As a cognitive activity, writing skill can be divided into independent and integrated types.
The term independent writing refers to writing that is based on the writer's own experiences
and knowledge. Integrated writing refers to writing that is built upon pre-source
information, whether it is listening, reading, or a combination of both. Essentially, it helps
writers start their writing with prior knowledge. As a mental and cognitive element,
working memory is heavily involved in these writing activities. It consists of four
components: phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, central executive (Baddeley and
Hitch, 1974), and episodic buffer (Baddeley, 2000). In the current study, we aimed to
examine how these components were involved into the independent vs. the integrated
writing tasks. To conduct the study, ten participants took part. Think aloud protocols and
interviews provided the data. As a result of statistical and non-statistical the data analyses,
all WM components were cooperatively involved in both writing tasks. While the demands
on the WM components were not significantly different between the independent and the
integrated writing tasks, the amount of demand on each component varied through the
writing stages in two tasks. In the other words, for example, the most burden was placed on
the visuospatial and the central executive components because of generating ideas and
making reasons during the planning phase of the independent task. As part of the integrated
task, in the planning stage, the phonological loop demands were heavy because of reading
comprehension, and the visuospatial sketchpad demands were due to finding information
from the pre-source text. Since writers had prior knowledge, it was easy for them to explain
their reasoning. As a final note, in order to accurately evaluate the writing abilities of
writers, writing evaluators can use both types of writing tasks with virtually similar
memory loads.