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
What is the episodic buffer and when was it added to the WMM?
- added to WMM in 2000
- seen as the storage component of the central executive
What does the episodic buffer do?
- integrates information from the CE, PL and VSS
- links working memory to long term memory
What is the capacity of the episodic buffer and what is it able to do despite this?
- limited capacity
- able to code information from any modality whilst maintaining a sense of time sequencing which allows it to record events that are happening as a single memory rather than separate strands
What is the evidence to support the WMM involving KF?
- evidence that STM is not one single store, there are separate stores within STM
- KF’s verbal STM was damaged but his STM was intact
- supports the view that STM does have separate stores otherwise all memory would be damaged equally
What is the evidence to argue against the WWM including central executive?
- there is very little known about the central executive
- there is a great deal of evidence to support the existence of separate visual and verbal STM stores, but little evidence to understand the main WMM component
- eg we are unsure if it’s capacity and some argue it is an umbrella store to cover all the functions that cannot be explained by the slave systems
- this is a problem as it seems the WWM cannot fully explain all aspects of the STM
support for a non unitary STM - dual task research
- WMM unlike MSM can explain why ppts struggle to process two similar tasks at once but can process two different tasks at once in STM
- different tasks use different slave systems
- evidence from Baddeley’s research - found that ppts found it more difficult to do two visual tasks (tracking light and describing letter F) than one verbal and one visual task at same time
- positive as suggests must be several slave systems for visual and verbal tasks
evidence for WMM from scientific research
- brain scan research supports slave systems
- PET scans shown different areas of the brain are used whilst undertaking visual and verbal tasks
- positive as supports view that visual and verbal material is dealt by separate structures that may even be physically separate
support for WMM practical applications
- being able to identify different aspects of STM allows psychologists to target certain kinds of ,e,our
- example educational psychologists have developed memory training to specifically improve verbal memory to help improve learning for students who experience difficulties
- positive as it shows how a better understanding of types of STM can improve people’s lives
