Evaluations Flashcards
How does the Clive wearing case study help the evaluation of the MSM
strengths and weaknesses
Clive wearing contracted a virus called amnesia. He could only remember info for around 20-30 seconds before they went blank but could recall events from before his illness, such as his wife’s name
strengths: Demonstrates separation of STM and LTM as info could not be transferred between stores
weaknesses: Wearing’s ability to recall procedural memories (such as playing the piano) challenges the MSM, suggesting that LTM is not a unitary store
What points do you use to evaluate the MSM
- support from case studies
- Support from Experimental research
- Criticism : oversimplification of STM and LTM
- Evidence from brain scanning
How does the HM help the evaluation of the MSM and the strengths and weaknesses of them
HM: he had severe epilepsy so got his hippocampus removed. post surgery he was unable to form new long-term memories but retained memories from before the operation. STM was functional but couldn’t be taken to the LTM
strengths: Supports the claim that the STM and LTM are separate stores, Hm could not transfer info between them
weaknesses: Cases such as HM are unique and lack generalisability
How would you evaluate the MSM:
support from experimental research
Primacy and recency effect (Glanzer and Cunitz): participants recalled words better from the beginning (primacy) and the end (recency) of a list
strengths: The primacy effect occurs because early words are rehearsed and transferred to LTM, While the recency effect shows words still active in the STM. this supports the idea of sperate memory stores
weaknesses: These findings may lack ecological validity as recalling word lists is artificial and may not reflect how memory operates in real-world context
How would you evaluate the MSM:
criticism: oversimplification of STM and LTM
The MSM claims they are unitary stores
- STM: research by (Baddeley and Hitch) working memory model shows that the STM is divided into multiple components (phonological loops etc)
- LTM: Tulving proposed that the LTM consists of separate stores (episodic, procedural and procedural)
limitation: These findings challenge the MSM simplicity suggesting it does not fully explain the complexity of memory
How do you evaluate the MSM:
evidence from brain scanning
(strength) Beardsley brain scans show the pre frontal cortex is active during STM memory task but the LTM isn’t
Squire et al: Hippocampus is active when LTM is engaged
- strengths: These findings provided biological evidence supporting the MSM claim that STM and LTM are distinct systems
- limitations : Brain activity doesn’t explain how information is transferred between stores or why some memories are forgotten despite rehearsal
How do you evaluate the WMM by dual-task studies
- participants struggled more when performing 2 visual tasks compared to performing a visual and verbal task simultaneously.
- This is because 2 visual tasks compete for the visuospatial sketchpad while verbal engages phonological loop
. Strengths - shows phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad are separate systems
. Weaknesses - Artificial settings, reduces external validity
how do you evaluate the WMM by support for the central executive?
1/2
Comes from experiments requiring attention allocation
- hitch and Baddeley
. participants judged whether “B is followed by A” for letters like “AB” engaging the central executive
. Participants then repeated the experiment with a distraction such as remembering a random number
task 1 slowed when task 2 used both stores
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the evaluation of the WMM with support for the central executive
Strengths - Shows central executive manages attention and is separated from slave systems
weaknesses - The central executives role remains vague with critics arguing
it is little more than a description of “attention allocation”
how do you evaluate the WMM
real life application
The WMM has practical implications in understanding cognitive disorders
- dyslexia - Links to deficit’s in the phonological loops e.g. reading skills and verbal rehearsal
- ADHD - Associated with impairments in the central executive leading to attention problems etc
- strengths - Incites have informed interventions such as strategies to improve verbal rehearsal in dyslexic children or enhance attention in ADHD patience
- Limitations - interventions often focus on specific components but mail fail to address the broader complexities of memory and cognition
