The Working Memory Model Flashcards
What is the WMM?
An explanation of how STM is organised and how it functions
What does the WMM consist of?
4 main components - central executive and 3 slave systems
What does the central executive do?
Directs attention to particular tasks
Monitors incoming data
Controls the other systems by determining how resources will be allocated
What type of capacity does the central executive have?
Limited processing capacity
What does the phonological loop do?
Controls auditory information
Preserves the order in which information arrives
What is the phonological loop further subdivided into?
The phonological store and the articulately process
What does the phonological store do?
Holds information in speech based form for 1-2 seconds
What does the articulately process do?
Allows maintenance rehearsal
What is the capacity of the phonological loop?
2 seconds but can be maintained by the articulatory process
What does the Visio-spatial sketch pad do?
Processes visual and spatial information (how things look and what they are)
Who subdivided the Visio-spatial sketch pad?
Logie
What did Logie subdivide the visuo-spatial sketch pad into?
The visual cache
The inner scribe
What does the visual cache store?
Visual data
What does the inner scribe do?
Records the arrangement of objects in the visual field
What is the capacity of the visual spatial sketch pad?
Limited capacity of 3-4 objects (Baddley)
Who added the Episodic Buffer to the WMM?
Baddeley
What is the episodic buffer?
A temporary store for information, integrating the visual, spatial and verbal information processed by the other stores and maintaining a sense of time sequencing
What can the episodic buffer be seen as for the central executive?
The storage unit
What is the capacity of the episodic buffer?
Limited capacity of about 4 chunks
What does the episodic buffer link?
The WMM to LTM and wider cognitive processes such as perception
What are the parts of the WMM called?
The central executive
The phonological loop
The visuo- spatial sketch pad
Episodic buffer
Evaluation point: clinical evidence
-One strength of the WMM is the case study of KF
-After a brain injury KF had poor STM ability for auditory information but could process visual information normally
-KF’s phonological loop was damaged but visuo-spatial sketch pad was intact
-This finding strongly supports the existence of separate visual and acoustic memory stores
Evaluation point: dual-task performance
- One strength is studies of dual-task performance support the separate existence of the visuo-spatial sketch pad
- Baddeley eat al’s ppts carried out a visual and verbal task at the same time
- their performance on each task was similar to when tasks were carried out separately
- When both tasks were visual or verbal performance declined substantially
- This is because both visual tasks compete for the same slave subsystem
- This shows there must be a separate lave system processing visual information and another for verbal processing
Evaluation point: nature of the central executive
- One limitation is there is a lack of clarity over the nature of the central executive
- Baddeley recognised this when he spoke about how the central executive is the most important part of the WMM but the least understood
- The CE needs to be more clearly defined than just attention
- this means the CE is an unsatisfactory component and this challenges the WMM integrity
Evaluation point: validity of the model
- studies supporting dual-task performance use tasks that are unlikely to be performed everyday
- e.g identifying the correct order of letters such as A and B or recalling random sequences of letters
- These studies are also carried out in highly controlled lab conditions where presentation of the stimulus is precisely timed
