Working Memory Model

Question 1

Who proposed the WMM and in what year?

Answer 1

Baddeley and Hitch (1974) (as an alternative to the MSM)

Question 2

What is the WMM?

Answer 2

Representation of STM- it suggests that STM is a dynamic process of different types of information using sub-units coordinated by a central decision-making system, the central executive

Question 3

WMM describes how we

Answer 3

Temporarily store and manipulate information. For example, it is concerned with the part of the mind that is active when working on arithmetic problems (e.g. 12+21+52 where you have to add 12 and 21 and hold the answer in your working memory before adding the final number) or comprehending a language etc

Question 4

Why did Baddeley and Hitch not think that STM was a unitary store?

Answer 4

• if you do 2 things at the same time (dual task performance) and they are both visual tasks you perform them less well than if you do them separately
• if you do 2 things at the same time and one is visual whereas the other involves sound, then there is no interference (do them as well simultaneously as you would separately)

= suggests that there is one store for visual processing and separate store for processing sounds

Question 5

The WMM is based upon the findings of dual-task study and suggests there are _ separate components to our working memory (STM)

Answer 5

4

Question 6

What are the 4 components of the WMM?

Answer 6

• central executive
• visuo-spatial sketchpad
• phonological loop
• episodic buffer

Question 7

What is the function of the central executive?

Answer 7

The CE is essentially an attentional process which monitors incoming data and allocates slave systems (visuo-spatial sketchpad, phonological loop and episodic buffer) to tasks. It has a very limited storage capacity I.e. it has no capacity for storing data

Question 8

What is the function of the phonological loop?

Answer 8

One of the slave systems is the phonological loop- it deals with auditory information and preserves the order in which information arrives. The PL is sub-divided into:

• phonological store (stores the words you hear)
• articulatory process which allows maintenance rehearsal

Question 9

What is the function of the visuo-spatial sketchpad?

Answer 9

The second slave system is the visuo-spatial sketchpad that stores visual and/ or spatial information when required e.g. if you are asked to work out how many windows there are on your house.

• can be subdivided into:
• the visual cache which stores visual data
• the inner scribe which records the arrangement of objects in the visual field

Question 10

What is the function of the episodic buffer?

Answer 10

The episodic buffer is the third slave system added in 2000 by Baddeley because he realised the model needed a general store. The episodic buffer integrates information from the central executive, the phonological loop and the visuo-spatial sketchpad and essentiall maintains a sense of time sequencing. The episodic buffer is able to communicate and send information to the LTM.

Question 11

What are the evaluation points for WMM?

Answer 11

✅ research support for the visuo-spatial sketch pad from a dual-task performance activity- Baddeley showed that participants had more difficulty doing doing two visual tasks (tracking a light and describing the letter F) than doing both a visual and a verbal task simultaneously. This increase in difficulty is because both visual tasks compete for the same slave system whereas when doing a verbal and an acoustic task, there is no competition = dual-task performance activity provides evidence for the existence of the visuo-spatial sketch pad

✅ research support for a separate visual and acoustic store from the case study of patient KF-an amnesia studied patient (post motorcycle crash). It was found that Patient KF’s STM for digits real aloud to him was very poor, but his recall was much better when he was able to read the digits himself. This provides evidence for the WMM as the findings from KF suggest that there must be one short-term store to process acoustic information and another short-term store to process visual information, as proposed by the model

❌ evidence from brain damaged patients- some of the key evidence for WMM comes from brain damaged patients such as patient KF, however this creates some potential issues: process of brain injury is traumatic which may in itself change behaviour so an individual performs worse on certain tasks. Secondly, such individuals may have difficulty maintaining attention during the task and so again may underperform

❌ lack of clarity for the central executive- cognitive psychologists suggest that this component is unsatisfactory and doesn’t really explain anything- the CE needs to be more clearly specified than just simply being ‘attention’ and some psychologists believe it may consist of separate components = WMM hasn’t been fully explained

✅ word-length effect demonstrates support for the phonological loop- Baddeley et al demonstrated that people find it more difficult to remember a list of long words e.g. association rather than short words (word-length effect). This is because there is finite space for rehearsal in the articulatory process. The word-length effect disappears if a person is given an articulatory suppression task, demonstrating the articulatory process at work

Question 12

Draw a diagram of the WMM

Answer 12

Look on app