14- Working Memory Lecture

Question 1

Who drew a distinction between primary and secondary memory

Answer 1

William James (1890)

Question 2

What is a primary memory

Answer 2

• Linked to conscious experience
• Retrieval is effortless
• Portion of present space and time

Question 3

What is a secondary memory

Answer 3

• Unconscious, permanent
• Retrieval is effortful
• Genuine past

Question 4

What is a sensory memory

Answer 4

• Sensations persist after the stimulus has disappeared
• Can decay very rapidly
• Stores exist for visual (iconic) and auditory (echoic) sensory information

Question 5

What is visual information described as

Answer 5

Iconic sensory information

Question 6

What is auditory information described as

Answer 6

Echoic sensory information

Question 7

What are the 3 encoding dimensions of words

Answer 7

–Orthographic (shape/pattern of letters)
–Phonological (sound of the word)
–Semantic (the meaning of the word)

Question 8

For those with selective damage to their short term store, what region is affected

Answer 8

Left hemisphere

Usually affecting the parietal and temporal lobes

Question 9

The Central executive

Answer 9

• Most complex and least understood component of the model
• It coordinates activities of the memory buffers
• It has no storage capacity of its own

Question 10

The Visuospatial Sketchpad

Answer 10

-Has a capacity limit of around 7 items
-Necessary for holding online a sequence of
visually guided actions
-damage can result in an impairment of visuospatial working memory but not verbal working memory

Question 11

Hasson, Chen & Honey, 2015

Answer 11

• scanned people listening to the different conditions

- Reveals brain regions that integrate information across different timescales