memory: working memory model Flashcards
who developed this
Baddeley and Hitch (1974)
explain dual tasks
If you do two things at the same time (dual task) and they are both visual tasks you perform them
less well than if you do them separately > doing one visual and one acoustic there is no interference so you do them as well simultaneously as you would seperately
This suggests there is one store for visual processing and a separate store for processing sound
what kind of memory does the working memory model describe
short- term memory
state the 4 components of the model
- Central executive
- Phonological loop
- Visuo-spatial sketchpad
- Episodic buffer
which of the components are slave systems
- phonological loop
- visuo-spatial sketchpad
- episodic buffer
what are two roles of the central executive
Reasoning: what slave system should be used for what task
Decision making: how to allocate attention when
performing two tasks
outline the central executive
acts as a filter to determine which information received by the sense organs is and isn’t attended to
it directs information to the other memory systems and collects responses.
* it directs attention to particular tasks
* determines how the brains slave systems are allocated to tasks
what kind of information does the central executive process and what is the capacity
- possesses information in all sensory forms,
-
limited capacity and can only effectively cope with one strand of information at a
time > Therefore it selectively attends to particular types of information, attaining a balance between tasks when attention needs to be divided between them.
For example, when talking whilst driving, the central executive permits attention to be spilt between different types of information.
what kind of information does the phonological loop process
It deals with auditory information and preserves the order in which the information arrives.
outline the phonological loop
The Phonological loop is subdivided into:
1. phonological store, which stores the words you hear
2. articulatory process, which allows maintenance rehearsal (repeating the sound or word in a loop to keep them in working memory while they are needed.) The capacity of this loop is believed to be two seconds worth of what you can say.
what kind of information does the visuo-spatial sketchpad process
The VSS temporarily stores visual and/or spatial information.
For example if you are asked to work out how many windows there are on your house you visualise it.
Visual information is what things look like. Spatial information is the physical relationship between these things.
outline the visuo-spatial sketchpad
It has a limited capacity, which according to Baddeley is about three or four objects
Logie subdivided the VSS into:
1. The visual cache, which stores visual data
2. The inner scribe, which records the arrangement of objects in the visual field.
who added the episodic buffer and when was it added
Baddeley 2000
what kind of information does the episodic buffer process and what is the capacity
- holds information in all modalities.
- It has a limited capacity of about four chunks.
outline the episodic buffer
It is a temporary store for information, integrates information from the central executive,
phonological loop, visual-spatial sketch pad.
* It maintains a sense of time sequencing: basically recording events (episodes) that are happening.
* The episodic buffer sends information to LTM
image of the model
AO3: research to support > dual task
There is research to support theWMM.
Studies of dual-task performance support the separate existence of the visuo-spatial sketchpad. Baddeley et al showed that participants had more difficultly doing two visual tasks (tracking a light and describing the letter F) than doing both a visual and verbal task at the same time. This increased difficultly is because both visual tasks compete for the same slave systems, whereas when doing a visual and verbal task simultaneously, there is no competition.
STRENGTH, it supports the WMM’s idea that there are separate slave systems that process
different information.
AO3: research to support > KF
:There is research to support the WMM
Shalice and Warrington studied a patient with amnesia known as KF. They found that KF’s STM for digits was very poor when they read them out to them. But his recall was much better when he was able to read them to himself.
STRENGTH as this supports the WMM as it suggests there must be at least two stores for STM: one for visual information processing and one for auditory information processing
COUNTER: Research evidence for the WMM has come from brain damaged patients. These are individuals who have suffered serious damage > the process of brain injury is traumatic, which may in itself change behaviour so that a person performs worse on certain tasks. Secondly such individuals may have other difficulties such as difficulties paying attention and therefore underperforming on certain tasks.
WEAKNESS as it means the findings lack validity and therefore do not offer support to theWMM
AO3: too simplistic
TheWMM can be criticised for being simplistic.
The WMM suggests the central executive allocates recourses and is essentially the same as ‘attention’. It has been suggested that this description is too vague and does not explain anything. Furthermore, it has been suggested that the notion of the central executive is wrong and that there are probably several components. For example, Eslinger and Damaslo studied a patient called EVR, who had a cerebral tumour removed. He performed well on tests requiring reasoning, which suggested that his central executive was intact. However he had poor decision making skills, which suggests that in fact his central executive was not wholly intact.
WEAKNESS as it suggests their description of the central executive is simplistic, as it is probably more complex than suggested.
