Lesson 4- Working Memory Model (WMM)

Question 1

Who argued that the MSM was too simple?

Answer 1

Baddeley & Hitch (1974)- argued MSM too simple

Question 2

What Baddeley & Hitch disagree about the MSM?

Answer 2

MSM too simple

Argued that STM is✖️ unitary store- has sub-stores

Question 3

Why are the 4 components of WMM?

Answer 3

1) Central Executuve
2) Phonological Loop
3) Visuo-spatial sketchpad
4) Episodic Buffer

Question 4

What are the features of Central Executive?

Answer 4

1) Overall control
2) Processes info- all sensory forms e.g. 👀 👃 👂 👅 etc
3) Directs attention to important tasks
4) Monitors incoming info- decides which ‘slave system’ needed to complete tasks
5) Used in problem solving/decision making ➖➕✖️➗
6) Capacity- Limited
7) Coding- all senses

Question 5

What are features of the Phonological Loop?

Answer 5

Temporarily stores/rehearses word based info in order
Capacity- 2 seconds
Coding- acoustic

1. Phonological store- inner 👂- hold info- speech based form- 1-2 seconds
2. Inner voice- word based form- circulates info- round & round (repeat)

Question 6

What are features of Visuo-spatial sketchpad?

Answer 6

Keeps track of where you are in relation to other objects
Capacity- 3-4 objects
Coding- Visual

1. Inner eye 👁- visual cache- stores visual data 👀
2. Inner scribe- remembers arrangement of objects in space

Question 7

What are features of Episodic Buffer?

Answer 7

1) Added later (2000)
2) Allows communication between slave systems
3) Communicates with LTM
4) Records order of events
5) Capacity- 4 chunks
6) Coding- Integrates visual👀, spatial & verbal info together

Question 8

Which psychologists investigated evidence for WMM and when did they do this?

Answer 8

Baddeley & Hitch (1976)

Question 9

What did Baddeley & Hitch do?

Answer 9

1) Dual tasking

2) Digit span task & verbal reasoning task performed at the same time

Question 10

What did they find?

Answer 10

1) As digits ⬆️, pps took ⬆️ ⏰ to answer reasoning Q BUT not by a lot
2) ✖️ make any more errors as no. of digits ⬆️

Question 11

What did they conclude?

Answer 11

1) Verbal reasoning task- made use of central executive
2) Digit span task- made use of phonological loop
3) HIGHLIGHTS they are separate stores

Question 12

What are the evaluation points for the WMM?

Answer 12

👎- single case studies of ppl with 🧠 damage as evidence ✖️ reliable- difficult to generalise- e.g. KF- 🏍 accident- problems with memory caused by different 🧠 damage
👍- accounts for dual tasking- 2 tasks done at once if 1 visual (visual-spatial sketchpad) & other verbal (phonological loop) BUT ✖️ cannot do 2 visual or verbal- both have limited capacity
Supported by Baddeley et al (1973)- pps told to follow light 💡 spot with pointer whilst doing 1) another visual task or 2) verbal task- found pps performed better in task 2 than 1 … 2 separate stores for visual & word based info
👎- exact role of central executive unclear- directs attention & chooses slave system BUT vague info- capacity never measured … WMM lacks necessary detail
👍- WMM explains how we carry out every day tasks better than MSM- reading 📚 etc (phonological loop), problem solving ➕➖✖️➗ (central executive), navigation 🧭 (visuo-spatial sketchpad)- … ⬆️ face 😀 validity- helped psychologists assist people with dyslexia (problem with phonological loop)