WMM

Question 1

The Central Executive

Answer 1

Responsible for problem solving and decision making directing the correct slave system to a particular task.
An attention system as it decides which information should be given attention.
It can code information from all the senses (visual, auditory etc).
It has a very limited capacity and must pass information to a slave system to deal with new incoming information.

Question 2

The Visuo-Spatial Sketch Pad

Answer 2

The visuo-spatial sketch pad (the inner eye) processes information in a visual and spatial form (what things look like and how they arr related to each other in space).
It codes information in a visual form and has a limited capacity.
It is split into 2 sub-systems.
The visual cache, which is a temporary visual store, for information of the things we see (e.g. the colour of objects).
The inner scribe, which is a visual rehearsal device used to rehearse spatial information and how objects relate to each other.

Question 3

The Episodic Buffer

Answer 3

Added by Baddeley in 2000.
The episodic buffer is a limited storage device (about 4 chunks) that stores information in the order in which we learn it so that whole information can be brought together e.g. learning the sequence of events in a story.
Temporary store for information.
This links working memory to LTM.

Question 4

The Phonological Loop

Answer 4

The phonological loop processes auditory information in an auditory form and has a limited capacity.
It is split into 2 sub-systems.
The phonological store which understands and stores the sounds we hear in a speech based form.
The articulatory control process which is a verbal rehearsal device used to rehearse words seen or heard.