memory: the working model of memory

Question 1

What is the working model of memory?

Answer 1

A representation of short-term memory. It suggests that STM is a dynamic processor of different types of information using subunits co-ordinated by a central decision-making system

Question 2

Who created the working model of memory?

Answer 2

Baddeley and Hitch (1974)

Question 3

What is the WMM concerned with?

Answer 3

The WMM is concerned with the ‘mental space’ that is active when we are temporarily storing and manipulating information

Question 4

How many components make up the WMM?

Answer 4

The model consists of four main components, each of which is qualitatively different especially in terms of coding and capacity

Question 5

Why did Baddeley and Hitch create the WMM?

Answer 5

Created to replace the STM store of the MSM due to criticisms of STM

Question 6

What criticisms did Baddeley and Hitch have of the STM?

Answer 6

• STM musst be more complex than just a single unitary store
• STM must be an active processor, holding multiple different types of information simultaneously while being worked on

Question 7

What did Baddeley and Hitch believe about LTM?

Answer 7

Believed that LTM was a more passive store that holds previously learned material for use by the STM when needed

Question 8

What four components make up the WMM?

Answer 8

• the central executive
• the phonological loop
• the visuo-spatial sketchpad
• the episodic buffer

Question 9

What is the central executive?

Answer 9

Has a ‘supervisory role’ and controls working memory by monitoring incoming data, allocating limited attentional resources and subsystems to tasks

Question 10

What is the capacity of the central executive?

Answer 10

very limited processing capacity

Question 11

What is the coding of the central executive?

Answer 11

modality free - not limited to any single sense as it needs to manipulate all information

Question 12

What is the phonological loop?

Answer 12

The subsystem processing auditory/visual material and is subdivided into the phonological store and articulatory process

Question 13

What is the phonological store?

Answer 13

Stores the words you hear as an ‘inner ear’

Question 14

What is the articulatory process?

Answer 14

Allows maintenance rehearsal of verbal information from the phonological store as the ‘inner voice’

Question 15

What is the capacity of the phonological loop?

Answer 15

Limited capacity - 2 seconds worth of what you hear

Question 16

What is the coding of the phonological loop?

Answer 16

Acoustic

Question 17

What is the visuo-spatial sketchpad?

Answer 17

Processes visual and spatial information by storing (visual cache) and manipulating it (inner scribe)
- known as the ‘inner eye’

Question 18

What is the visual cache?

Answer 18

A passive store of form and colour (stores visual data)

Question 19

What is the inner scribe?

Answer 19

An active store holding the relationship between objects in a 3D space

Question 20

What is the capacity of the visuo-spatial sketchpad?

Answer 20

Limited capacity - 3/4 objects (Baddeley 2003)

Question 21

What is the coding of the visuo-spatial sketchpad?

Answer 21

Visual and spatial information

Question 22

What is the episodic buffer?

Answer 22

The sub-system that integrates visual, spatial and verbal information into a single memory rather than separate strands - providing a bridge between working memory and LTM

Question 23

When was the episodic buffer added to the WMM?

Answer 23

In 2000

Question 24

What is the capacity of the episodic buffer?

Answer 24

Limited capacity - 4 chunks (Baddeley 2012)

Question 25

What is the coding of the episodic buffer?

Answer 25

Visual and acoustic information

Question 26

Evaluation: Research support for the WMM Baddeley and Hitch (1976) -> strength

Answer 26

• concluded that completing two tasks (dual tasks) that involve the same component of WMM causes the difficulty because the capacity of each store is unlimited
• therefore, this supports the central executive of the WMM as it will have to sort and decide which information to put into your STM
• When Baddeley et al.s (1975) pps carried out a visual and verbal task at the same time, their performance on each was similar to when they carried out the tasks separately
• when both tasks were visual (or both verbal), performance on both declined substantially
• because both visual tasks compete for the same subsystem (VSS), whereas there is no competition when performing a verbal and visual task together
• found that performance was much better when the tasks were not using the same processing
• shows there must be a separate subsystem (the VSS) that processes visual input and one for verbal processing, the PL

Question 27

Evaluation: Clinical evidence -> strength

Answer 27

• KF Case study from Shallice and Warrington’s (1970) supports the WMM
• after his brain injury, KF had poor STM ability for auditory information but could process visual information norammly
• KF’s phonological loop was damaged but his visuo-spatial sketchpad was intact
• this finding strongly supports the existence of separate visual and acoustic memory stores by suggesting the PL and VSS subsystems are separate processes located in separate brain regions

Question 28

Counterpoint: Some of the key evidence for the WMM comes from brain-damaged patients

Answer 28

• unclear whether KF had other cognitive impairments which might have affected his performance on memory tasks
• challenges evidence that comes from clinical studies of people with brain injuries that may have affected many different systems

Question 29

Evaluation: Nature of the central executive -> weakness

Answer 29

• 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
• lack of clarity over nature of the central executive
• Baddeley (2003) himself recognised this when he said, ‘The central executive is the most important but the least understood component of the working memory’
• episodic buffer also included
• the CE needs to be more clearly specified than just simply being ‘attention’
• means that the CE is an unsatisfactory component and this challenges the integrity of the WMM