Working Memory Model Flashcards
Who made the WMM?
Baddeley and Hitch (1974)
What did Baddeley and Hitch argue about in regards to the STM?
The STM as described by Atkinson and Shiffrin was too simple. They believe that instead of it being a unitary store it has sub stores that process different types of information. They also believe that its not a temporary store and it processes info so tasks can be carried out so they renamed it the Working Memory
How is the Working Memory model structured?
Central executive at the top with the phonological loop, episodic buffer and visuo-spatial sketch pad below
Central executive
Has overall control processes information in all sensory forms
What are the three slave systems?
visuo-spatial sketchpad. phonological loop, episodic buffer
Phonological loop
Temporarily stores and rehearses word-based information and stores it in order of arrival.
What are the subdivisions of the Phonological loop?
- Phonological store
- Articulatory process
Phonological store
Acts as an inner ear and holds information in speech-based form for 1-2 seconds. Spoken words enter the store immediately however written words must be converted to a spoken code first.
Articulatory process
Allows maintenance rehearsal of word based information and acts like an inner voice rehearsing information from the phonological store. It circulates information round and round like a tape loop.
Visuo-Spatial sketchpad
Mental workplace for storing and manipulating a limited amount of visual and spatial information for a brief period of time. Helps us keep track of where we are in relation to other objects
What are the subdivisions of the Visuo-spatial sketchpad?
- Visual cache
- Inner scribe
What does the visual cache do?
stores visual data
What does the inner scribe do?
remembers arrangement of objects in space
Episodic Buffer
‘Back up’ store which communicates with long term memory and integrates the visual spatial and verbal information processed by other stores and records the order of events
What is the capacity of the Central executive?
Limited
What is the coding of the Central executive?
Modality free (any form)
What is the capacity of the Phonological loop?
two seconds worth of what you can say
What is the coding of the Phonological loop?
auditory
What is the capacity of the Visuo-spatial sketchpad?
Three-four objects
What is the coding of the Visuo-spatial sketchpad?
Visual
What is the capacity of the Episodic buffer?
4 chunks
What is the coding of the Episodic buffer?
Stores visual spatial and verbal information
What was the aim of the Baddeley and Hitch (1976) study?
To investigate if participants can use different parts of working memory at the same time
What was the method of the Baddeley and Hitch (1976) study?
Conducted experiment where participants do two tasks at the same time a digit span task and a verbal reasoning task
What were the results of the Baddeley and Hitch (1976) study?
As the number of digits increased in the digit span tasks the participants took slightly longer to answer the reasoning questions
What was the conclusion of the Baddeley and Hitch (1976) study?
Verbal reasoning task made use of the central executive and the digital span task made use of the phonological loop
What are the strengths of the WMM?
- Accounts for dual tasking
- Accounts for case studies like K.F that shows the STM has different stores
- Brain scanning evidence to support different components of the WMM (D’Esposito (1995))
- Greater face validity as it explains how we carry out every day tasks
What are the weaknesses of the WMM?
- Exact role of the Central executive remains unclear
- Some evidence of brain damaged patients is not reliable as its singular cases that have experienced trauma so hard to generalise
- Dual-task studies lack ecological validity as they are lab experiments
- Only focuses on STM and doesn’t explain its links to LTM
