The Working Memory Model (M)

Question 1

What is the working memory model?

Answer 1

WMM is an explanation of the organisational structure of the STM and the functions

Question 2

How many stores is the WMM made up from and what are they called?

Answer 2

4

Episodic buffer, phonological loop, visuo -spatial sketch pad and central executive

Question 3

What is the central executive?

Answer 3

The boss

Question 4

What does the central executive do?

Answer 4

Attentional processes that monitor incoming data, makes decisions and allocates slave systems to taste

Question 5

What is the capacity of the central executive Like?

Answer 5

Very limited storage capacity

Question 6

What does the visuo-spatial sketch pad do?

Answer 6

Stores visual and spatial information (e.g. Counting number of windows in a house or visualising the house)

Question 7

What did Baddeley (2003) suggest about the VSS?

Answer 7

That the capacity of the VSS is about 3-4 objects

Question 8

What did Logie (1995) suggest about the VSS?

Answer 8

That is subdivided into two parts : visual cache (stores visual data) and inner scribe (records arrangement of objects in visual field)

Question 9

What does the phonological loop do?

Answer 9

Accesses LTM to store/retrieve information about long sounds and allows development of vocabulary as children and foreign languages as adults

Question 10

What does auditory information present?

Answer 10

Order in which information arrives in

Question 11

What is auditory information divided into?

Answer 11

Articulatory control- allows maintenance rehearsal (repeating sounds/words in a loop), two seconds worth of what you say

Phonological store- stores the words you hear

Question 12

When was the episodic buffer added and by who?

Answer 12

2000 by Baddeley

Question 13

What is the episodic buffer?

Answer 13

Temporary store which integrates the visual, spatial and verbal information processed by other stores - maintaining sense of time sequencing and recording of Events that are happening

Question 14

What did Baddeley suggest about the episodic buffer in 2012?

Answer 14

That it is a storage component of the CE with limited capacity (4 chunks)

Question 15

What is it thought that episodic buffer links?

Answer 15

WM with LTM and wider cognitive processes

Question 16

What is the evaluation?

Answer 16

Contributes to understanding of ‘visual semantics’ (meaning of objects)- access LTM store to retrieve VS information

Question 17

How does patient KF support WMM? (Evaluation)

Answer 17

Shallice and Warrington (1970)
Patient KF had suffered brian damage - had poor STM ability for verbal but visual was processed normally
(When presented visually, not good with sounds but good at letters / digits)
Suggesting PL damaged and other areas in tact
Brain damaged patients have suffered trauma

Question 18

What is dual task performance? (Evaluation)

Answer 18

Ability to perform two tasks at once
Supports idea of existence of a Visio-spatial sketchpad
Baddeley (1975)- participants had difficulty doing two visual tasks but not verbal and visual
Both visual tasks compete for same slave system so must be a separate slave system that processes visual input

Question 19

What is the problem surrounding the central executive? (Evaluation)

Answer 19

Lack of clarity

Cognitive psychologists state that the WWM/CE is unsatisfactory (the least understood part of WMM and least explained)

Question 20

What is the extra evaluation?

Answer 20

As the CE increases, the WMM has to work harder to fulfil the functions needed

Baddeley (1975) - more difficult to remember list of long words (association) than short- word length effect (happens because verbal rehearsal for long items takes longer in real time than verbal rehearsal for short items. This word length disadvantage for longer items allows more time for decay of the memory within the phonological store)

Finale space for rehearsal in articulatory process (2 seconds) WL disappears if person given an articulatory suppression task which ties up the articulatory process

Question 21

How does Brain scanning provide evidence?

Answer 21

Braver at al(1997)- gave participants tasks that involve the entire central executive while brain scanning
Greater activity in the pre-frontal cortex- increased as difficulty increased