Memory - The working memory model Flashcards
What does the Working Memory Model (WMM) suggest about short-term memory (STM)?
STM is made up of the central executive, the phonological loop, the visuospatial sketchpad, and the episodic buffer.
What is the role of the central executive in the Working Memory Model?
The central executive is an attentional process with a very limited processing capacity, allocating tasks to the three subsystems.
What are the 3 subsystems in the WMM?
Phonological loop
Visuo-spatial sketchpad
Episodic buffer
What are the two components of the phonological loop?
The articulatory process and the phonological store.
What does the phonological loop process?
Auditory information and allows for maintenance rehearsal.
What is the function of the visuo-spatial sketchpad?
It combines visual and spatial information processed by other stores to provide a complete picture.
What are the two components of the visuo-spatial sketchpad?
The inner scribe and visual cache.
What is the capacity of the visuo-spatial sketchpad according to Baddeley?
Around 4-5 chunks.
What does the episodic buffer do in the Working Memory Model?
Links all types of data processed by the other stores and links STM to LTM.
Fill in the blank: The central executive allocates tasks to the three _______.
subystems.
1 limitation of the WMM
The central executive has not been precisely defined.
For example, the term ‘process’ is vague, and the central
executive may be made up of several sub-components or even be part of a larger component itself in working memory. This lack of a comprehensive explanation for each component of WMM draws doubts about the accuracy of its depiction of working memory.
Fill in the blanks: 3 strengths of the WMM
Shallice and ____’s study of KF supports the WMM because their findings show that KF had very poor ____ recall for auditory stimuli, but increased STM recall for ____ stimuli which suggests that the components of memory which process auditory and visual stimuli are ____ (as described in the WMM through the phonological ____ and the visuo ____ sketchpad).
Studies of dual-task ____, where each participant must undertake a visual and verbal task ____, shows decreased performance for such tasks and so supports the idea that the central ____ has a very limited processing capacity (as predicted by the WMM) and that the subsystems are in ____ with each other for these tasks and resources.
Neuroscanning evidence, such as that provided by ____ et al, has demonstrated a positive correlation between an increasing ____ load processed by the central executive (as marked by increasing task difficulty) and increasing levels of activation in the ____ cortex. This supports the idea that the central executive has the role of ____ tasks to subsystems and has a limited processing capacity, as reflected by the increased brain activation levels, so suggesting that the WMM is ____ in its mechanism of the central executive.
Warrington, STM, visual, separate, loop, spatial
performance, simultaneously, executive, competition
Braver, cognitive, prefrontal, allocating, accurate
