overload, induced by competing verbal tasks, disrupts verbal working memory processes. The practical significance of understanding this overload effect lies in its implications for cognitive performance in various contexts. Recognizing the limitations of the phonological loop can inform strategies for enhancing memory, such as minimizing verbal distractions during learning or employing visual aids to reduce reliance on verbal rehearsal.
In summary, phonological loop overload, as demonstrated by the results of Landry and Bartling’s study, provides compelling evidence for the WMM’s explanation of limitations in verbal working memory. The inability to effectively manage concurrent verbal tasks highlights the finite capacity of the phonological loop and underscores the importance of minimizing interference to optimize cognitive performance. This understanding offers valuable insights into cognitive processes and informs practical strategies for enhancing memory and learning in everyday life and educational settings.
3. Reduced Verbal Recall
Reduced verbal recall serves as a critical outcome in Landry and Bartling’s (2011) study and provides key evidence supporting the Working Memory Model’s (WMM) explanation of how articulatory suppression impacts verbal working memory. The observed decline in recall accuracy and span directly results from the disruption of the phonological loop, a core component of the WMM responsible for processing and maintaining verbal information. When participants engaged in articulatory suppression, the concurrent articulation task overloaded the phonological loop, hindering its ability to effectively rehearse and store verbal material. This overload directly translated into reduced recall performance, demonstrating the limited capacity of the phonological loop and its vulnerability to interference. This cause-and-effect relationship between articulatory suppression, phonological loop overload, and reduced verbal recall forms a cornerstone of the WMM’s explanatory power.
Consider the everyday example of attempting to remember a shopping list while simultaneously engaging in a phone conversation. The conversation occupies the articulatory control process within the phonological loop, similar to the effect of articulatory suppression. Consequently, the ability to mentally rehearse the shopping list items is impaired, leading to a higher likelihood of forgetting items. This real-world scenario illustrates the practical significance of understanding the link between phonological loop interference and reduced verbal recall. The implications extend to various learning and communication contexts, highlighting the importance of minimizing distractions and optimizing strategies for verbal information processing.
In summary, the reduction in verbal recall observed in Landry and Bartling’s study provides compelling support for the WMM’s account of how the phonological loop functions and its limitations. The study’s findings underscore the crucial role of rehearsal within the phonological loop and demonstrate how interference, such as articulatory suppression, can disrupt this process, ultimately leading to poorer recall performance. This understanding contributes valuable insights into the cognitive mechanisms underlying verbal working memory and informs practical strategies for enhancing memory and communication effectiveness.
4. Impaired Rehearsal Process
The impaired rehearsal process stands as a central mechanism through which the Working Memory Model (WMM) explains the findings of Landry and Bartling’s (2011) articulatory suppression experiment. This impairment directly relates to the disruption of the phonological loop, a key component of the WMM responsible for maintaining and manipulating verbal information. By understanding how articulatory suppression hinders the rehearsal process, one gains crucial insights into the limitations of verbal working memory and the impact of competing demands on cognitive performance.
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Disruption of Subvocal Rehearsal
Articulatory suppression, the act of repeatedly uttering an irrelevant sound, occupies the articulatory control process within the phonological loop. This occupation prevents the subvocal rehearsal of target verbal information, hindering the “refreshing” process that maintains information within the phonological store. Consequently, the information decays more rapidly, leading to reduced recall accuracy and span, as observed in Landry and Bartling’s study.
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Impact on Phonological Similarity Effect
The phonological similarity effect, where similar-sounding words are harder to recall than dissimilar-sounding words, is attributed to the rehearsal process within the phonological loop. Articulatory suppression eliminates this effect, providing further evidence that the rehearsal process is disrupted. Without the ability to rehearse the sounds of the words, the similarity effect disappears, supporting the WMM’s explanation of the phenomenon.
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Limitations on Serial Order Recall
The rehearsal process within the phonological loop plays a crucial role in maintaining the serial order of verbal information. Articulatory suppression impairs this maintenance, leading to difficulties in recalling items in the correct sequence. Landry and Bartling’s findings of reduced serial recall accuracy under articulatory suppression conditions demonstrate this impact on order information.
