Working memory model Flashcards
WMM is a theory about which type of memory?
Short-Term memory
What are the parts of WMM?
Visuo-Spatial Sketch Pad, Phonological loop and the Central Executive
What is the VSSP for?
visual information like size, colour and shape (with one pace for spatial awareness and another for colour etc)
What is the phonological loop for?
Auditory information
What is the articulatory process of the phonological loop?
Inner voice- responsible for subvocalisation
What is the Phonological store of the phonological loop?
Inner ear- responsible for word sound storage
What is the capacity of the PL and VSSP?
Very limited
What is the Central executive responsible for?
Attention, controlling the slave systems and switching tasks
What do we know about the modality and the capacity of the central executive?
It is modality free (can handle any type of stimulus), It has no storage
What do we know about dual tasks?
You cannot use any of the subcomponents at the time for two tasks i.e. PL and VSSP at same time, You can use two different subcomponents for different tasks at the same time i.e. one PL and one VSSP
How does KF support this model?
His visual memory was unaffected whilst his verbal was impaired following a motorbike accident showing there are 2 types of STM
How does Robbins (or Baddeley & Hitch) support the theory?
They showed the dual task process, when you use two different stores at the same time your abilities are uneffected by are when you use the same store twice
What did Parkin show?
The CE wasn’t detectable using brain scans (so isn’t empirical) so the theory might not be an accurate representation of human memory
The Episodic Buffer (storage for CE and intergration of VSSP/PL) was added in 2000- what does this tell us about the theory?
It was originally incomplete and therefore not a credible explanation of memory as it was reductionist
Why is WMM superior to MSM?
It shows that STM is not a unitary store and there are multiple parts i.e. VSSP and PL- MSM has a too simplistic a view of memory
Why is MSM superior to WMM?
It includes SM, STM and LTM whereas WMM only looks at STM meaning MSM is a less simplistic explanation of memory
How is this useful to explain dementia?
The CE ability is declining meaning they cannot pay attention or switch tasks so get confused
How is this useful for education?
It tells us not to talk when the teacher is as this will overload the limited capacity of the phonological loop meaning information will not be stored easily
Problems with the research into WMM ?
They use artificial tasks like word recall lists and attention tasks which are low in mundane realism and might not tell us about real world memory
