Memory- The Working Memory Model 3/6 Flashcards
Draw the WMM
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Who was WMM created by and why?
Created by Baddeley and Hitch (1974) to replace the STM store of the
MSM due to criticisms of the STM.
Why did Baddeley create WMM?
Believed:
• STM must be more complex than just a single unitary store that only exists to pass information on to LTM.
• STM must be an active processer, holding multiple different types of information simultaneously while being worked on
Central executive
“Head of the model” controls attention, Receives sense information and filters this before passing on to sub systems.
Capacity of central executive
Limited in capacity, (4 items) working on one type of information at a time. But can switch attention between different inputs.
Phonological loop
Processes auditory (sound) coded information
Primary acoustic/ phonological store
The inner ear. holding words recently heard
Articulatory process.
The inner voice. Holds information via sub-vocal repetition.
Capacity of phonological loop
The PL has a limited capacity of what can be said in 2 seconds (word length effect)
Visuo-spatial
Sketchpad
Processes visu
Processes visual and spatially coded information, thought of as the “inner eye”.
Visual Cache
A passive store of form and colour
Inner Scribe active store holding the relationships between objects in
3D space.
Episodic buffer
Added to WMM in 2000, as the Model needed a general store to hold and integrate information from the VSS, PL, CE and long term memory.
Evaluation for
Phonological loop (PL) and Visual spatial sketchpad (VSS) as separate
Baddeley
Baddeley 1975
Participants were asked to perform two visual tasks, tracking racking moving lights at the same time as describing the angles of the letter F. Or a visual and verbal task. It was found that performance was much better when the tasks where not using the same processing. This suggests That the VSS and PL exist as separate systems and the capacity of the VSS can be overwhelmed with visual information.
Evaluation
Existence of the Episodic buffer
Prabhakaran et al (2000)
Using brain imaging FMRI scans, researchers asked participants to complete tasks with equal amounts of spatial and verbal information. But in one condition the spatial and verbal information was separate, in the other condition the information was integrated It was found there is more activation in the prefrontal cortex when information is integrated, however posterior brain regions when information was not integrated.
This suggests the EB exists and is in the prefrontal cortex, a brain region specialised in the combination and temporary storage of visual and verbal/auditory information.
Phonological loop capacity
Baddeley (1975)
Participants were visually shown word lists and then asked to write them down in the same order.
One condition had monosyllabic words eg “bond”, “vield”, the second condition had polysyllabic, ie “opportunity”. It was found the participants could recall more monosyllabic words than polysyllabic words.
This suggests the capacity PL is not the number of distinct items, but by the time it takes to say the (approximately 2 seconds). This is known as the word length effect
Evaluation
Central executive
The central executive has been criticised by other psychologists as a vague concept without a full explanation of its function and not fully open to testing.
Baddeley admits the concept needs development, and the inclusion of the episodic buffer is part of this.
Evaluation
Accurate
The multi-store model sees STM as a passive store of information, while the working memory model seems more accurate in describing how memory is used as an active processer.
Psychologists often now refer to working memory instead of short-term memory.
Evaluation
External validity
Research in this area of psychology, while generally lab based, therefore highly controlled with strong internal validity. There are issues with external validity, in most studies on memory tasks lack mundane realism (unrealistic/artificial) therefore may not be generalised to how we use memory in day to day life.