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Connection to Working Memory Capacity
The disruption of the rehearsal process through articulatory suppression provides insights into the limited capacity of the phonological loop. The inability to effectively rehearse information when the articulatory control process is occupied highlights the finite resources available for verbal working memory. This contributes to our understanding of individual differences in working memory capacity and how these limitations can impact cognitive performance in various tasks.
In conclusion, the impaired rehearsal process caused by articulatory suppression offers a key explanation for the reduced verbal recall observed in Landry and Bartling’s study. This impairment, as explained by the WMM, demonstrates the crucial role of the phonological loop in maintaining verbal information and the consequences of overloading its limited processing capacity. The findings underscore the importance of the rehearsal process for successful verbal working memory and highlight the impact of competing demands on cognitive performance.
5. Limited Processing Capacity
Limited processing capacity within the Working Memory Model (WMM) forms a cornerstone in understanding the results of Landry and Bartling’s (2011) articulatory suppression experiment. The WMM posits that working memory comprises distinct components, each with finite resources. Landry and Bartling’s findings demonstrate how exceeding the capacity of the phonological loop, responsible for verbal information processing, leads to performance decrements. Examining the facets of this limited capacity clarifies the observed effects of articulatory suppression on verbal recall.
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The Bottleneck of the Phonological Loop
The phonological loop, comprising a phonological store and an articulatory control process, possesses a limited capacity for maintaining and rehearsing verbal information. Articulatory suppression, by occupying the articulatory control process, creates a bottleneck, restricting the amount of information that can be processed. This bottleneck directly contributes to the reduced verbal recall observed in Landry and Bartling’s study, as participants struggled to maintain and recall word lists while simultaneously performing the suppression task.
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Competition for Resources
The limited capacity of the phonological loop necessitates competition for resources when multiple verbal tasks are performed concurrently. In Landry and Bartling’s experiment, the articulatory suppression task competed with the task of remembering word lists for the limited resources of the phonological loop. This competition resulted in impaired performance on the verbal recall task, as the phonological loop could not effectively manage both demands simultaneously. This highlights the trade-off between processing capacity and the ability to perform multiple verbal tasks concurrently.
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Individual Differences in Capacity
While the phonological loop’s capacity is inherently limited, the extent of this limitation varies across individuals. This individual variability in working memory capacity influences susceptibility to the effects of articulatory suppression. Individuals with lower working memory capacity are likely to experience a more pronounced decline in verbal recall under articulatory suppression compared to those with higher capacity, demonstrating the individual-specific impact of limited processing resources.
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Implications for Cognitive Performance
The limited processing capacity of the phonological loop, as demonstrated by Landry and Bartling’s findings, has broader implications for cognitive performance. In real-world scenarios, tasks often require the simultaneous processing of multiple streams of verbal information. Understanding the constraints imposed by limited processing capacity is crucial for developing strategies to manage these demands effectively and mitigate the negative impact on performance in various cognitive tasks.
In summary, the concept of limited processing capacity within the WMM provides a crucial framework for understanding the results of Landry and Bartling’s study. The findings highlight how exceeding the capacity of the phonological loop, through articulatory suppression, directly impairs verbal recall. This underscores the importance of recognizing and managing the limited resources of working memory to optimize cognitive performance in tasks requiring verbal information processing. This understanding extends beyond the laboratory setting, informing strategies for effective communication, learning, and problem-solving in everyday life.
6. Dual-task Interference
Dual-task interference plays a crucial role in understanding how the Working Memory Model (WMM) explains the results of Landry and Bartling’s (2011) articulatory suppression experiment. The study’s design inherently involves dual-task interference: participants are required to perform two tasks concurrentlyremembering a list of words (primary task) and engaging in articulatory suppression (secondary task). The WMM posits that the phonological loop, responsible for processing verbal information, has a limited capacity. When both tasks demand resources from the phonological loop simultaneously, interference occurs, leading to performance decrements. This interference stems from the competition for limited processing resources within the phonological loop, resulting in impaired rehearsal and subsequent reduced recall of the word list, precisely as observed in Landry and Bartling’s findings. Articulatory suppression effectively occupies the articulatory control process within the phonological loop, preventing the rehearsal of the to-be-remembered words. This illustrates the core principle of dual-task interference: performance on one or both tasks suffers when they require access to the same limited-capacity cognitive resources.
