title: Development of working memory: should the Pascual-Leone and the Baddeley and Hitch models be merged?
abstract: The data presented by Kemps, De Rammelaere, and Desmet (2000, this issue) appear to have some aspects that fit most readily into our own model (Baddeley & Hitch, 1974), while others appear to support that of Pascual-Leone (1970). We accept that our initial model said little about development and was better able to account for relatively simple memory-based tasks than more complex cognitive activities. More recent elaborations of the model are, however, able to throw new light on the processes underlying cognitive development, offering a better account than that provided by existing neo-Piagetian interpretations. Meanwhile, the addition of a fourth component to the model, namely the episodic buffer, offers a way of dealing with more complex cognitive activities. Given the major differences between our own model and that of Pascual-Leone in basic assumptions, and in theoretical style, we suggest that any attempt to combine the two would be premature.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Baddeley
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Hitch
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009949:Orientation; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011597:Psychomotor Performance