WMM

Question 1

What is the Working memory model (WMM)?

Answer 1

The WMM is an explanation of how one aspect of memory (STM) is organised and how it functions.
The model consists of 4 main components, each of which is qualitatively different in terms of coding and capacity.

Question 2

What is the Central executive?

Answer 2

• This controls the working memory model
• All information passes into the central executive, which then decides which component should process it.
  - Directs attention to one of the three slave systems.
• It has a very limited capacity and does not store information.

Question 3

What is the Phonological loop?

Answer 3

• This deals with auditory information and preserves the order in which the information arrives.
  -It is further subdivided into the phonological store ( stores the words you hear) and the articulatory process ( allows maintenance rehearsal and has a capacity of around 2 seconds)

Question 4

What is the Visuo-spatial sketchpad?

Answer 4

• It stores visual and/or spatial information when required
• It also has a limited capacity, which is about 3 or 4 objects
• It is further subdivided into the visual cache (stores visual data) and the inner scribe (records the arrangement of objects in the visual field).

Question 5

What is the Episodic buffer?

Answer 5

• It is a temporary storage device used to integrate information from the visuo-spatial sketchpad and phonological loop and it records events.
• The capacity is around 4 chunks

Question 6

(AO3) What is strength of the WMM?
(1)

Answer 6

Clinical evidence:
- Shallice and Warrington (1970) - the case study of KF shows that KF had poor short-term memory, after his brain injury, for auditory information but could process visual information normally.
- This is because his phonological loop was damaged but his visuo-spatial sketchpad was still intact.
- These findings strongly support the existence of separate visual and acoustic memory stores.

Question 7

(AO3) What is a strength of the WMM?
(2)

Answer 7

Dual-task performance studies:

• Baddeley et al (1975) - had participants carry out a visual and verbal task at the same time. He found that when both tasks were the same, performance declined compared to when one task was visual and the other verbal.
• This is because both visual tasks were competing for the same subsystem, whereas there is no competition when performing a verbal and visual task together.
• This supports the existence of a separate subsystem that processes visual input and another that processes verbal processing.

Question 8

(AO3) What is a weakness of the WMM?

Answer 8

Lack of clarity over the central executive:

• Cognitive psychologists suggest that this component of the WMM is unsatisfactory and doesn’t explain anything.
• Baddeley (2003) - said ‘ the central executive is the most important but the least understood component of the WMM.
• The central executive needs to be more clearly specified than just being simply ‘attention’, and some psychologists believe it may contain separate components.
• This is a limitation because it means that the WMM hasn’t been fully explained.