Consider the common experience of attempting to hold a conversation while simultaneously trying to read and comprehend a complex text. Both tasks demand verbal processing resources, leading to difficulty effectively performing either task. This exemplifies dual-task interference in everyday life, mirroring the cognitive demands imposed by Landry and Bartling’s experimental paradigm. Understanding dual-task interference provides valuable insights into the limitations of human cognitive processing and informs practical strategies for optimizing performance. Recognizing the potential for interference can lead to more effective task management, such as prioritizing tasks or minimizing distractions, particularly when engaging in activities requiring significant verbal processing.
In conclusion, dual-task interference provides a crucial lens for interpreting the results of Landry and Bartling’s study within the framework of the WMM. The study clearly demonstrates how competition for limited resources within the phonological loop, resulting from the concurrent performance of two verbal tasks, leads to reduced recall performance. This underscores the practical implications of understanding the constraints imposed by dual-task interference on cognitive processing, informing strategies for optimizing task management and improving performance in various real-world situations requiring divided attention.
7. WMM Components Interaction
Examining the interplay between components of the Working Memory Model (WMM) provides crucial insights into how the model explains the results of Landry and Bartling’s (2011) articulatory suppression experiment. The study’s findings highlight the dynamic interactions within the WMM, particularly the interplay between the phonological loop and other components, revealing how these interactions contribute to the observed effects on verbal recall performance.
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Central Executive’s Role in Resource Allocation
The central executive, the WMM’s supervisory system, plays a critical role in allocating cognitive resources to different tasks. In Landry and Bartling’s study, the central executive must divide resources between the primary task (remembering word lists) and the secondary task (articulatory suppression). The limited capacity of the central executive contributes to the difficulty of managing both tasks concurrently. This division of resources elucidates why articulatory suppression impairs performance on the verbal recall task; the central executive allocates resources to the suppression task, leaving fewer resources available for rehearsal and maintenance within the phonological loop.
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Phonological Loop and Visuospatial Sketchpad Independence
Landry and Bartling’s study, along with other research, supports the relative independence of the phonological loop and the visuospatial sketchpad. Articulatory suppression, which specifically targets the phonological loop, does not typically impair performance on visuospatial tasks. This suggests that the two subsystems operate relatively independently, drawing upon separate resource pools. This independence clarifies why articulatory suppression selectively disrupts verbal recall without affecting visuospatial processing.
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Episodic Buffer Integration
The episodic buffer, a more recently proposed component of the WMM, serves as a temporary storage system integrating information from the phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, and long-term memory. While Landry and Bartling’s study did not directly investigate the episodic buffer, its role is relevant in understanding the overall impact of articulatory suppression. The reduced capacity of the phonological loop due to suppression likely limits the information that can be integrated into the episodic buffer, potentially affecting the overall coherence of the integrated memory trace.
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Implications for Complex Cognitive Tasks
The interaction between WMM components, as highlighted by Landry and Bartling’s findings, has important implications for understanding performance in complex cognitive tasks that require the coordination of multiple cognitive processes. The limited capacity of the central executive and the specific vulnerabilities of the phonological loop to interference demonstrate how competing demands can impact overall cognitive performance. This understanding is crucial for developing strategies to manage cognitive load and optimize performance in real-world scenarios requiring multitasking and divided attention.
In summary, the results of Landry and Bartling’s articulatory suppression study offer valuable insights into the dynamic interactions between components of the WMM. The findings illustrate the limited capacity of the central executive to manage concurrent tasks, the relative independence of the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad, and the potential implications for the integration of information within the episodic buffer. These interactions, revealed through the impact of articulatory suppression on verbal recall, contribute significantly to our understanding of the complexities of working memory and its role in broader cognitive processing.
8. Empirical validation of WMM
Empirical validation of the Working Memory Model (WMM) relies heavily on studies like Landry and Bartling’s (2011) articulatory suppression experiment. This research provides strong evidence supporting the WMM’s core tenets, specifically concerning the structure and function of the phonological loop. Understanding how these empirical findings validate the model is crucial for appreciating its explanatory power in the context of cognitive psychology and human information processing.
