Memory: The Working Memory Model

Question 1

What does the working memory model explain

Answer 1

• created by Baddeley and hitch
  How STM is organised and how it functions
• consists of 4 main components

Question 2

Outline the ‘central executive’ as a part of the WMM

Answer 2

• an attentional process that monitors incoming data, makes decisions and allocates slave systems to tasks
• central executive has a very limited processing capacity

Question 3

Outline the ‘phonological loop’ as a part of the WMM

Answer 3

• 1st slave system
• deals with auditory info + preserves the order in which the information arrives in
• subdivided into:
• the phonological store - stores the words you heard
• the articulatory process - allows maintenance rehearsal, the capacity of this rehearsal ‘loop’ = 2 seconds worth of what you can say

Question 4

Outline ‘the visual spatial sketchpad’ as a part of the WMM

Answer 4

• 2nd slave system
• stores visual and/ or spatial data
• limited capacity (Baddeley- 3-4 objects)
  Logie subdivided VSS into 2 sub components:
• the visual cache - stores visual data
• the inner scribe - records arrangements of objects in the visual field

Question 5

Outline the ‘episodic buffer’ as a part of the WMM

Answer 5

• 3rd slave system + added to the model by baddeley in 2000
• temporary store for info - visual spatial and verbal no processed by other stores
• the ‘storage component’ of the central executive
• limited capacity of around 4 chunks
• provides a ‘bridge’ between the WMM and the LTM

Question 6

What are the 3 evaluation points for the WMM

Answer 6

• supporting clinical evidence
• dual task performance studies support VSS
• lack of clarity over central executive

Question 7

Outline ‘supporting clinical evidence’ as an evaluation point for the WMM

Answer 7

• shallice and Warrington’s study on KF supports the WMM
• KF had poor stm ability for verbal info but could process visual info normally
• this suggests his phonological loop has been damaged, but other areas are still intact
• this supports the existence of a separate visual and acoustic store

Question 8

Outline ‘dual task performance studies support the VSS’ as an evaluation point for the WMM

Answer 8

• dual task performance studies support the separate existence of the VSS
• baddeley et al - showed ppts have more difficulty doing 2 visual tasks than doing both a visual and a verbal task at the same time
• this is because both visual tasks compete for the same slave system

Question 9

Outline ‘lack of clarity over central executive’ as an evaluation point for the WMM

Answer 9

• cognitive psychologists suggest this aspect of the WMM is unsatisfactory and doesn’t explain anything
• Baddeley also criticised the central executive for the same reasons
• the central executive needs to serve some purpose other than simply ‘attention’
• some psychologists believe it may consist of separate components