The working memory model Flashcards
What is the working memory model?
A representation of short term memory. It suggests that STM is a dynamic processor of different types of information using subunits co-ordinated by a central decision making system.
What is the central executive?
The component of the working memory model that co ordinates the activities of the three subsystems in memory. It also allocates processing resources to those activities.
What is the phonological loop?
The component of the working memory model that processes information in terms of sound. This includes both written and spoken material. It’s divided into the phonological store and the articulatory processes.
What is the Visuo-spatial sketch pad?
The component of the working memory model that processes visual and spatial information in a mental space often known as our ‘inner eye’.
What is the episodic buffer?
The component of the working memory model that brings together material from the other subsystems into a single memory rather than separate strands. It also provides a bridge between working memory and long term memory.
How many components of the working memory model are there?
Four
What is the role of the phonological store?
To store the words you hear
What is the articulatory process?
Allows maintenance rehearsal (repeating sounds or words in a ‘loop’ to keep them in working memory while they are needed). The capacity of this ‘loop’ is believed to be two seconds worth of what you can say.
What are the subdivisions of the Visuo-spatial sketchpad?
Visual cache and inner scribe
What is the role of the visual cache?
Stores visual data
What is the role of the inner scribe?
Records the arrangement of objects in the visual field
What is a strength of the working memory model (clinical evidence)?
One strength is support from Tim Shallice and Elizabeth Warrington’s case study of patient KF
After his brain injury, KF had poor STM ability for auditory information but could process visual information normally. For instance his immediate recall of letters and digits was better when he read them (visual) and then when they were read to him (acoustic). KF’s phonological loop was damaged but his visuo-spatial sketchpad was intact.
This finding strongly supports the existence of separate visual and acoustic memory stores.
What is a strength of the working memory model (dual-task performance)?
Another strength is that studies of dual task performance support the separate existence of the visuo-spatial sketchpad.
When Baddeley et al’s (1975) participants carried our a visual and verbal task at the same time (dual task), their performance on each was similar to when they carried out the tasks separately. But when both tasks were visual, performance on both declined substantially. This is because both tasks compete for the same slave subsystem (VSS), whereas there is no competition when performing a verbal and a visual task together.
This shows that there must be a separate slave system (VSS) that processes visual input.
What is a limitation of the working memory model (nature of the central executive)?
One limitation is that there is a lack of clarity over the nature of the central executive.
Baddeley (2003) himself recognised this when he said ‘the central executive is the most important but the least understood component of working memory’. The CE needs to be more clearly specified than just being simply ‘attention’. For example, some psychologists believe the CE may consist of separate subcomponents.
This means that the CE is an unsatisfactory component and this challenges the integrity of the working memory model.
