Working Memory and STM Flashcards
What is working memory?
mental workspace that allows us to temporarily retain and manipulate a restricted set of information
What is a unitary model?
model of memory that assumes working memory is an active part of the LTM
What is the capacity of STM? According to who?
7+/-2 chunks (Miller)
“magical number 7”
stores chunks of info
What is personal semantics?
3,1,1,0 are 4 chunks of info unless you’re born on the 31st of October
What is prosodic preferences?
it’s easier to remember 12-76-54 over 127654
What is phonological plausibility?
remember something better in a pronounceable sequence than unpronounceable
Cowen: STM capacity revised
range of 3-5 chunks in a variety of tasks
How has STM capacity been investigated?
using sequential comparison procedure
Why does STM have a capacity limit? (Cowen)
biological restrictions (neuronal firing speed make it impossible to access more than 4 chunks)
Computational benefit (smaller no. of chunks allows for faster and efficient processing)
Atkinson and Shiffrin: multi-store model
Sensory stores -> decay
Pay attention
STM -> displacement
Rehearsal
LTM -> interference
What is a strength of Multi Store Model?
highly influential
neurological evidence (Shallice and Warrington): patient KF had impairments in STM but normal LTM
What are weaknesses to Multi Store Model?
STM cannot be seen as a unitary system
model fails to account for complex aspects of cognition like decision making
forgetting from STM might be more due to interference than displacement
Baddeley and Hitch: Multicomponent model of working memory
Central executive
Phonological loop
visuospatial sketchpad
episodic buffer
What 2 inputs does the phonological loop deal with?
auditory (spoken words)
visual (written words)
What are the 2 components to the phonological loop?
phonological store “inner ear”
(retains spoken language)
Articulatory loop “inner voice”
What does the articulatory loop do?
converts written words into sounds
Logie (1995): suggested visual and spatial info depend on diff stores, what 2 stores?
visual cache (stores visual info)
inner scribe (stores spatial info)
What does the episodic buffer do?
interacts with LTM
essential for organising info into chunks
What is the central executive?
an attentional control system
- automatic control system (for complex but well learned situations)
- supervisory attention system (for novel situations)
What are the main jobs of the central executive?
selective attention
inhibition control
retaining attentional focus
dividing attention
Cowen: Embedded Processes Model (unitary-store model)
working memory is a functional NOT structural system
attention can be voluntary or involuntary depends on stimuli / task
involves 3 hierarchal elements
What are the 3 hierarchal elements in Cowen’s embedded processes model?
LTM
activated part of LTM
focus of attention (on a subset of activated LTM)
What is a strength of Cowen’s Embedded process model?
emphases differences between STM and LTM
What is a weakness of Cowen’s Embedded process theory?
needs to account for findings of dissociations in neurological patients