When the mind creates visual representations in the absence of external visual stimuli. 

Visual imagery

When an objects orientation is shifted, the more it is changed, the more time it takes for someone to recognize the object. This is due to the time it takes to  shift the mental representation of the object.

mental rotation

Holds visual and spatial information (representations). When imagining a scene, solving a puzzle or navigating through familiar territory, the sketch pad is being used.
It controls processes such as:
- visual imagery
- mental rotation

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

- The phonological loop
- Visuospatial sketch pad
- The central executive 
- Episodic buffer

Parts of working memory (Baddeley's model)

Goldstein, E. B. (2014). Cognitive psychology: Connecting mind, research and everyday experience. Nelson Education.


Cognitive psychology: Connecting mind, research and everyday experience

The portion of working memory that is in charge of verbal and auditory information. Made up of:
- the phonological store
- articulatory rehearsal process

Responsible for effects such as:
- the phonological similarity effect
- the word length effect
- articulatory suppression 

Phonological loop

Visuospatial sketch pad

The central executive is the control center of working memory that supervises or controls the flow of information to and from the three short-term systems (the visuospatial sketchpad, the episodic buffer, and the phonological loop). It coordinates activities, decides where to direct attention, and is responsible for moving information into long-term memory.

Central executive

Provides extra storage and can send things to long term memory. It helps explain how people can combine their long term memory with recently processed stimuli to remember more complex things (often associated with chunking).

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