working memory model

Question 1

what type of memory is working memory a model of?

Answer 1

short term memory

Question 2

who came up with the working memory model?

Answer 2

baddeley and hitch (1974)

Question 3

what is the working memory model?

Answer 3

concerned with the mental space that is active when working on an arithmetic problem or playing chess

Question 4

what are the 4 components of the working memory model?

Answer 4

central executive
phonological loop
visuospatial sketchpad
episodic buffer

Question 5

describe the coding and capacity of the central executive

Answer 5

coding is flexible, and capacity is very limited

Question 6

describe the coding and capacity of the visuospatial sketchpad

Answer 6

coding is visual and spatial, capacity is around 3-4 objects

Question 7

describe the coding and capacity of the phonological loop

Answer 7

coding is acoustic, capacity is around 2 seconds worth of what you can say

Question 8

describe the coding and capacity of the episodic buffer

Answer 8

coding is flexible, capacity is around 4 chunks

Question 9

outline the working memory model (ao1)

Answer 9

the model is an explanation of how short term memory is organised in its functions different to that of the multi store model
states you can complete tasks of different modalities at the same time
if you try to do 2 tasks of same modality at same time performance of both will be impaired

Question 10

outline the central executive (ao1)

Answer 10

the supervisory component of the model that drives the system and decides how attention is directed

Question 11

outline the phonological loop (ao1)

Answer 11

one of the slave systems that deals with auditory information and the order of information
baddeley (1986) divided it into two components:
phonological store - holds info in speech based form for 1-2 seconds
articulatory control process - used to rehearse verbal information from the phonological store in a loop

Question 12

outline the visuospatial sketchpad (ao1)

Answer 12

the second slave system holds visual and spatial information for a very short time. used when planning a spatial task.
divided into 2 components:
visual cache - stores visual data
inner scribe - records the arrangement of objects in the visual field

Question 13

outline the episodic buffer (ao1)

Answer 13

added in 2000. general storage space for both verbal and acoustic information. integrates info from other slave systems to form episodes of information

Question 14

who researched the central executive?

Answer 14

baddeley (1996)

Question 15

what was baddeley’s (1996) aim?

Answer 15

to investigate the existence of the central executive

Question 16

what was baddeley’s (1996) procedure?

Answer 16

asked p’s to think of random digits with no connection to each other. this was either carried out on its own, or with one of 3 tasks:
- reciting the alphabet
- counting from 1
- alternating between numbers and letters e.g a1 b2 c3…

Question 17

what were baddeley’s (1996) results?

Answer 17

generated number stream was much less random in condition 3. baddeley supports the idea of a central executive as it shows there are limited resources, due to poor performance in more demanding tasks

Question 18

what was baddeley’s (1996) conclusion?

Answer 18

they were competing for same central executive resources

Question 19

who researched into the phonological loop?

Answer 19

baddeley, thompson and buchanan (1975)

Question 20

what was baddeley’s, thompson’s and buchanan’s aim?

Answer 20

to investigate the functions of the phonological loop

Question 21

what was baddeley’s, thompson’s and buchanan’s procedure?

Answer 21

presented participants with five words for very brief periods of time and were asked to recall them. p’s placed in one of two conditions:
condition one - monosyllabic words e.g ham , wit , twice
condition two - polysyllabic words e.g organisation, university

Question 22

what were baddeley’s, thompson’s and buchanan’s findings?

Answer 22

average correct recall over several trials showed participants remembered the short words much better

Question 23

what was baddeley’s, thompson’s and buchanan’s conclusion?

Answer 23

there was evidence for word length effect supporting the phonological loop

Question 24

who researched into visuspatial sketchpad?

Answer 24

shepard and feng (1972)

Question 25

what was shepard and feng’s aim?

Answer 25

to investigate functions of the visuspatial sketchpad

Question 26

what was shepard and feng’s procedure?

Answer 26

p’s presented with cube nets and asked to try and fold the cube in their heads and answer the question ‘do the points meet?’ or had to fold it then answer the question.

Question 27

what were shepard and feng’s results?

Answer 27

they found a strong correlation between time taken scores for mental and physical folding

Question 28

what was shepard and feng’s conclusion?

Answer 28

suggests we use the visuospatial sketchpad to do the folding much similar to real life

Question 29

strengths of wmm

Answer 29

support from : hm, baddeley (1996), shepard and feng (1972), and baddeley, thompson and buchanan (1975)

support from word length effect which shows people have difficulty remembering lists of long words compared to short words

can account for research previously used to support msm - concurrent validity

dual task performance studies support the vss - harder to carry out two visual tasks than a visual task and a verbal task

Question 30

limitations of wmm

Answer 30

lack of clarity over central executive - how does it decide to pay attention? and is it made up of sub components

link between wm and ltm is not fully explained unlike the msm - fails to explain how info enters ltm

model is supported by highly controlled lab studies - may undermine validity