Lesson 4 - Working Memory Model

Question 1

Baddeley and hitch - working memory model

Answer 1

-MSM too simplistic as it sates STM is one unitary store
-WMM focussed on STM - made of multiple components with different functions and characteristics

Question 2

WMM - STM component 1 - central executive

Answer 2

-attentional process that monitors incoming data and making decisions and allocating slave systems to tasks

Modality free - not limited to one type of coding as receives info from sensory register
Limited capacity - cannot be held for very long before deciding use
Baddeley - decides what deserves attention

-responsible for reasoning and decisions
-also receives info from two slave systems to carry out tasks

Question 3

WMM - STM component 2 - phonological loop

Answer 3

-slave system which deals with spoken and written info

Limited capacity - 2 sec
Acoustic coding

-phonological store(inner ear) - holds words
-articulately loop(inner voice) - holds info seen and heard and rehearses them silently

Question 4

WMM - STM component 3 - visual-spatial sketch pad

Answer 4

-a slave system that deals with visual and spatial info

Capacity - limited at 3-4 items
Visual coding - creates mental picture of surroundings
- visual cache - stores visual data
- inner scribe - records arrangements of objects

Question 5

WMM - STM component 4 - episodic buffer

Answer 5

-added in 2000
-slave system which integrates all types of episodic info acting as a buffer between LTM and components of working memory

Limited capacity - 4 chunks - temporary storage component of the central executive
Modality free - binds info from components of working memory and LTM to create episodes (time sequences)