Impairments of auditory-verbal short-term memory: do selective deficits of the input phonological buffer exist?

Publication date: Available online 11 October 2018

Source: Cortex

Author(s): Tim Shallice, Costanza Papagno

Abstract

The existence of the functional syndrome of auditory-verbal short-term storage impairment was used as strong supporting evidence for the presence of a phonological buffer in the first version of the Baddeley-Hitch working memory model. In later versions the syndrome corresponded to the selective impairment of the phonological input buffer. The present paper considers whether the correspondence between the functional syndrome, represented by 20 published cases, and a Baddeley-Hitch model component is still of value to memory theory. The following potential problems for the theoretical utility of the correspondence are considered:

1The apparent rarity of examples of the syndrome: are they outliers?

2Is short-term memory not merely the activation of long-term memory traces?

3Could the syndrome be due to failed interaction between perceptual and motor speech processing?

4Do some aspects of the syndrome not fit the Baddeley-Hitch model predictions?

5Has the Baddeley-Hitch model not been replaced by more powerful connectionist models?

6Could the syndrome arise from weakened speech perception processes?

It is argued that there are difficulties for each of these possibilities. It is held that the correspondence retains its value.

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