working memory model

Question 1

Baddeley and Hitch

Answer 1

• Believed memory is not just one store but a number of different stores:
• 2 visual tasks = poorer performance but 1 visual and 1 verbal means no interruption
• Replaced the idea of STM being a unitary store (like MSM)!!
• Focusses on active processing and short term storage of information.
• LTM as a more passive store that holds previously learned material for use by the STM when needed.

Question 2

central executive

Answer 2

Key component in model
• Functions:

• Monitors incoming information

-Direct attention to tasks - decides what working memory pays attention to.

-Task allocation

• Problem solving and reasoning.

Question 3

first slave system-phonological loop

Answer 3

Deals with auditory information and preserves word order - Inner
Ear
• Limited Capacity
• Baddeley (1986) further subdivided it into
-phonological store-holds words that have been heard for 1-2 seconds
-articulatory process-holds words and silently repeats them as long as they are needed

Question 4

second slave system-visuo-spatial sketch pad

Answer 4

Visual and/or spatial information stored here - Inner Eye
• Visual = what things look like
• Spatial = relationships between things
• Limited capacity
• Logie (1995) suggested subdivision:
-Visuo-cache (store)

-Inner scribe for spatial relations.

Question 5

third slave system-episodic buffer

Answer 5

Baddeley (2000) added episodic buffer as he realised model needed a more general store.
• Slave systems deal with specific types of information.
• Central executive has no storage capacity
• Buffer extra storage system but with limited capacity.
Integrates information from all other areas

Question 6

strength-support from clinical evidence

Answer 6

Support for the WMM comes from the case study of Patient KF, who was injured in a motorcycle accident.

Following his accident, KF was able to recall stored information from his LTM; however, he had issues with his STM.

He was able to remember visual images, including faces, but was unable to remember sounds (acoustic information). This suggests that there are at least two components within STM, one component for visual information and one for acoustic information.

The research into KF supports the WMM and the idea of two slave systems, the phonological loop and the visuo-spatial sketchpad, therefore providing support to the WMM and the idea of a multi-component STM system.

Question 7

strength-support from dual task studies

Answer 7

Further support for the WMM comes from dual-task studies by Baddeley and Hitch (1976).

Dual-task studies require participants to complete two tasks at the same time.

In one condition, participants may be required to complete two acoustic-based tasks, such as simultaneously remembering a series of digits and completing a verbal reasoning task. In another condition, participants may be required to complete one acoustic based task and one visual based task, for example, remember a series of digits and copying a drawing. When both tasks require the participants to use their phonological loop, their ability to perform the tasks is impaired. However, when one task requires the participant to simultaneously use their phonological loop (remembering a series of numbers) and the other requires their visuo-spatial sketchpad (copying a drawing) then their performance is not impaired.

Dual-task studies provide evidence for the existence of multiple components within our STM and support the idea of a separate phonological loop and visuo-spatial sketchpad.

Question 8

limitation-nomothetic approach

Answer 8

A limitation of the The WMM is that it adopts a nomothetic approach.

This means that it attempts to generate universal laws that apply to all people regarding how STM processes information, based on dual-task studies conducted under laboratory conditions.

Alternatively, using an idiographic approach, which focuses more on individual experiences, rather than on the creation of universal laws, such as was used by Oliver Sacks with Clive Wearing (Sacks, 2007) and Brenda Milner with HM (Milner, 1957), can shed light on how STM loss can vary between people. HM’s STM was severely affected, but still not as badly as Wearing’s, despite the almost total removal of his hippocampus and surrounding tissue.
Using an idiographic approach alongside the nomothetic approach could further our understanding of how human memory works.