Working memory model AO1

Question 1

what is the working memory model?

Answer 1

the working memory model (Baddeley and hitch 1974) is an explanation of how short term memory is organised and how it functions

Question 2

what is the central executive?

Answer 2

• very limited processing capacity
• the role is to allocate tasks to the 3 slave systems
• process information in all sensory forms
• deals with only one piece of information at a time
• does not store information

Question 3

what is the phonological loop?

Answer 3

• deals with auditory (sound) information and preserves the order in which the information arrives
• includes both written and spoken material

phonological loop = stores the words you hear
articulatory process = allows maintenance rehearsal to keep them in the WMM while they are needed, capacity of the loop is 2 seconds

Question 4

what is the visuospatial sketchpad?

Answer 4

• temporary memory system for holding visual and/or spatial information when required to give us a complete picture
• has a limited capacity (Baddley 2003) about 3-4 chunks

Robert Logie 1995 subdivided the VSS into:

1. visual cache - stores visual data
2. inner scribe - records the arrangement of objects in the visual field

Question 5

what is the episodic buffer?

Answer 5

• temporary store for information
• contains the visual, spatial, verbal information
• seen as the storage component of the central executive
• limited capacity of about 4 chunks Baddley
• it recalls materials from the LTM and integrates it into STM when working memory requires it