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Articulatory Suppression Effects
The robust and replicable effects of articulatory suppression on verbal recall tasks, as demonstrated by Landry and Bartling, provide strong empirical support for the existence and function of the phonological loop. The observed reduction in recall accuracy and span when participants engage in articulatory suppression aligns with the WMM’s prediction that disrupting the articulatory control process hinders the rehearsal and maintenance of verbal information within the phonological loop. This directly validates the model’s proposed mechanism for processing and storing verbal material.
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Phonological Similarity Effect Disruption
The elimination of the phonological similarity effect under articulatory suppression conditions offers further empirical validation for the WMM. The phonological similarity effect, wherein similar-sounding words are more difficult to recall than dissimilar-sounding words, is attributed to the phonological loop’s reliance on auditory coding. Articulatory suppression disrupts this auditory coding, thus eliminating the effect. This observation strongly supports the WMM’s distinction between phonological storage and articulatory rehearsal within the phonological loop.
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Word Length Effect Mitigation
Similar to the phonological similarity effect, the word length effectthe tendency for shorter words to be recalled better than longer wordsis also mitigated by articulatory suppression. This effect, attributed to the limited rehearsal capacity of the phonological loop, disappears when rehearsal is disrupted by articulatory suppression. This empirical finding further strengthens the WMM’s account of how the phonological loop’s limited capacity constraints verbal working memory performance.
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Neuropsychological Evidence
Beyond behavioral studies like Landry and Bartling’s, neuropsychological evidence provides convergent support for the WMM. Studies of patients with specific brain lesions affecting the phonological loop demonstrate selective impairments in verbal working memory tasks, mirroring the effects of articulatory suppression in healthy individuals. This convergence of behavioral and neuropsychological evidence provides compelling support for the biological reality of the WMM’s components and their specialized functions.
In conclusion, Landry and Bartling’s findings, combined with other empirical and neuropsychological evidence, provide robust validation for the WMM, particularly concerning the structure and function of the phonological loop. The observed effects of articulatory suppression on various verbal memory phenomena, including recall accuracy, phonological similarity effects, and word length effects, strongly align with the WMM’s predictions, solidifying its explanatory power in the context of human verbal working memory. This empirical grounding distinguishes the WMM as a robust and scientifically supported model of human cognition, offering valuable insights into the mechanisms underlying information processing and memory.
Frequently Asked Questions
This FAQ section addresses common inquiries regarding the Working Memory Model (WMM) and its explanation of the results observed in Landry and Bartling’s (2011) articulatory suppression study. The following questions and answers offer further clarification on key concepts and their implications.
Question 1: How specifically does articulatory suppression overload the phonological loop?
Articulatory suppression occupies the articulatory control process, a component of the phonological loop responsible for subvocal rehearsal. This prevents the rehearsal of to-be-remembered verbal information, leading to decay and reduced recall.
Question 2: Why does articulatory suppression primarily affect verbal, but not visual, working memory?
The WMM proposes separate components for verbal (phonological loop) and visual (visuospatial sketchpad) information processing. Articulatory suppression specifically targets the phonological loop, leaving the visuospatial sketchpad relatively unaffected.
Question 3: How do Landry and Bartling’s findings support the WMM’s multi-component structure?
The selective impairment of verbal recall under articulatory suppression, without impacting visual memory, provides strong evidence for the WMM’s distinct, yet interacting, components for verbal and visual information processing.
Question 4: Does the severity of the articulatory suppression effect vary across individuals?
Individual differences in working memory capacity influence the impact of articulatory suppression. Those with lower capacity generally experience more pronounced declines in verbal recall under suppression conditions.
Question 5: What are the practical implications of understanding the effects of articulatory suppression?
Recognizing the limitations of the phonological loop informs strategies for optimizing verbal information processing. Minimizing verbal distractions during learning or employing visual aids can mitigate the impact of overload.
Question 6: How does the concept of limited processing capacity explain everyday memory failures?
