The Working Memory Model (WMM) Flashcards
What are the 4 stores in the WMM?
Central executive
Phonological loop
Visio- spatial sketch pad
Episodic buffer
What is the role of the cenral executive?
A supervisory component (the slave driver) that has overall control of the working memory. It allocates tasks to the different slave systems.
What is the capacity of the central executive?
Limited but will take information from all senses.
What is the role of the phonological loop?
Takes in auditory information
Holds words that are heard in the phonological store.
Allows maintenance rehearsal in the articulatory loop (the inner voice).
What is the capacity of the articulatory loop?
2 seconds
What is the word length effect?
The capacity of the phonological loop is affected by the length of time it takes to say the words e.g. words with more syllables are harder to remember/ store
What is the role of the Visuo- spatial sketch pad?
The ‘inner eye’ which holds visual and spatial information.
It has the inner scribe, which records the arrangement of objects within the visual field.
It has the visual cache, which stores visual data.
What is the capacity of the visuo- spatial sketch pad?
2 to 3 objects
What is dual task performance?
To do 2 tasks at the same time, one must be visual and one must be auditory
What is the role of the episodic buffer?
Added to the model in 2000 due to criticisms of the lack of LTM on the WMM.
It links the working memory to the LTM.
Seen as the storage component of the WMM.
Processes all other information, that are not taken by the phonological loop or visuo- spatial sketch pad.
What is the capacity of the episodic buffer?
About 4 chunks
Strengths of WMM
Supported by clinical evidence: Shallice+ Warrington studied patient KF who had a brain injury. His STM for audio was poor (damaged phonological loop) but his STM for visual info was normal (intact visuo- spatial sketch pad). Supports WMM separate stores.
Dual task experiments support WMM: Baddely found it was harder for participants to carry out 2 visual tasks or 2 auditory tasks at the same time, therefore there must be separate STM stores.
Has practical uses: for example revising with music makes concentration harder.
Limitations of WMM
Lack of clarity over central executive: Baddely said the CE was the most important yet least understood component of the WMM. It challenged the integrity of the model.
Case studies are unreliable: studies such as KF cannot be replicated so are not a reliable piece of evidence for the WMM.
