memory - the working memory model Flashcards
who created the working memory model and why
baddley and hitch to replace the STM store in the msm due to criticisms
what is the central executive
the ‘head of the model’ which controls attention, receives sense information and filters this before passing it onto the sub systems
what is the role of the phonological loop
processes auditory coded information
what are the two subsystems of the phonological loop
- primary acoustic store
- articulatory process
what is the primary acoustic store
the inner ear holding words recently heard
what is the articulatory process
the inner voice holding information via sub vocal repetition
what is the role of the visuo spatial sketchpad
processes visual and spatially coded information
what are the two subsystems of the visuo spatial sketchpad
- visual cashe
- inner scribe
what is the visual cashe
a passive store of form and colour
what is the inner scribe
active store holding the relationship between objects in 3D space
what is the role of the episodic buffer
holds and integrates information from the phonological loop, visuo spatial sketchpad and central executive
what was baddleys research into the phonological loop and visuo spatial sketchpad
asked participants to either perform 2 visual tasks ( tracking racking moving lights at the same time as describing the angles in the letter F ) or a visual and a verbal task
what were baddleys findings in his research on the phonological loop and visuo spatial sketchpad
performance was much better when tasks were not using the same type of processing
what do baddleys findings suggest about the phonological loop and visuo spatial sketchpad
that they exist as separate systems
what was shallice and warringtons research on the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad
they investigated the clinical case study of KF
what were shallice and warringtons findings on their research on the phonological loop and visual spatial sketchpad
KF has selective impairment to his verbal short term memory caused by a brain injury however thew visual functioning of his STM is not affected
what do shallice and warringtons findings suggest about the phonological loop and visuo spatial sketch pad
that they are separate processes that are located in different brain regions
what was prabhakarans research on the episodic buffer
used brain imaging fMRI scans to observe participants brain whilst either performing tasks with separate spatial and verbal information or integrated spatial and verbal information
what were prabhakarans findings in his research on the eipsodic buffer
there is more activation in the prefrontal cortex when information is integrated however posterior brain regions when the information was separate
what do prabhakarans findings suggest about the episodic buffer
the episodic buffer exists in the prefrontal cortex
what was baddleys research into the capacity of the phonological loop
participants were shown lists of words and then had to write them down in the same order. one contained monosyllabic words and the other contained polysyllabic words
what were baddleys findings in his research on the capacity of the phonological loop
participants could recall more monosyllabic words than polysyllabic words
what do baddleys findings suggest about the capacity of the phonological loop
the capacity is not determined by the number of items but how long it takes to say the word ( word length affect )
what are the strengths of the wmm
- there is clinical evidence from KF
- it is a better explanation of STM than the msm which sees it as a passive store of information whereas the wmm is more accurate in describing how memory is used as an active processor
- research is generally lab based therefore highly controlled with strong internal validity
what are the weaknesses of the wmm
- central executive has been criticised as a vague concept without a full explanation
- lab based studies have issues with external validity as most tasks lack mundane realism so cannot be generalised to memory in everyday life
- its impossible to directly observe the process of memory meaning inferences have to be made which could be incorrect
