ABSTRACT
In this chapter we examine the empirical evidence for adult age changes in the components of the Baddeley and Hitch working memory model, and highlight some methodological and theoretical issues raised by the study of age differences in working memory. Baddeley (1996, p. 19) argues that ‘ageing may be an interesting and productive variable to study within the context of working memory’. The idea that adult age changes in the available capacity of working memory underlie deficits in reasoning and language abilities has been extremely influential. However, the majority of work in this area has conceptualised working memory in terms of a general limited-capacity system, rather than using the notion of the Baddeley and Hitch three component model (WM model) with specialised subsystems for the maintenance of verbal and visuo-spatial information.
