Working Memory Model Flashcards
Draw the working memory model
Central executive
Phonological loop Episodic buffer Visuospatial sketchpad
Long term memory
Outline the central executive
Also referred to as the head of the system as it controls attention
Deals with sense information and filters it before passing it on to the next store/subsystems
Has a limited capacity of 4 items
Outline the phonological loop
Deals with sound based info
Made up of 2 further systems: articulatory loop and primary acoustic store/phonological loop
Has a capacity of what can be said in 2 seconds
What are the 2 further systems in the phonological loop and explain them
-Articulatory loop also known as the inner voice
Deals with info in the form of words
-phonological store/ primary acoustic store also known as the inner ear
Stores words you hear in speech form like pitch, tone and loudness , linked to the articulatory loop
Outline the visual spatial sketchpad/ scratchpad
Deals with visual and spatial info also known as the inner eye
Also has 2 subsections (logie):
-visual cache which processes what things look like (colour)
-and the inner scribe which records where things are in 3d spaces
Has a limited capacity, according to badelley of 3/4 objects
Outline the episodic buffer
The 3rd slave system
Added to the model by badeelly in 2000
Integrates info from other stores and is a temporary store
Has a limited capacity of 4 chunks
Links working memory to ltm and wider cognitive processes like perception
Evaluation + : clinical evidence
clinical evidence:
› shallice and warringtons (1970) case study
-patient ke had brain damage affecting his ability to process verbal info but could still process visual info
-therefore his phonological loop was impaired while his visual memory remained intact
-supports the idea of separate visual and acoustic memory stores
Evaluation + : dual task performance
Dual task performance:
› supports the separate existance of the visuospatial sketchpad
› badelley et al showed that pps that found it harder to do 2 visual tasks (tracking a lignt and describing letter F
compared to a visual and verbal task simultaneously
Evaluation - : lack of clarity over central executive
› central executive component of wmm is seen as unclear and doesnt explain anything
› badelley also said that its the least understood component but also most important
- It needs to be more clearly specified rather than just “attention”
- untestable
Evaluation + : studies of word length effect support the phonological loop
› badelley et al demonstrated the word length effect where people find it harder to remember long words
- this is because the articularory process has limited space for rehearsal (2 seconds, making it harder to rehearse long words)
› therefore supports the role of the phonological loop in memory
Evaluation - : clinical evidence
Clinical evidence from case studies where the sample is only 1 persons experience limits the generalisability of the findings as it doesn’t represent the wider population’s memory
