Working Memory Flashcards
What is currently the most widely accepted model around working memory?
- 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
What are 2 ways for measuring capacity of short-term memory?
- Memory-span procedures
- “Brown-Peterson” paradigm
What are two tasks used as memory procedures?
- 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
Describe the task set by the Brown-Peterson paradigm
- 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
What is the difference between auditory and visual presentation in the context of memory?
-Larger memory span
Which of rhythmic and non-rhythmic is better for memory span?
-Rhytmic presentation
Describe the modal memory process
- Environmental
- Sensory stores
- Short term stores
- Response output
- Long-term store
What are the 3 types of sensory stores?
- Visual
- Haptic
- Auditory
Which idea of the model was subsequently proven right?
- Longer an item remain in short-term store
- More rehearsal it receives
- More likely to be transferred to long-term store
What were the difference between long-term and short term memory?
- Coding differences
- Long term based on coding of semantic memory
- Short term based on coding of superficial memory
What other evidence did STM model provide?
-That STM and LTM were both structurally different and were neurally disociable structures
Describe two difficulties that brain-damaged amnesic patients suffered
- 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)
What is the recency effect when comparing immediate vs delayed recall?
- Decreased recency effect
- Recency effect established for immediate recall
- Delayed recall shows no recency effect
What is one flaw of the modal model?
- 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
Describe the predicament of patient KF
- 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
