The working memory model Flashcards
What is the function of the central executive?
Controls attention, makes decisions and allocates resources/tasks to other components/slave systems
What is the central executives coding and capacity?
-Limited processing capacity
-doesn’t store information
-‘Modality free’ it can code in different formats.
What is the function of the visuo spatial sketchpad?
-Brief store was visual and spacial information-such as faces
-responsible for setting up and manipulating mental images
What is the coding and capacity of the visuo spatial sketchpad?
-visual coding
-Limited capacity(Badley argued this was 3-4 objects)
-Logie subdivided the visou spatial sketchpad into the visual cache and the inner scribe
What is the role of the visual cache?
stores visual information
What is the role of the inner scribe?
Records visual arrangement of objects in the visual field?
What is the role of the phonological loop?
brief store for auditory information
It has two components-phonological store and the articulatory process
What is the coding and capacity for the phonological loop?
-Acoustic
-capacity=2 seconds worth of what you can say
What is the phonological store?
-Inner ear
-stores the words you hear
What is the articulatory process?
-Inner voice
-Allows maintenance rehearsal(repeating sounds in a loop) in order to retain them in working memory while needed
What is the episodic buffer and who was it added by?
-Temporary storage component of the central executive
-Responsible for integrating visual, spatial and verbal information
-Links WM to LTM
-Added by Baddeley in 2000
What is the coding and capacity of the episodic buffer?
-Visual and acoustic coding
-Limited capacity of approx. 4 chunks of information(baddeley 2012)
What is the evidence for dual task experiments(strength)?
-Baddleley asked patients to track a spot of light while also tracing the letter F
-Poor performance when in the simulataneous completion of these tasks however they were capable of tracking the task if paired with an acoustic task.
-suggesting that the two visual tasks were competing for the visuo spatial sketchpad meaning capacity of this component was being stretched whereas when the task used different components (visual and acoustic the task was possible
-Must be both visual and accoustic components of STM not just acccoustic suggested by the MSM
What is the clinical evidence supporting the working memory model?
-Shallice and Warrington’s case study of KF provides support for different components of working memory
-After brain damage occurred KF had poor STM ability for verbal information but could process visual information normally
-Supports existence of separate visual and acoustic stores in short term memory.
