The working memory model Flashcards
What did Baddeley and Hitch (1974) believe about STM?
STM was not just one store, but a number of different stores
Why did Baddeley and Hitch (1974) believe the STM was a number of different stores? And what does the suggest?
- if you do 2 things at the same time and they are both visual (dual task performance) you will perform less well on them than if you do them separately
- if you do 2 things at the same time and one is visual whereas the other involves sound, then there is no interference. You do them as well simultaneously as you would do them separately
- suggests = there is one store for visual processing and another for sound processing.
Outline the function of the ‘Central Executive’ in the Working Memory Model
- monitors and coordinates all other mental functions in the brain
- directs attention to particular tasks, determining at any time how the brains ‘resources’ are allocated to tasks
- ‘resources’ are the ‘slave-systems’ (phonological loop, visa-spatial sketchpad and episodic buffer)
- has limited capacity & no capacity for storing data
What is the ‘Phonological Loop’?
- has limited capacity
- deals with auditory information and the preserving of this information
What are the two sub-divided groups of the phonological loop and what is their role?
1) The phonological store - holds words you hear, like an inner ear
2) An articulatory process - used for words that are heard or seen. These words are silently repeated (looped) like an inner voice - form of maintenance rehearsal
What is the ‘Visuo-spatial sketchpad’?
- codes visual information in terms of separate objects as well as the arrangement of these objects in one’s visual field
- visual and/or spatial information is temporarily stored here
- visual = what things look like
- spatial = the physical relationship between things
What did Logie (1995) suggest the Visuo-spatial sketchpad can be subdivided into and what is their role?
1) A visual cache - stores information about visual items like form and colour
2) An inner scribe - stores the arrangement of objects in the visual field
Outline the role of the ‘Episodic Buffer’ in the Working Memory model
- receives input from many sources, temporarily stores this information, and then integrates it in order to construct a mental episode of what is being experienced
- extra storage system - limited capacity
- maintains a sense of time sequencing - basically recording events (episodes) that are happening.
- Sends information to LTM
AO3
Is there a dual task performance effect?
P: Main reason for developing the WMM was to account for dual task performance. Hitch and Baddeley - supported the existence of the CE in one study
E: Task 1 occupied the CE. Task 2 either involved the articulatory loop or involved both the CE and the articulatory loop. Task 1 was slower when Task 2 involved both the CE and the articulatory loop.
E: This demonstrates the dual task performance effect and shows that the CE is one of the components of the working memory
AO3
How does evidence from brain-damaged patients show support of the WMM?
P: Studies of individuals with brain damage support the WMM
E: A man called KF - whose short-term forgetting of auditory information was much greater than that of visual stimuli. His auditory problems were limited to verbal material such as letters and digits but not meaningful sounds (such as phone ringing). Thus his brain damage was restricted to the phonological loop.
: Another patient, SC, had generally good learning abilities with the exception of being unable to learn word pairs that were presented out loud - suggests damage to the phonological loop.
: Another patient, LH, involved in a road accident - performed better on spatial tasks than visual
E: This supports the idea of separate visual ad spatial systems, as suggested by the WMM.
AO3
What are the problems of using case studies as evidence?
P: Problems using case studies as evidence - individuals = brain damage
E: Brain injury = traumatic, which may in itself change behaviour - perform worse on a task.
May have difficulties paying attention - perform worse on a task.
Case studies = unique - cant be generalised
E: This is an issue for the WMM as some of the key research that supports the WMM comes from case studies
AO3
Is there evidence for the articulatory process and phonological loop?
P: There is evidence of the articulatory process and the phonological loop - strength of WMM lies in the phonological loop and its explanation of the word length effect - people cope better with shorter words than longer words in working memory (STM)
E: Phonological loop holds the amount of information that you can say in 2 seconds. This makes it hard to remember a list of long words compared to shorter words. The longer words can’t be rehearsed on the phonological loop because they don’t fit. However, the word-length effect disappears if a person is given an articulatory suppression task, for example saying the words “the the the…” while reading the words. This repetitive task ties up the articulatory process and means you can’t rehearse the shorter words more quickly than the longer ones, so the word-length effect disappears.
E: This is evidence for the articulatory process - a key component of the WMM.
AO3
Is the Central Executive vague?
P: Central executive - too vague
E: All it does is allocate resources and essentially be the same as ‘attention’ & is not a single central executive but several components. Research into EVR - who had had a cerebral tumour removed. He performed well on tests requiring reasoning, which suggested that his central executive was intact. However, he had poor decision-making skills (he would spend hours trying to decide what to eat for example), which suggests that in fact his central executive was not wholly intact.
E: In summary the account offered of the central executive is unsatisfactory because it is probably more complex than Baddeley and Hitch originally suggested
