What does the WMM explain about short-term memory?

• A. The internal structures and processes involved in short-term memory.
• B. Only the duration of short-term memory.
• C. The neural basis of long-term memory.
• D. The sensory memory capacity.

Answer: (B)

The Working Memory Model treats short-term memory as a dynamic system made up of distinct parts that handle different kinds of information and work together under a control process. It isn’t a single storage box; it’s a set of components that manage how we hold and manipulate information in the moment.

The central executive acts as a flexible attention-control system, directing processing and coordinating the other parts. The phonological loop handles verbal and auditory information, including the inner speech we use to rehearse things like phone numbers. The visuospatial sketchpad deals with visual and spatial data, such as picturing a route or rearranging objects in your mind. The episodic buffer integrates information from these subsystems and links it to long-term memory, creating coherent memories from different kinds of input.

This emphasis on how information is stored, maintained, and manipulated—the structures involved and the processes they support—is what the model aims to explain about short-term memory. It’s not focused on how long items last in memory, the neural basis of long-term memory, or the capacity of sensory memory; those areas lie outside the core focus of the Working Memory Model.