Theme 2 Flashcards
what four components does working memory have
the central executive, episodic buffer, phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad
what is the central executive
A modality-free, limited capacity, component of working memory.
what is the phonological loop
A component of working memory in which speech-based information is processed and stored and subvocal articulation occurs.
what is the visuospatial sketchpad
A component of working memory used to process visual and spatial information and to store this information briefly.
what is the episodic buffer
A component of working memory; it is essentially passive and stores integrated information briefly.
study by Robbins et al
procedure: The participants played chess while they were split into different conditions.
the different conditions:
repetitive tapping - no working memory part engaged - control condition
random number generation - involves the central executive
pressing keys on a keypad in a clockwise position - uses the visuospatial sketchpad
rapid repetition of the word see-saw - this is articulatory suppression and uses the phonological loop
findings: they found that when playing chess the central executive and the visuospatial sketchpad are engaged as the participants in the groups engaging those parts of the memory showed much worse results.
what two components does the phonological loop consist of
a passive store concerned with speech perception, and an articulatory process linked to speech production
what is the phonological similarity effect
we are more likely to recall less of the words when they are phonologically similar such as FE, HE, KNEE, ME
the effect depends more on the acoustic (what we hear) similarity than on the articulatory similarity
what is the word length effect
the number of words recalled immediately is greater for short than long words, the effect depends on rehearsal
what is the orthographic neighbourhood effect
a word’s orthographic neighbourhood consists of words of the same length differing from it in only one letter, whort words have more neighbours than long ones so then they are easier to remember, that might also explain the word length effect, however, it contradicts the phonological similarity effect
what is the phonological loop good for
it is used when learning a new language, it can also be used for action control - we use our inner voice to resist temptations
what is the visuospatial sketchpad used for
it is used for the storage of visual storage and spatial movement, visual processing involves remembering what and spatial processing where
what two components does the visuospatial sketchpad consist of
the visual cache (visual form and colour) and the inner scribe (spatial and movement information
are the two components of the visuospatial sketchpad separated
they are, the visual part is separated from the spatial part so they can work independently, the visual part shows activation in the left hemisphere and the spatial part in the right one
what processes is the central executive involved in
it is involved in almost all cognitive functions, however, it does not store information
