working memory model Flashcards
who developed the working memory model and what is it?
developed by Baddeley and Hitch
WMM concerned with the ‘mental space’ that is active when e.g. working on arithmetic/ problem solving/ comprehending language
what does the central executive do?
what is the capacity like?
what is the coding?
the central executive is the supervisory role - it monitors incoming data, directs attention and allocated slave systems to tasks
has very limited storage capacity- recent views suggest there may be no storage capacity at all
coding is flexible
what is the phonological loop ?
what are the subdivisions of the PL?
what is the coding and the capacity?
the PL deals with auditory information and preserves the order in which the information arrives
- phonological store - the words you hear
-articulatory process - allows maintenance rehearsal (repeating sounds to keep them in your WM)
coding is acoustic
capacity is around 2 seconds worth of what you can say
what does the VSS do?
who subdivided the VSS?
What are the subdivisions?
what is the coding and capacity?
the VSS stores the visual and or spatial information when required
Logie subdivided the VSS into
- visual cache - stores visual data
- inner scribe - records arrangement of objects in the visual field
coding is visual and spatial
capacity is around 3 or 4 objects
what is the episodic buffer and what does it do?
what is the coding and capacity?
episodic buffer was added in 2000
it’s a temporary store for information
it integrates visual, spatial, and verbal information from other stores
maintains a sense of time sequencing - recoding events that are happening
links to LTM
coding is flexible and capacity is about four chunks
strength- support from clinical evidence
what did Shallice and Warrington find out from their study?
Shallice and Warrington studies a patient - KF who had a brain injury
His STM for auditory information was poor (damaged PL) but he could process visual information normally (intact VSS)
supports the WMM view that there are separate visual and acoustic memory stores
counterpoint to KF
KF may have had other impairments which explained poor memory performance, apart form damage to his PL
this challenges evidence from clinical studies of brain injury
Strength - dual task performance study support the VSS
Baddeley’s participants found it harder to carry out two visual tasks at the same time than do a verbal and a visual task together
this is because both visual tasks compete for the same subsystem (VSS). there is no competition with a verbal and visual task
therefore there must be a separate slave system that processes visual input (VSS) and also a separate system for verbal processes (PL)
limitation - lack of clarity over the CE
Baddeley said the CE was the most importnant but least understood component of the working memory
there must be more to the CE than just being ‘attention’ e.g. it is made up of separate subcomponents
therefore the CE is an unsatisfactory component and this challenges the integrity of the model.
extra
dual task studies support the WMM because they show that there must be separate components processing visual (VSS) and verbal information (PL)
But these studies are highly controlled and use tasks that are unlike everyday working memory tasks (e.g. recalling random sequences of letters)
this challenges the validity of the model because it is not certain that working memory operates this way in everyday situations
