Lesson 5: The Working Memory Model

Question 1

What did baddeley and hitch question?

Answer 1

They questioned that the MSM only has one type of STM. They argued that it was more complex than being a temporary store before it is transferred to LTM. They saw it as an active store holding several pieces of info, resulting in the models name (WMM). They thought the LTM was a passive store that only holds previously learned material to be used by STM when required.

Question 2

The Central Executive

Answer 2

The CE drives the whole system and allocates data to other components (slave systems). It deals with cognitive tasks (mental arithmetic, reasoning and problem solving). Individuals have a limited attention capacity, tasks that are automated make less attentional demands on the CE, this leaves us free to do other tasks.

Question 3

CE-example

Answer 3

A person who has been driving for 10 years finds driving an automated task, so it will not make as many attentional demands as it did when beginning to drive. They can now listen to the radio and talk to passengers much more easier than a learner driver.

Question 4

The phonological loop

Answer 4

It is the component that deals with spoken and written material. It has two sub-components.

Question 5

Phonological store

Answer 5

It’s referred to as the inner ear. It is linked to speech perception and holds information in speech-based form for 1-2 seconds.

Question 6

Articulatory Loop

Answer 6

This is referred to as the inner voice. Linked to the speech production and used to rehearse and store verbal info from the phonological store. Allows for maintenance rehearsal.

Question 7

Visuo-spatial sketchpad

Answer 7

The visuo-spatial sketchpad stores and processes information in a visual or spatial form. Used for navigation. Referred to as the inner eye. Has 2 sub-components

Question 8

Visual Cache

Answer 8

Stores visual material about form and colour

Question 9

Inner scribe

Answer 9

Handles spatial relationships

Question 10

Episodic buffer

Answer 10

Baddeley added this component because he realised the model needed a general storage component to operate properly. Slave systems only deal with processing and temporary storage of specific types of info, and the CE has no storage capacity at all. It is a limited capacity store, integrating info from the CE, PL, VSS and LTM.