Lecture 7

Question 1

What is task switching?

Answer 1

Participants incur a time cost when they switch from one simple task to another

Question 2

Can adequate preparation remove the switch cost?

Answer 2

• No there is always a residual cost
• Task preparation is not the whole story
• Deciding on the response for the current stimulus may be affected by the response associated with the stimulus for the alternative task

Question 3

Why is disengaging an important factor in task switching?

Answer 3

• To change tasks someone needs to disengage from the inappropriate task
• Disengaging is a major factor when going from an easier task to a harder task (it is easier to do than to go from a hard task to an easy task)

Question 4

What are the effects of practice (automaticity)?

Answer 4

Kahneman’s capacity theory:
- Over-learned tasks become automatic and consume fewer resources
Effects:
- Improves performance
- Reduces task effort
- Facilitates re-structuring and co-ordination of concurrent tasks

Question 5

What are the characteristics of automatic processes

Answer 5

1. Without awareness
2. Without conscious deliberation / obligatory
3. Without expenditure of resources
4. Fast
5. Rigid/habitual

Question 6

When can automaticity become a controlled process?

Answer 6

• When there is a higher task load and when there is interference in a task
• Automatic performance can be reduced with additional demands

Question 7

What is working memory?

Answer 7

• Working memory is the domain of conscious thought
  Working memory involved in making decisions and initiating actions based on plans and in response to environmental input
  Working memory involved in directing attention

Question 8

What is the capacity of working memory?

Answer 8

Around 7 items

Question 9

What is in Baddeley’s working memory model?

Answer 9

Central executive:
- Phonological loop
- Viso-spatial sketchpad
Episodic buffer

Question 10

What is the central executive?

Answer 10

• An attention controller that is an interface between working memory systems and long-term memory
• Does not have its own storage capacity

Question 11

What are some functions of the central executive?

Answer 11

• Co-ordination of the subsidiary WM systems
• Control of encoding and retrieval strategies
• Switching of attention
• Mental manipulation of material held in the slave systems

Question 12

What is the phonological loop?

Answer 12

• Maintains verbal, sequential information in a phonological (sound-based) code
  2 components:
  Verbal store (inner ear)
  The subvocal articulatory rehearsal process (inner voice)

Question 13

What happens in the phonological loop when information is rehersed?

Answer 13

• Information decays after 2 secs, unless maintained by rehearsal
• Articulatory rehearsal also may be used to enter information into the store
  E.g. Remember a password or phone number in the short-term

Question 14

What is the visuo-spatial sketchpad?

Answer 14

• Visuospatial rather than verbal encoding material
  (looking at images and not describing it by words)

Question 15

What are the functions of visuo-spatial sketchpad?

Answer 15

• Planning and execution of spatial tasks (e.g. in sport, driving ect)
• Manipulating visual images
• Keeping track of changes in the visual perceptual world
  Maintaining orientations in space and directing movement
• Comprehending certain verbal information

Question 16

What is visual / short-term memory? (VSTM)

Answer 16

• Memory buffer that allows the retention of visual information, for a short time period, when it is out of view
• Holds 3-4 items
• Gives rise to a coherent and continuous representation of the visual world, that would otherwise be disrupted by objects being occluded or saccadic eye movements
• Allows relevant visual information to be used when undertaking goal-directed behavior and thoughts

Question 17

What is the similarity effect?
(phonological loop)

Answer 17

• Similarity effect
  More confusion in immediate serial recall for letters with similar-sounding names
• Recalling order information is the problem
  (letters that sound similar are harder to remember than ones that sound different)

Question 18

What evidence is there for the phonological loop?

Answer 18

• Similarity effect
• Irrelevant speech effect
• Word length effect
• Concurrent articulation

Question 19

What is the irrelevant speech effect?

Answer 19

• Speech impairs serial verbal recall of visually presented material
  Music interferes sometimes

Question 20

What is the word length effect?

Answer 20

• Immediate memory span declines with the spoken duration of the list items
  (people remember shorter words better than longer words)

Question 21

How do we interpret the word length effect?

Answer 21

• It reflects the speed of subvocal rehearsal and hence the rate of refresh of the memory trace
  (Less time to rehearse the word)
• Rehearsal involves central programming of speech but no output

Question 22

What is concurrent articulation?

Answer 22

-Words have similar-sounding syllabi so they are easier to remember
-This abolishes the similarity effect

Question 23

What is the phonological loop for?

Answer 23

• Vocabulary learning- particularly for children, learning a new language

Question 24

What is the nature of V-S sketchpad

Answer 24

It is divided into two main sections:
- Visual cache (stores visual patterns)
Inner-scribe (spatially based rehearsal)
Does not require visual input