Memory - working memory model Flashcards
What is the WWM?
The WWM is a representation of STM. Suggesting STM is a dynamic processor of different types of information using subunits coordinated by a central decision making system
What are the 5 things in the WWM?
Visuo spatial sketchpad
Central executive
Phonological loop
Long term memory
Episodic buffer
What is the central executive?
- 2 things
Has a supervisory role - monitiors incoming data, directs attention and allocates subsystems to tasks
It has very limited storage capacity
What is the phonological loop?
- 2 things
PL deals with auditory information and preserves the order in which the information arrives. It is subdivided into
-Phonological store - stores the words you hear
-Articulatory process - allows maintenance rehearsal
What is the visuo-spatial sketchpad
- 2 things (including a name of someone)
Stores visual and/or spatial information when required
Logie subdivided into the VSS into:
- Visual cache - stores visual data
- Inner scribe - records arrangement of objects in visual field
What is the episodic buffer?
- 4 things
It is a temporary store for information
Integrates visual, spatial, and verbal information from other stores
Maintains sense of time sequencing - recording events that are happening
Links to LTM
What are the two strengths of the WMM?
Support from clinical evidence
Dual task performance studies support the VSS
One strength is support from clinical evidence….
For example Shallice and Warrington studied patient KF who had a brain injury
His STM for auditory was poor (damaged PL) but he could process visual information normally (intact VSS)
This supports the WMM view that there are separate visual and acoustic memory stores
Counterpoint - Kf may have had other….
impairments which explained poor memory performance apart from damaging his PL
This challeneges evidence from clinical studies of brain injury
Another strength is dual task performance studies support the VSS….
Baddeley’s participants found it harder to carry out two visual tasks at the same time than do verbal and a visual task together
This is because both visual tasks compete for the same subsystem (VSS). There is no competition with a verbal and visual task
Therefore there must be a separate subsystem that processes visual input and also a separate system for verbal processes
What is a limitation of the WMM?
Lack of clarity over the central executive
One limitation is the lack of clarity over the central executive….
Baddeley said the CE was the most important but the least understood component of working memory
There must be more to the CE than just being ‘attention’ e.g it is made up of separate subcomponents
Therefore the CE is unsatisfactory component and this challenges the integrity of the model
