Memory-working Memory Model Flashcards
What is the central executive
the CE is the supervisory components that monitors and controls the 2 slave systems (phonological loop and visuo spatial sketchpad)
it has a limited capacity but can divide and switch attention to allow us to carry out a mental task
its modality free
it cannot attend to too many things at once or store data
what is the phonological loop
it is one of the slave systems controlled by the CE
its holds auditory information is a speech based form holding acoustic info such as tone, volume and pitch.
its a loop because it can store and repeat sounds for a limited capacity of 2 seconds
what are the two sub-systems of the phonological loop
the phonological store
the articulatory control process
what is the phonological store
-stores the words you hear in a speech based form
-spoken words enter directly and are held for a limited capacity of 1.5 to 2 seconds
what is the articulatory control process
-rehearses information from the phonological store and allows for maintenance rehearsal
-it circulates information round and round until silently repeating words keeping it in the working memory until it is needed
-written material is converted into articulatory code by the articulatory control process and is then transferred to the phonological store.
what is the visuo spatial sketchpad
it is a temporary storage system for visual and spatial information
it processes and stores mental images in terms of what they look like and there place in the visual field
it is used when people are planning a spatial task
it has a limited capacity
what are the two components in the VSS
inner scribe
visual cashe
what is the role of the inner scribe
deals with manipulation of mental images
what is the role of the visual cashe
codes visual information and has a limited capacity of 3-4 items
what is the episodic buffer
Baddeley added this store in 2000 and the model needed a general store which bound both visual and sound information to be bound together
it is responsible for integrating and manipulating material in working memory EG-it integrates material from VSS, PL, CE and LTM to meet the requirements of STM
this is how we can imagine events that never occurred the episodic buffer combines different aspects of LTM to create new images
it maintains a sense of time sequencing keeping the order of events
-it has a limited capacity of 4 chunks
what was baddely and hitchs experiment
-they conduced a dual task technique where participants had to complete two tasks simultaneously
-in condition 1 participants completed 2 acoustic based tasks (Phonological loop)
-in condition 2 participants had one acoustic task and one visual task (phonological loop) and (visuo-spatial sketchpad)
which condition did participants perform better in
condition 2 as they are using separate stores so the stores wont have sensory overload
how does this support the WMM
shows there must be separate stores and they are unique in there features
evaluation of Baddeley and hitch’s experiment
the study lacks ecological validity as its a controlled lab experiment so is not valid as to how memory is used in the real world. in real life you use your other senses (such as paying attention to body language and lipreading)
how does patient KF support the WMM
as he could remember visual images eg-faces but not acoustic information eg-sound
this supports the WMM as there are two components for working memory for visual (visuo spatial sketchpad) and one for acoustic (phonological loop)
what did paulescu do
he used a PET scan to record brain activity when participants where performing either verbal or visual tasks and found that different areas of the brain were active during each task
what colours show lots of brain activity
red and orange
what colours show little brain activity
green and blue
how does paulescus brain imaging study support the WMM
as it provides objective and scientific support suggesting that verbal and visual tasks and performed by different areas of brain regions which suggests the phonological loop and visuo spatial sketchpad are physically separate from eachother
application of WMM baddely
he said that the phonological loop plays a key role in the development of reading and that the phonological loop is not functioning properly with children with dyslexia. This means that interventions can be put in place to support the development of reading
Even though its less crucial for fluent adult readers. it can help us understand complex text and learn new vocabulary
it also shows that the WMM has explanatory powers as it concepts can be applies to explain abnormal as well as normal memory processes.
How did hampson and morris criticize the CE
they said the CE doesnt really explain anything
they said its a hypothetical construct that has no empirical evidence
badedely himself said the CE is the most important but least understood component meaning the WMM hasnt been fully explained
what did eslinger and damasio find
they studied EVR who had a cerebral tumor
he performed well on tests that required reasoning but had poor decision making skills
what do these findings suggest about the CE
the CE is unsatisfactory as it fails to explain why some elements of the CE are intact whilst other are not
its shows that the CE is not one single component but there mujst be several componenets
what does WMM focus on
the WMM only provides a detailed explanation of STM but no information on the sensory register or LTM so its not a complete model on memory
what does lieberman point out about the VSS
he said that blind people have excellent spatial awareness despite never having any visual information
he argues that the VSS should be split into two stores one for visual and one for spatial
therefore the WMM is not a complete model of memory
what doesn’t the WMM account for
the WMM does not account for musical memory because participants can listen to instrumental music without impairing performance on other acoustic tasks suggesting there are additional sub stores
