working memory model Flashcards
who proposed the working memory model
baddeley and hitch
what is the working memory model
a three part system allowing us to perform cognitive task; the brain manipulates and assembles information to help us understand, make decisions and solve problems. explanation of one aspect of memory (STM) and how it is organised and functioned
what is meant by working memory
concerned with part of the mind that is active when are temporarily storing and working with information
why was the WMM proposed in the first place
Atkinson and Shiffrin’s MSM was criticised for over simplifying short term memory and long term memory as a simple storage system.
what did Baddeley and Hitch say about STM
Rather than being a passive store that holds on to information and passes it to long term memory, we use short term memory to process, work on and combine multiple info. the working memory/STM is an active processor
what did the WMM propose about STM
STM is composed of three, limited capacity stores - the central executive, the phonological loop and the visuo-spatial sketchpad
what is the central executive
- pays attention to info from senses .
- it is the most important, involved in problem solving and decision making.
- it contols attention and integrates information from the slave systems as well as LTM.
- it is limited in how much info it can hold at any one time and can hold only one type of info at a time.
- can switch quickly between each type of info
what is the capacity of the central executive
limited
what are the three slave systems/stores
the phonological loop, the visuospatial sketchpad and the episodic buffer (introduced later)
what is the phonological loop
this temporarily retains language-based information and processes auditory info
what does the phonological loop consist of
the phonological store (inner ear) and articulatory process (inner voice)
what is the phonological store
it holds on to words that are heard, in the order in which it was heard for a brief period of time. also known as the inner ear
what is the articulatory process
it allows subvocal repetition of items stored in the phonological store. for maintenance rehearsal. also inclused any langauge presented visually to convert to a phonological state. also known as the inner voice
what is the capacity of the phonological loop
2 seconds
what is the coding of the PL
acoustic
what is the visuo-spatial sketchpad
this temporarily retains visual and spatial information. it sets up and manipulates mental images. also known as inner eye
what is the capacity of the VSS
limited
what is the VSS broken down into
the inner scribe and visual cache/store
what is the inner scribe
deals with and records the arrangement of objects in the visual field
what is the visual cache/store
stores visual data
what is the coding of the VSS
visual
how do the PL and VSS work together
they work independantly of each other and make it possible for dual tasls which require use of both parts of working memory
why was the episodic buffer introduced
it was introduced in 2000 in response to the criticism of the model in that it couldn’t explain how info was effectively combined from both visual, acoustic and LTM stores
what is the episodic buffer
it facillitates communication between the CE and LTM. it integrates and manipulates material from LTM to meet requirements of the working memory. it is capable of binding info from different sources into chunks
what is the capacity of the episodic buffer
limited
what did baddeley do to test the model
he wanted to investigate if participants can use different parts of working memory at the same time. this was knwon as the “dual-task technique” or “intereference tasks”
what was the procdure of the dual task technique (1)
- he conducted an experiment where participants were asked to perform two tasks at the same time
- a digital span task which required them to repeat a list of numbers (testing the PL)
- verbal reasoning task which required them to answer true or false to various questions (testing the CE)
- performance on both tasks were measured
what were the findings of this experiment (1)
as the number of digits increased in the digit span tasks, participants took longer to answer reasoning questions but not much longer - only a fraction of a second
participants didnt make any more errors in verbal reasoning tasks as number of digits increased. performance on both tasks was good
what was the procedure of the dual task technique (2)
- 2 visual tasks (tracking moving lights and describing angles of Letter F)
- 1 visual and 1 verbal
what were the findings of this experiment (2)
participants were better at doing the separate visual and verbal tasks
what were the conclusions of both experiments
the verbal reasoning tasks made use of CE and digit span tasks made use of PL. as tasks used different components of WM, they were able to perform well on both. this showed that the visuospatial sketchpad as a separate process from verbal processing (PL)
what happens if one store is utilised for both tasks
task performance is poorer than when they are complete separately due to the store’s limited capacity. for e.g - “repeating “the the the” aloud and reading some text silently would use the PL for both tasks, slowing performance
what happens if different stores are used for both tasks
performance would be unaffected when performing them simultaneously. for e.g “repeating “the the the” aloud whilst performing a reasoning task (which requires attention, i.e the CE) or whilst following a mobile stimulus with your eyes (using the VSS)
what are the strengths of the WMM
- provides an explanation for parallel processing (where processes involved in a cognitive task occur at once)
- a Shallice and Warrington case study reported that brain damaged patient KF could recall verbal but not visual information immediately after its presentation, which supports the WMM’s claim that separate ST stores manage ST phonological and visual memories
- model was developed based on evidence from lab experiments so confounding variables could be carefully controlled to produce reliable results (that can be replicated)
- accurate in describing STM as an active processor
- makes sense of a range of tasks
what are the weaknesses of the WMM
- has been criticised for being too simplistic and vague, e.g. it is unclear what the CE is or what its role is in attention
- results from lab experiments will often have low ecological validity as tasks such as repeating “the the the” are not representative of our everyday activities
- lack mundane realism as data collected in experimental situations may not be generalisable to how we use memory in everyday life
- only involves STM
- Lieberman criticises the model as the VSS implies all spatial info was first visual however blind people have excellent spatial awareness but they never had any visual info.
- cognitive psychologists cant directly observe WMM, they have to make inferences (bias)
