The Working Memory Model

Question 1

What does the working memory model suggest

Answer 1

That STM is made up of the central executive,phonological loop,visou - spatial sketchpad,episodic buffer

Question 2

What is the central executive

Answer 2

-directs attention to particular tasks
-it allocates tasks to the 3 salve systems from the sensory memory
-limited capacity and no capacity for storing data

Question 3

What is the phonological loop

Answer 3

Processes auditory info involving maintenance rehearsal
-baddeley subdivided loop into phonological store(words you hear) and articulatory process (words heard or seen)
-limited capacity
- articulatory process-silently repeats words in the form of maintenance rehersal

Question 4

What is visual spatial sketch pad

Answer 4

-codes for visual info and used when planning spatial tasks
-logie suggested visual spatial sketchpad is divided in:
Visual cache-stores info abt visual items
Inner scribe-stores arrangement of objects
-limited capacity

Question 5

What is episodic buffer

Answer 5

-interrogates all types of data processed by other stores
-extra storage system- receives input from many sources and temporarily stored it
-limited capacity
-maintains time sequencing
-baddeley added it as a general store

Question 6

AO3-strength of the working memory model me-shallice and Warrington

Answer 6

-studies of individuals with brain damage support wmm
-psychologists studied a man (KF)who had poor STM recall for auditory stimuli but better for stm recall for visual stimuli
-this brain damage seemed restricted to phonological loop
-another patient who had good learning abilities was unable to learn word pairs presented out loud
Supports the idea of separate visual +spatial systems suggested by WMM

Question 7

A03-wmm-Hitch and Baddeley-dual task performance strength

Answer 7

+wmm was developed to account for dual task performance
-evidence to support was hitch and baddeley existence on central executive
-each pps must undertake a visual and verbal task simultaneously and it shows a decrease in performance for such tasks
Supports the idea central executive has a livery limited capacity

Question 8

A03-central executive-wmm weakness

Answer 8

• weakness central executive too vague
• it appears to allocate resources-same as attention
• critics feel that the notion of a single central executive is wrong as there are probably several components
• researches studied EVR who had a cerebral Tumor removed did a test on reasoning and performed well but had poor decision making skills
• therefore central executive is vague because it fails to explain everything

Question 9

AO3-problems with brain damage case studies-weakness

Answer 9

-weakness of wmm is using case studies as evidence from those suffered with brain damage
-brain damage is traumatic which may Change behaviour of a person so perform worse in certain tasks-other difficulties e.g attention
-so pps will underperform on general tasks which can’t be generalised to the population
-therefore issue of wmm key research support comes from case studies