working memory model

Question 1

baddeley and hitch

Answer 1

extension of MSM

is an explanation of STM and how its different components are organised

Question 2

CE

Answer 2

allocates tasks to each of the slave systems
data arrives from senses or LTM.
has limited capacity - can’t attend to too many things at once and has no capacity for storing data

Question 3

PL

Answer 3

deals with auditory info and preserves order of info.
limited capacity
baddeley further subdivided into:
phonological store - holds words you hear
articulatory process - used for words heard or seen which are silently repeated - form of maintenance rehearsal

Question 4

VSS

Answer 4

used for spatial tasks, visual and spatial info temporarily stored here
limited capacity - 3-4 objects

Question 5

EB

Answer 5

added by baddeley - realised model needed a temporary store.
has limited capacity and integrates info from CE, phonological loop and visuo-spatial sketchpad
maintains sense of time sequencing

Question 6

evaluation - dual task performance

Answer 6

baddeley and hitch - evidence from dual task performance to support the existence of the - conducted study in which task 1 occupied CE and task 2 occupied either articulatory loop of the PL or both articulatory loop and CE
found task 1 was slower when task 2 involved both CE and articulatory loop - demonstrates dual task performance effect and shows that CE is a component of working memory.

Question 7

evaluation - case studies

Answer 7

evidence from brain damaged patients to support idea that there are separate systems regarding visual and spatial info.
shallice and warrington studied KF - short term forgetting of auditory info was greater than that of visual stimuli, auditory problems were limited to verbal material but not meaningful sounds - concluded that brain damage was restricted to PL, supporting idea that there are separate visual and spatial systems, as suggested by the WMM.

however, problems with using case studies as evidence - process of brain injury is traumatic in itself - may lead to change in individual’s behaviour causing them to perform worse on certain tasks.
case studies are of unique individuals so cannot be generalised to whole population.

Question 8

evaluation - concept of CE is too vague

Answer 8

concept of the CE is too vague and model is limited in its explanation of it - it’s believed that the CE is made of several components
eslinger and damasio - studied EVR who had cerebral tumour removed - performed well on tasks that required reasoning, suggesting his CE was intact but struggled with decision making, suggesting part of his CE wasn’t fully intact - suggests that notion of single central executive is wrong