Everyday instances of forgetting, such as misremembering details while multitasking, can be attributed to the limited capacity of working memory components. When demands exceed capacity, information processing and retrieval suffer.
In summary, understanding the WMM’s explanation of Landry and Bartling’s findings provides valuable insights into the limitations of verbal working memory and the interplay between its components. This knowledge informs strategies for enhancing memory and managing cognitive demands in various contexts.
Further exploration of the WMM can involve examining its relationship with other cognitive models and exploring its role in complex cognitive processes such as language comprehension, problem-solving, and decision-making.
Tips for Optimizing Verbal Working Memory Based on Landry’s Findings
Based on Landry and Bartling’s (2011) research and the Working Memory Model (WMM), these tips offer practical strategies for enhancing verbal working memory performance by mitigating the impact of limited processing capacity and potential overload.
Tip 1: Minimize Verbal Distractions: Reducing background noise and irrelevant conversations can minimize interference with the phonological loop, allowing for more efficient rehearsal and maintenance of target verbal information. For example, studying in a quiet environment enhances focus and reduces the likelihood of overload.
Tip 2: Chunk Information: Grouping individual pieces of information into larger, meaningful units (chunks) reduces the load on the phonological loop. Memorizing a phone number as three chunks (e.g., 555-123-4567) is more efficient than recalling ten individual digits.
Tip 3: Employ Visual Aids: Supplementing verbal information with visual aids reduces reliance on the phonological loop. Diagrams, images, and mind maps can offload processing demands and enhance memory for complex concepts. This leverages the visuospatial sketchpad, a separate component of the WMM.
Tip 4: Utilize Repetition and Rehearsal Strategies: Regularly repeating and actively rehearsing information strengthens memory traces. Spaced repetition, where rehearsal intervals gradually increase, enhances long-term retention.
Tip 5: Manage Cognitive Load: Breaking down complex tasks into smaller, manageable steps reduces the overall cognitive load and allows for more focused processing within the limitations of working memory capacity.
Tip 6: Combine Verbal and Visual Information: Integrating verbal and visual information creates more robust memory traces. Pairing spoken instructions with demonstrations or using annotated diagrams enhances comprehension and recall. This leverages the interplay between WMM components.
Tip 7: Prioritize Key Information: Identifying and prioritizing essential information focuses attention and resources on the most critical aspects, optimizing working memory utilization and enhancing retention of key details.
By implementing these strategies, one can effectively manage the limited capacity of the phonological loop and other working memory components, optimizing verbal information processing and enhancing overall cognitive performance.
These practical tips offer a bridge between theoretical understanding of the WMM, as informed by Landry and Bartling’s research, and effective strategies for enhancing memory and cognitive performance in everyday life.
Conclusion
Landry and Bartling’s (2011) articulatory suppression study provides compelling empirical evidence supporting the Working Memory Model’s (WMM) explanation of verbal working memory limitations. The observed decrease in verbal recall performance under articulatory suppression conditions highlights the limited capacity of the phonological loop and the crucial role of the articulatory control process in rehearsal and maintenance of verbal information. The disruption of subvocal rehearsal by concurrent articulation explains the reduced recall accuracy and span observed in the study, validating the WMM’s account of how interference affects verbal working memory. Furthermore, the study reinforces the distinction between the phonological loop and the visuospatial sketchpad, demonstrating the selective impact of articulatory suppression on verbal but not visual processing. The findings also highlight the broader implications of limited processing capacity within working memory for complex cognitive tasks requiring the coordination of multiple cognitive processes. Overall, Landry and Bartling’s research strengthens the WMM’s position as a robust model of human cognition by demonstrating the impact of articulatory suppression on verbal working memory and offering crucial insights into the interplay between working memory components.
Continued research exploring the intricacies of the WMM, including individual differences in working memory capacity and the interaction between working memory and other cognitive systems, remains essential for advancing understanding of human information processing. Investigating the practical implications of these findings for educational practices, communication strategies, and cognitive interventions holds significant promise for enhancing human cognitive performance across various domains. The insights gleaned from Landry and Bartling’s study and related research pave the way for developing targeted interventions and strategies to optimize verbal working memory and mitigate the negative consequences of cognitive overload in everyday life.
