What is the role of sensory perception in the working memory model?

• A. It has no relation to working memory.
• B. It is stored in the central executive.
• C. It is managed solely by long-term memory.
• D. It is connected to the components of working memory through the episodic buffer.

Answer: (D)

The role of sensory perception in the working memory model is that sensory input is briefly held in sensory memory and, once attended to, is integrated with other WM processes through the episodic buffer. The episodic buffer acts as the interface that binds information from the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad and links it to long-term memory, creating a cohesive, multimodal representation of experiences. So sensory perception isn’t stored in the central executive or just in long-term memory; it enters WM via sensory memory, and the episodic buffer connects and integrates these inputs with other WM components and with long-term memory.