Lesson 6 - Evaluation Of The Working Memory Model Flashcards
What did Shallice and Warrington say was a strength of the Working Memory Model and why?
They said that the WMM suggests that there is more than one kind of STM, as shown by KF who had poor STM for verbal but not physical words
How does Baddeley and Hitch’s research into the Working Memory Model support the model?
They gave participants a dual task that used the central executive as well as the phonological loop, and participants could do both well, supporting the idea that STM has separate components
How does Baddeley’s research into the ‘word length effect’ support the WMM?
When given brief presentations on long and then short words, participants recalled the short words much better
Baddeley concluded that this ‘word length effect’ supported the WMM, as it supports the idea that the phonological loop can hold as many items as can be remembered in 1-2 seconds, which is not supported by the 7(+-2) argument by the MSM
What is a positive practical evaluation of the WMM?
It has helped psychologists’ understanding of how people learn to read, leading to people with dyslexia being given better assistance
What did Damasio say was a negative of the WMM?
He criticised the WMM for the idea of a central executive being vague and untestable
This is because he had a patient with good reasoning skills but the inability to make decisions, which suggests that the central executive was more complex than shown in the WMM
