the WMM

Question 1

AO1: wha is the WWM?

Answer 1

representation of STM

Question 2

AO1: central executive

Answer 2

co ordinates the activities of the 3 sub slaves and allocates processing resources to activities

Question 3

AO1: phonological loop

Answer 3

processes info in terms of sound (written and spoken). It has limited capacity

sub systems:
phonological store- stores words we hear
articulatory process- holds words heard/seen and they are silently repeated, like an inner voice

Question 4

AO1: visuo-spatial sketchpad

Answer 4

processes visual and spatial information in a mental space and has limited capacity

sub systems:
visual cache- stores visual data
inner scribe- records the arrangement of objects in the visual field

Question 5

AO1: episodic buffer

Answer 5

brings together material from all the sub systems and makes it into a single memory.

provides a bridge between WWM and LTM

Question 6

AO3: strength- case study of patient KF

limitation- only based on one person

Answer 6

P: case study- patient KF
E/E: motor bike accident, which made him have poor ability for sound (PL was damaged) however he could still process visual info meaning his VSS was intact.
L: this supports the existence of different slave systems
HOWEVER
only based on on person so low pop validity

Question 7

AO3: strength- dual task studies

limitation- controlled conditions

Answer 7

P: dual task studies- Baddely & Hitch
E: required participants to complete 2 tasks at the same time
E: condition 1 they did visual and verbal task at the same time and condition 2 they did both tasks visual or both tasks verbal. C1 required use of PL and VSS and was able to perform both tasks. C2 either required to both use VSS or both use PL, this means the tasks are fighting for the use of the system and results in the ability to perform being impaired.
L: shows they are separate slave systems
HOWEVER,
controlled conditions meaning the ecological validity is low and so cant be generalised to real life situations.

Question 8

AO3: strength- brain scans

Answer 8

P: brain scans
E: study done were participants were given tasks to do that involved the CE
E: found the most activity in the prefrontal cortex and activity increased as tasks became harder
L: provides support for the WMM, specifically the CE

Question 9

AO3: limitation- WMM doesn’t offer complete understanding of how memory works

Answer 9

P: doesn’t offer complete understanding of how memory works
E/E: only focuses on STM and doesn’t explain the link between LTM and WMM. How info is processed/transferred from STM to LTM is not explained either.
L: the WMM is an incomplete model of memory and other theories/models are required to gain a complete picture of this complex cognitive phenomenon.