Memory : The Working Memory Model Flashcards
What is the working memory model?
- Baddeley and Hitch (1974) argue that the picture of short-term memory (STM) provided by the Multi-Store Model is far too simple. WMM is an active system.
- According to the Multi-Store Model, STM holds limited amounts of information for short periods of time with relatively little processing. It is a unitary system. This means it is a single system (or store) without any subsystems. Working Memory is not a unitary store.
-They suggested a multi-component WM comprising of four components to represent the form of processing being carried out.
What is the central executive?
Boss of WMM , direct attention
- limited capacity
- has the capacity to focus , divide and switch.
- decides what to pay attention to getting rid of irrelevant information.
- It is the most important component of WMM although little is known about it.
What is the phonological loop?
The PL Is a temporary acoustic storage system for verbal information or words before we speak.
Divided into two systems :
- articulatory control process - sub vocal repetition
- phonological store - storage space , limited capacity
What is the Visuo - spatial sketchpad?
- The inner eye
- Limited capacity
- Temporary memory system for holding visual and /or spatial information
- Visual cache (collection of data) which is linked to an active ‘inner scribe’ that acts as a rehearsal mechanism e.g. planning a route
- Stores and processes visual and spatial material.
- Geographical orientation: - learning our way around our environment.
What is an episodic buffer?
- added in 2000 because of criticisms that the model didn’t explain LTM or how STM integrated into the LTM
-Storage component for the central executive. - Temporary store for information, integrating visual, spatial and verbal information being
processed by other stores. - Maintains a sense of time sequencing: ‘this, then that, then that..’
- Links working memory to LTM and other cognitive processes such as perception.
- As it brings together material from the other two sub-systems into a single memory, it provides a bridge between working memory and LTM.
Research support for the PL?
- Baddeley (1975) Demonstrated the world love effect by asking participants timber long or short words in lists. They could hold for you a long words in the phonological loop which lost about two seconds because each word occupied so much memory space.
- However, if they had to speak out loud, while learning the short word list , They had similar problems because the phonological loop was kept busy by speech, and the advantage of learning Short words ended
Research support for the VSS?
- Gathercole and Baddeley (1993) Asked participants to track a moving light at the same time, as describing the angles of a letter F both using the visuo spatial sketchpad.
- They compares their performance with participants simultaneously doing a verbal visual task, using the phonological loop and the visuo spatial sketchpad.
- When both cost involved, then visual special sketchpad performance dropped, but when the two separate systems were in use participants found it easier.
-This suggests there are two separate components to the model
What is the problem with CE?
No one has been able to pin down a part of the brain that could be the central executive. It is possible that future research will share attention basis for selective attention, but at present it is still a mystery
What is the KF study?
•damage to phonological store-this makes sense as this part of WMM deals with language/words
•KF suffered brain damage as a result of a motorcycle accident
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•KF had no problem with long-term memory,
•These findings suggest that different parts of the brain are involved in short-term and long-term memory.
•Warrington & Shallice found that KF’s short-term forgetting of auditory letters and digits (things that are heard) was much greater than his forgetting of visual stimuli.
•They also found that KF’s short-term memory deficit was limited to verbal materials (e.g. letters, words) and did not extend to meaningful sounds (e.g. cats meowing), in other words he couldn’t remember things like words, but could remember meaningful sounds.
•KF’s impairment for verbal information - his memory for visual information was largely unaffected shows that there are separate STM components for visual information (VSS) and verbal information (phonological loop).
Why is KF study not generalisable?
The evidence gathered from cases such as KF’s may not be valid or reliable because it concerns unique and rare cases with people who have had traumatic experiences.
What does KF’s case study tell psychologists about memory? Which model does it support?
It tells psychologists that there is a distinction between short term memory for visual information and short term memory for auditory information. This is because KF can recall information that is presented visually for a brief period, but not if the information is presented as sounds.
This supports the Working Memory Model because this finding is consistent with the existence of the visuo spatial sketchpad and the phonological loop in this model. Presumably KF’s visuo spatial sketchpad is intact but the phonological loop is damaged.
What implications does the KF study have on MSM
The fact that KF Could a) remember Visual images, but not sounds, and b) Access his LTM without having to 1st go through his STM lens supports to the working memory model. Theory of STM as an active and complex store with two slave systems. - the visuo - spatial sketchpad and the phonological loop - and also contradicts the STM model flow diagram that shows that all information entering LTM has to pass through STM
Evaluation of WMM (pros)
- The WMM provides an explanation for parallel processing (i.e. where processes involved in a cognitive task occur at once), unlike Atkinson and Shiffrin’s MSM.
- A Shallice and Warrington (1974) case study reported that brain-damaged patient KF could recall verbal but not visual information immediately after its presentation, which supports the WMM’s claim that separate short-term stores manage short-term phonological and visual memories.
- The model was developed based on evidence from laboratory experiments, so confounding variables could be carefully controlled to produce reliable results (that can be replicated).
Evaluation of WMM (cons)
- Despite providing more detail of STM than the multi-store model, the WMM has been criticized for being too simplistic and vague, e.g. it is unclear what the central executive is, or its exact role in attention.
- Results from laboratory experiments researching the WMM will often have low ecological validity (i.e. may not relate to real life), as tasks such as repeating ‘the the the’ are arguably not representative of our everyday activities.
What is the dual - task study by Baddely and hitch?
Aim : To test the theory that auditory memory and Visuo spatial memory are stored separately within STM
Method : Participants complete two task at the same time.
- Condition, one participants complete to acoustic-based tasks
- Condition to participants complete one acoustic and one visual task
Results
-When both tasks require the participant to use , their phonological loop their ability to perform the task is impaired. However, when one of the tasks use the Visuo spatial sketchpad ( copying a drawing ) then performance is not impaired.
Conclusion:
This provides evidence that auditory memory and Visuo spatial memory are stored separately in STM
