Working Memory Model Flashcards
If you do two visual tasks simultaneously will you perform them just as well if you did them separately?
No, you will do them less well than if you did them separately
What did Baddeley and Hitch find?
Participants made few errors on either task but reasoning was slower if reciting digits at the same time
What did Baddeley and Hitch conclude?
Short term memory must have more than one component
What is the central executive?
The key component that drives the system and has overall control
Who proposed the WMM?
Baddeley and Hitch in 1974
If you do one visual and one listening task simultaneously will you perform them just as well if you did them separately?
Yes, there would be no interference in task performance
What is the ‘dual task method’?
When participants perform two tasks at the same time
Why is performance unaffected when participants do two different tasks?
It uses different components of working memory
Which component directs attention?
Central executive
Why is performance poor when participants do two of the same type of task?
It uses the same component of working memory
Which part of memory does the WMM show?
Short term memory
Which component allocates resources?
Central executive
What is the phonological loop?
Slave system that deals with auditory information and the order of information
What two tasks did Baddeley and Hitch ask their participants to do?
Reasoning task (is the sentence true or false) Reciting aloud a list of 6 digits
What is the visuo-spatial sketchpad?
Slave system that deals with visual and spatial information
What is ‘working memory’?
The part of memory that you use when working on complex tasks that require you to hold information as you work
What does the inner scribe do?
Store information about the spatial relationship between things
What is the episodic buffer?
A general store for information that belongs to both of the other slave systems, i.e. acoustic and visual information
Which components have limited capacity?
All of them!
What evidence supports the role of the phonological loop?
Word-length effect: it’s harder to remember a list of long words compared to short words
How has the WMM shifted our understanding of memory?
Distinguishes between different kinds of memory by showing subcomponents in the model
What did the fMRI scans show about brain activity during single and dual tasks?
The same areas were activated but there was more activation during dual tasks
What did the cube net experiment show?
Visual images work in a similar way to real-life perception
What are the two sub-components of the visuo-spatial sketchpad?
The visual cache and the inner scribe
What evidence supports the role of the central executive?
Bunge et al. (2000) fMRI scans
What evidence supports the role of the episodic buffer?
Baddeley et al. (1987) related vs unrelated word recall
Why is it more difficult to remember a list of longer words?
As they don’t fit on the phonological loop
How does KF support the working memory model?
Brain damage restricted to phonological loop, shows separate components in STM
What does Berz (1995) suggest is missing from the model?
Musical memory
What evidence supports the role of the visuo-spatial sketchpad?
Shepard and Feng (1972) cube nets
Why are we not sure that KF’s brain damage caused the behaviour change?
Can’t make before and after comparisons / could be the trauma if the injury rather than the injury itself
What does the articulatory process do?
Rehearses verbal information (the inner voice)
What real-world applications does the model have?
Can be useful in diagnosis of mental illness, e.g. Schizophrenia (Park et al. 1999)
What does Cowan (1998) suggest is missing from the model?
Long term memory
How can you make the word-length effect disappear?
Use an articulatory suppression task to prevent rehearsal
What does the auditory store do?
Holds words that you hear (the inner ear)
How is the central executive criticised?
It is too vague and simple, we are still unsure what it really does.
Is recall better for related or unrelated words?
Related
How did the motorcycle accident affect KF’s memory?
Could remember words presented visually but not auditorally
What does the visual cache do?
Store information about what things look like
When was the episodic buffer added?
2000
What are the two sub-components of the phonological loop?
The auditory store and the articulately process
