The working memory model Flashcards
Who made the WMM, what does it do , why was it made? (A01)
Baddeley and Hitch created the WMM which is an explanation of how STM works. They argued that the MSM was too simple and that STM must have more than 1 component.
What is the WMM composed of?
Central executive (CE)
Phonological Loop (PL)
Visuo-spatial sketchpad (VSS)
Episodic Buffer (EB)
What is the central executive?
The CE divides our attention and allocates ‘slave systems’ to tasks. The CE has a limited capacity and doesn’t store information.
What is the Phonological Loop
The PL is the first slave system which deals with auditory information, preserves the order in which the information arrives. Its divided into the ariculatory process (which allows maintence rehersal) and the phonological store (stores words you hear).
What is the Visuo-spatial sketchpad?
The VSS is the second slave system processes visual and spatial information. Its divided into the visual cache (stores visual info) and the inner scribe (stores the arrangement of objects in the visual field).
What is the episodic buffer?
The third slave system is the EB which was added to the model by Baddeley in 2000. He felt that the model needed a general store which collects information from the other stores. It relays information to the LTM which it can be retrieved if neccessary.
What are the evaluations of the WMM
Support from Shallice and Warrington’s case study of patient KF, (counterpoint) unclear whether KF had other cognitive impairments which might have affected his performance on memory tasks, lack of clarity over the nature of the CE, studies of dual-task performance support the seperate existance of the VSS.
Evaluation: Support from Shallice and Warrington’s case study of KF.
One strength is support from Shallice and Warrinton’s case study of KF. After his brain injury, KF had poor STM ability for auditory information but could process visual information normally. For instance his recall of letters and digits was better when he read them (visual) than when they were read to him (acoustic). KF’s PL was damaged but his VSS was in intact. This supports the existance of seperate visual and acoustic memory stores.
Evaluation: (counterpoint) it is unclear whether KF had other cognitive impairments which might have affected his performance on memory tasks.
However, it is unclear whether KF had other cognitive impairments (apart from damage to his PL)which might have affected his performance on memory tasks. For example his injury was caused by a motorcycle accident. The trauma involved may have affected his cognitive performance quite apart from any brain injury. This challenges evidence that come from clinical trials of people with brain injuries that may have affected different systems.
Evaluation: studies of dual-task performance support the seperate existance of the VSS
One strength that studies of dual-task performance support the existance of the VSS. When Baddeley participants carried out a visual and verbal task at the same time, their performance on each was similar to when they carried out the tasks seperately. But when both tasks were visual (or both were verbal), performance on both declined substantially. This is because both visual tasks complete for the same slave system (VSS) whereas there is no competition when performing a visual and verbal task together. This shows there must be a seperate slave system (the VSS) that processes visual info (and one for verbal info, the PL).
Evaluation: Lack of clarity over the nature of the CE.
One limitation is that there is a lack of clarity over the nature of the CE. Baddeley himself recognised this when he said, ‘The CE is the most important but the least understood component of the WMM.’ The CE needs to be more clearly specified than just being simply ‘attention’. For example some psychologists believe the CE may consist of seperate subcomponents. This means that the CE is an unsatisfactory component and this challenges the integrity of the WMM.
