The Working Memory Model Flashcards
what is the role of the central executive?
monitors and coordinates the slave systems
the information is inputted through the senses and sensory store
limited capacity, but processes information from any sensory system
what is the phonological loop?
deals with auditory information
“inner voice”
limited capacity
contains the phonological store and the articulatory loop
what is the phonological store?
inner ear
holds information in speech based form
spoken words enter the store directly, and written words are converted into articulatory code
what is the articulatory loop?
rehearses information on a loop
limited capacity of 2 seconds of what you can say
what is the visuospatial sketchpad?
deals with visual and spatial information
inner eye
visual cache - stores visual data
inner scribe - records arrangement of objects
what is the episodic buffer?
temporary store for information, integrates information from other systems in order to form a memory
sends information to the LTM
what did Baddeley and Hitch (1976) study?
asked participants to perform 2 tasks at the same time (dual task technique)
task 1: digit span task
task 2: verbal reasoning task
found that was the number of digits increased, they took a little longer to answer the reasoning questions
and
they didn’t make any more errors in the verbal reasoning tasks as the number of digits increased
the verbal task made use of the central executive and the digit task made use of the phonological loop
what did Baddeley and Hitch predict about dual task performance?
if 2 tasks made use of the same component of working memory, they cannot be performed successfully together
if 2 tasks use different components, they can be performed successfully together
what did Shallice and Warrington (1970) study?
case of KF
suffered brain damage after a motorcycle accident
his verbal information was impaired, but his memory for visual information was largely unaffected
shows there is separate STM component for visual information and verbal information (phonological loop)
what are strengths of the WMM?
research support (KF)
explains STM more comprehensively than the MSM
what are limitations of the WMM?
the relationship between working memory and LTM is unclear
the role of the central executive is unknown, it is claimed to have limited capacity, but this is not established by empirical research
supporting research done by theorists who developed the model - researcher bias
