The Working Model of Memory

Question 1

Who created the WMM?

Answer 1

Baddeley and Hitch

Question 2

What is the Central executive?

Answer 2

Central executive - Focuses attention on high priority tasks and coordinates and allocates the other 3 components; limited capacity, very short duration, any modality

Question 3

What is the Phonological loop?

Answer 3

Phonological loop - 1st slave system, deals with auditory information and preserves word order; limited capacity, acoustically coded, very short duration, Baddeley divided into:
- Phonological store
- Articulatory process

Question 4

What is the Visuospatial sketchpad?

Answer 4

Visuospatial sketchpad - 2nd slave system, it stores visual and spatial information:
- Visual = what things look like
- Spatial = relationships between objects
limited capacity (3-4 objects), modality specific (visual), Logie divided into:
- Visuo-cache
- Inner scribe for spatial relations

Question 5

What is Episodic buffer?

Answer 5

Episodic buffer - 3rd slave system, deals with specific types of information, acts as an extra storage system and integrates information form all other areas ; limited capacity (4 chunks), any modality

Question 6

What are the strengths and limits of WMM?

Answer 6

Strength:
- Research support (Baddeley and Hitch - True or False task)
- Case studies support (KF)
Limits:
- Lack of clarity over the nature of CE (Baddeley)