Working Memory Model

Question 1

What does the working memory model consist of?

Answer 1

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

Question 2

What is the central executive and how does it work?

Answer 2

The central executive is ‘the boss’

It allocates pieces of information to the relevant slave systems of the working memory model.

Question 3

What is the function of the phonological loop?

Answer 3

processes and stores auditory information

Question 4

How is the phonological loop subdivided?

Answer 4

into the phonological store and the articulatory control process.

Question 5

What does the phonological store do?

Answer 5

stores the words you hear

Question 6

What does the articulatory control process do?

Answer 6

allows for maintenance rehearsal

Question 7

What is the function of the visuo - spatial sketchpad?

Answer 7

stores and processes visual and spacial information

Question 8

what is visual information?

Answer 8

concerns what we see

Question 9

What is spatial information?

Answer 9

concerns where objects are in relation to yourself.

Question 10

What is episodic buffer?

Answer 10

It integrates information from the other stores and ties it all together - it maintains time sequencing.
eg - if you see a dog and then hear it bark, the episodic buffer would know that the bark came after seeing the dog.

Question 11

coding for central executive -

Answer 11

acoustic and visual

Question 12

capacity for central executive -

Answer 12

doesn’t hold info

Question 13

capacity for phonological loop -

Answer 13

how much you can say in 1 - 2 seconds

Question 14

coding for phonological loop -

Answer 14

acoustic

Question 15

capacity for VSS -

Answer 15

3 - 4 items

Question 16

coding for VSS -

Answer 16

visual

Question 17

capacity for episodic buffer -

Answer 17

doesn’t hold info

Question 18

coding for episodic buffer -

Answer 18

acoustic and visual

Question 19

Strength of the WMM -

Answer 19

Dual task studies support the idea that there is one store for visual information, and another for verbal.
Baddeley found that ppts had more difficulty completing 2 visual tasks at the same time, as opposed to doing one verbal and one visual at the same time.

This is because the 2 visual tasks were competing for the limited processing capabilities of the VSS. Whereas when there was one verbal one visual the tasks were not competing since the visual was completed by the VSS, and the verbal completed bu the phonological loop.

Question 20

Limitation of the WMM -

Answer 20

There are theoretical limitations for the WMM
Lieberman criticised the WMM as the VSS implies that all spatial information was once visual. However, Lieberman points out that blind people have excellent spatial awareness, even though they haven’t processed any visual information. Lieberman argues that the VSS should be separated into 2 components. visual information and spacial information.

Question 21

What do brain scan studies show in relation to visual and spatial information?

Answer 21

They provide evidence that visual and spacial information are processed in different parts of the brain.
Visual tasks activate the left hemisphere of the brain while spatial tasks activate the right hemisphere of the brain.