Memory: Lesson 5 - The Working Memory Model

Question 1

Who proposed the Working Memory model?

Answer 1

Baddeley and Hitch

Question 2

What are the components of the WMM?

Answer 2

• central executive
• phonological loop
• visuo-spatial sketchpad
• episodic buffer

Question 3

What is the central executive’s function?

Answer 3

• drives the whole working memory system and allocates data to the other components, known as slave systems
• deals with cognitive tasks such as mental arithmetic, reasoning and problem solving
• individuals have a limited attentional capacity
• automated tasks take up less attentional demands on the central executive and free us to perform other tasks
• (e.g a person who has been driving for 10 years will find that driving has become an automated task that does require as many attentional demands as it did when they first learned, and so they can now perform, other tasks like listening to radio and talking to other passengers more easily)

Question 4

What is the function of the phonological loop?

Answer 4

• deals with spoken and written material
• has two sub components:
  1. Phonological store (aka inner ear); linked to speech perception and hold information in speech based form (spoken words) for 1-2 seconds
  2. Articulary Loop (aka inner voice); linked to speech production and is used to rehearse and store verbal information from the phonological store. Allows maintenance rehearsal

Question 5

What is the function of the Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad?

Answer 5

• stores and processes information in a visual or spatial form
• used for navigation
• aka inner eye
• has two sub-components:
  1. Visual cache; stores visual material about form and colour
  2. Inner Scribe; handles spatial relationships

Question 6

What is the function of the episodic buffer?

Answer 6

Baddeley (2000) added another component called the episodic buffer because he realised that the model needed a generalised storage component to operate properly

• this is because the slave systems only deal with processing and temporary storage of specific types of information and the central executive has no storage capacity at all
• episodic buffer is a limited capacity store, integrating information from the central executive, phonological loop and the visuo-spatial sketchpad, as well as the LTM