Working-Memory-Model (Badly & Hitch) Flashcards
why was the WMM made?
a newer model devised by Badly and Hitch who saw the MSM as too simple and did not think that memory was unitary but was far more complicated with slave systems across the brain
what is the CE?
it is in control of the slave systems, decides what information to take in and can focus, divide and switch attention and allocates the info to the slave systems
what research supports the CE?
Braver et al (1997) found with brain scans that memory works across the brain and not in one spot showing memory is not unitary. it also showed that the CE was focused in the front of the brain
what are the two sale systems?
the PL and VSS
what is the PL?
it deals with auditory information and so can be referred to as the inner ear. it holds spoken info or language that has been written with reading. it has limited capacity and has a phonological store to hold words which are heard and the articulatory loop allows for maintenance rehearsal with subvocal repletion and the PL is about 2 seconds
what is the VSS?
it is referred to as the inner eye and has limited capacity. it has a temporary memory to hold visual or spatial information and a visual cache which links to an ‘inner scribe’ which is also maintenance rehearsal for example planning a route. it stores and processes visual and spatial info allowing for geographical orientation to learn our environment
what is the episodic buffer?
it was added in 2000 as a response to criticisms about the model which said that it was missing the link to the LTM. the EB was therefore made to show the link between the two. its temporary storage for the CE. has a sense of time sequencing such as ‘this, then that’ etc.
what did Baddeley 1975 find about multitasking?
he found that although the participants could not multitask using the same slave system twice. in this case they were reading a paragraph while chatting ‘la, la, la’. they found this task very difficult. this supports the WMM it demonstrates the limited capacity of slave system. because there is a limit it explains why their pl could not do two tasks at once and instead focused on ‘la, la, la’ instead.
what is the word length effect?
a test which shows that the PL lasts around 1.5 to 2 seconds. this is why it is harder to recall a list of long words over shot words and the longer words take too much tune to rehearse. due to this, monosyllabic words are easier to recall that polysyllabic words
what are the two predictions of the WMM about multitasking?
if two tasks are from the same component, they cannot be performed together
if two tasks make use of different components, it should be possible to perform them as well as together as separately
what did Shallice & Warrington find with KF?
KF had brain bandage from a motorcycle accident
His STM forgetting of auditory letters and digits was greater than forgetting of visual stimuli
Only affected letters and words but not meaningful ones such as a cat meowing
This shows that there are separate components for visual and verbal information
this supports WMM as it further shows memory is not unitary but has many parts, in this case the PL and VSS
why should KF not be generalised?
its a case study and so lacks population validity
How did Paulesu prove that memory is not unitary?
using neuroimaging, he found that different parts of the brain were active when using the PL and articulatory loop which shows that there are separate sections of the brain used by the PL and that its not unitary
what is weak with the WMM?
the CE is largely theoretical and lacks experimental support and because it is abstract it is not fully testable and so empirical data cannot be gathered making it unscientific
what is strong with the WMM?
lots of experimental research with tests of specific hypothesis to do with testable outcomes of STM. this research is scientific as there is an emphasis on control, objectivity and replicability
