Working Memory

Question 1

What are the four components of Baddeley’s (2012) Working Memory Model?

Answer 1

• Phonological Loop (slave system)
• Visual Sketchpad (slave system)
• Episodic Buffer
• Central Executive

Question 2

What are the key assumptions of working memory?

Answer 2

• that it has a limited capacity

- that the central executive functions largely independently, so does the visual sketchpad and the phonological loop

Question 3

What happens if two tasks that use the same component of working memory?

Answer 3

the two tasks cannot be completed together. This is due to the limited capacity

Question 4

what happens if two tasks reply on different components of the working memory?

Answer 4

The two tasks can be performed together ir separately

Question 5

What is the phonological loop?

Answer 5

component of the working memory. It holds speech-based information. In the phonological loop subvocal rehearsal takes place

Question 6

What are the two components of the phonological loop?

Answer 6

• A phonological store (Inner Ear)

- Articulatory Control System (Inner Voice)

Question 7

Why is the phonological loop important to memory?

Answer 7

Because it involves verbal rehearsal

Question 8

Testing phonological similarity found …

Answer 8

that words that were similar were recalled worse (25%) compared to words that were dissimilar.

This is because there is more interference with similar sounds.

This supports the idea that verbal rehearsal is important to the phonological loop and memory because when interference occurs recalled is reduced

Question 9

What is the phonological loop good for?

Answer 9

• learning vocabulary
• learning a new language
• action control

Question 10

Testing the word-length effect found …

Answer 10

that the memory span is longer for words taking a shorter time to say than words taking a longer time to say

Question 11

Why is the memory span longer for shorter words?

Answer 11

Some suggest this is due to ‘Articulatory Duration’, giving people less time to rehearse

Question 12

Summary of the components of the phonological loop …

Answer 12

• The phonological store is passive and is directly activated by speech perception
• The Articulatory Control system permits indirect access to the phonological store through subvocal articulation

Question 13

What is the Visual Sketchpad?

Answer 13

A temporary spatial and visual information storage system

Question 14

What is the visual sketchpad used for?

Answer 14

it is used for the manipulation of visual patterns and movement

Question 15

what are the two components of the visual sketchpad?

Answer 15

The Visual Cache

The inner scribe

Question 16

What does the inner scribe do?

Answer 16

Processes spatial and movement information.

It is also involved in the rehearsal of information in the visual cache

It also transfers information from the visual cache to the central executive

Question 17

What does the Visual cache do?

Answer 17

Stores information about the visual form and colour

Question 18

Klauer and Zhao’s (2004) evidence for visual and spatial distinction …

Answer 18

They used a dual task paradigm: pairing either a spatial task (memory for dot locations) or a visual task (memory for Chinese ideographs) with a secondary task.

These secondary tasks were either a spatial, visual or control task

They found that interference was greater was the task was the same and required the same component (either the visual cache or the inner scribe)

Question 19

Neuroimaging and neurological evidence for the distinction between spatial and visual …

Answer 19

Ventral prefrontal cortex (VPFC) is activated more during visual working memory tasks as opposed to spatial ones

Dorsal prefrontal cortex (DPFC) activated more during spatial working memory

Question 20

what evidence is there for the independence of the phonological loop and visuo-spatial sketchpad?

Answer 20

Logie et al 1990

A dual task paradigm was used, had a visual and verbal main task and a secondary competing visual and verbal task

The visuospatial task was to remember a sequence of empty and filled squares
the verbal task was to remember a series of consonants

They were then presented with a new sequence and had to point to any differences

They found performing two tasks simultaneously reduced performance
The imagery task severely disrupted the visual short-term memory task
The secondary arithmetic task disrupted verbal short term memory while secondary imagery task had no effect