Working Memory

Question 1

What is currently the most widely accepted model around working memory?

Answer 1

• As multiple components
• A brain system that provides temporary storage and manipulation of the information necessary for such complex cognitive tasks as language comprehension, learning and reasoning

Question 2

What are 2 ways for measuring capacity of short-term memory?

Answer 2

• Memory-span procedures

- “Brown-Peterson” paradigm

Question 3

What are two tasks used as memory procedures?

Answer 3

• Participant presented a sequence of items, required to repeat them back; start with 1 item, increasing number of items by 1 until participant make mistakes
• Point at which the participant is able to recall all items correctly 50% of the time is designated as her/his memory span

Reading span task: Task requires participants to read a series of sentences aloud and recall the final words

Question 4

Describe the task set by the Brown-Peterson paradigm

Answer 4

• Participants had to recall trigrams (strings of three letters) at intervals of 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, or 18 seconds after the presentation of the last letter
• After oral presentation of each trigram, participants asked to count backward by threes from a three-digit number spoken immediately after the trigram

Question 5

What is the difference between auditory and visual presentation in the context of memory?

Answer 5

-Larger memory span

Question 6

Which of rhythmic and non-rhythmic is better for memory span?

Answer 6

-Rhytmic presentation

Question 7

Describe the modal memory process

Answer 7

• Environmental
• Sensory stores
• Short term stores
• Response output
• Long-term store

Question 8

What are the 3 types of sensory stores?

Answer 8

• Visual
• Haptic
• Auditory

Question 9

Which idea of the model was subsequently proven right?

Answer 9

• Longer an item remain in short-term store
• More rehearsal it receives
• More likely to be transferred to long-term store

Question 10

What were the difference between long-term and short term memory?

Answer 10

• Coding differences
• Long term based on coding of semantic memory
• Short term based on coding of superficial memory

Question 11

What other evidence did STM model provide?

Answer 11

-That STM and LTM were both structurally different and were neurally disociable structures

Question 12

Describe two difficulties that brain-damaged amnesic patients suffered

Answer 12

• Difficulty learning new information
• Could recall info prior to accident
• Short-term buffer appeared to be intact (rehearsal)
• Their long-term storage was grossly impaired (rehearsal interrupted)

Question 13

What is the recency effect when comparing immediate vs delayed recall?

Answer 13

• Decreased recency effect
• Recency effect established for immediate recall
• Delayed recall shows no recency effect

Question 14

What is one flaw of the modal model?

Answer 14

• Multiple working memory tasks should limit working memory capacity
• However it is found that the number of working tasks does not affect capacity
• More what the demand of these tasks affects memory capacity
• Difficulty of task cannot determine memory capacity because difficulty is subjective

Question 15

Describe the predicament of patient KF

Answer 15

• Suffered injury to the left parieto-occipital regions and showed severe limitations in verbal STM
• K.F. could get information into LTM and retrieve info
• Info had to be presented visually not auditory

Question 16

What did the case of KF show about working memory?

Answer 16

• K.F. must have an alternative route into long-term memory that didn’t involve working memory
• Or there are several systems for working memory which were not damaged

Question 17

What did Badeleys working memory involve?

Answer 17

• Central Control (Central Executive)
• Slave system (Visuospatial sketchpad) (Phonological loop)
• Visuo for visual semantics and phono for auditory language
• Both processed for episodic LTM

Question 18

Describe methodology for assessing working memory

Answer 18

• Dual Task methodology
• Perform two tasks at once with two assumptions
• if tasks use same component, they cannot be performed successfully together
• if two tasks use different components, it should be possible to perform them as well together as separately

Question 19

What were the results for the dual-task methodology

Answer 19

• visual tasks interfere with visual retention (eg, football/driving)
• verbal tasks interfere with verbal retention (eg, articulatory suppression)
• demanding verbal/visual tasks interfere with reasoning (tap executive function)
• So there must be multiple short term memory systems

Question 20

What is the phonological loop responsible for?

Answer 20

-Speech coding

Question 21

What are the two components of the phonological loop?

Answer 21

• Phonological store where lexical info is coded and stored for about 2 seconds
• Articulatory loop where info from other modalities can enter store but only through recoding into a phonological form
• This process is called phonological rehearsal

Question 22

What is capacity of phonological loop?

Answer 22

-7 +-2

Question 23

What is main determinant for capacity of phonological loop and how long is capacity?

Answer 23

• Rehearsal rate

- 2 seconds

Question 24

What is evidence for phonological loop?

Answer 24

-Phonological Similarity Effect
words that are similar in sound are harder to remember
-Word length effect
words that are shorter are easier to remember than longer words (More monosyllabic than polysyllable words remembered)
-Articulatory suppression
Overt or covert inner speech disrupts lexical memory. Such as repeating word the
-the Unattended Speech Effect
Lexical-based sounds disrupts lexical based tasks