Memory: topic 3 ‘the working memory model of STM’ Flashcards
Who created the working memory model?
- Baddley and Hitch (1974)
What is the working memory model?
- a model of short term memory
What are the 4 components in the working memory model?
- central executive, phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad and the episodic buffer
What is the central executive and what does it do? [3]
- known as the ‘boss’ and the ‘supervisory component’ of the WMM
- it directs attention to incoming information and starts off the rehearsal process
- it can code information from any modality (eg acoustic and visual)
What is the storage of the central executive and what is it able to do because of this?
- the CE has a very limited storage but can delegate information into the ‘slave systems’
How is the central executive able to multi-task?
- it co-ordinates the activity needed to carry out more than one task at a time using the different slave systems
What is the phonological loop?
- one of the slave systems controlled by the central executive
What does the phonological loop consist of?
- phonological store (‘inner ear’)
- articulatory process (‘inner voice’)
What does the phonological loop do? [3]
- codes and acts as temporary storage for holding acoustic/auditory information
- deals with both written and spoken material
- preserves the order in which the information arrives
What is the capacity of the phonological loop and what can it be subdivided into?
- the PL has a limited capacity and can be subdivided into the phonological store and the articulatory process
What is the phonological store?
- ‘inner ear’
- rehearses sounds you hear (eg words)
What is the articulatory process?
- ‘inner voice’
- holds and silently repeats the words we are preparing to speak
What is the visuospatial sketchpad?
- the second slave system or ‘inner eye’
What does the visuospatial sketchpad do? [2]
- codes visual information (eg what objects look like in terms of form and colour)
- codes spatial information (eg the physical relationship between objects)
What is the capacity of the visuospatial sketchpad?
- very limited capacity