working memory model

Question 1

who was the WMM proposed by and what is it

Answer 1

proposed by Baddeley and Hitch
it focuses on the short term memory

Question 2

What are the components of the WMM

Answer 2

• Central executive
• phonological loop
• Visuospatial sketchpad
• Episodic buffer

Question 3

What is the function of the central executive
and what’s its capacity

Answer 3

Function - Controls attention, allocates recourses to slave systems

capacity - very limited

Question 4

What is the function of the phonological loop and what are its components and capacity

Answer 4

Function - Handles auditory and verbal information
components -
- Phonological store - The “inner ear” which holds spoken words for a given time (thinking of sounds)
- Articulatory store - The “inner voice” rehearses words silently to prevent decay

capacity - around 2 seconds

Question 5

What is the function of visuospatial sketchpad and what are its components and capacity

Answer 5

function - Processes visual and spatial information
components -
-Visual cache - stores visual data such as shapes and colours
- Inner scribe - Processes spatial relationships such as moment, like navigating a map

capacity - limited but can handle simple visual or spatial tasks

Question 6

How do you evaluate the WMM by dual-task studies

Answer 6

• participants struggled more when performing 2 visual tasks compared to performing a visual and verbal task simultaneously.
• This is because 2 visual tasks compete for the visuospatial sketchpad while verbal engages phonological loop
  . Strengths - shows phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad are separate systems
  . Weaknesses - Artificial settings, reduces external validity

Question 7

how do you evaluate the WMM by support for the central executive?
1/2

Answer 7

Comes from experiments requiring attention allocation
- hitch and Baddeley
. participants judged whether “B is followed by A” for letters like “AB” engaging the central executive
. Participants then repeated the experiment with a distraction such as remembering a random number

task 1 slowed when task 2 used both stores

Question 8

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the evaluation of the WMM with support for the central executive

Answer 8

Strengths - Shows central executive manages attention and is separated from slave systems
weaknesses - The central executives role remains vague with critics arguing
it is little more than a description of “attention allocation”