Working Memory Model (WMM) Flashcards
Who created the Working Memory Model (WMM)
Baddeley (1974)
What is the purpose of the WMM
It helps to focus on the organisation and function of the STM. This is a more sophisticated and complex explanation of the STM compared to the MSM
What is the first part of the WMM and what does it do
The first part is the Central Executive (CE), it’s a supervisor that monitors incoming data and divides our limited attention by allocating information to the subsystems.
What are the features of the CE
It has limited capacity and doesn’t store information but it can process information from any sensory modality. Theres limited knowledge on how the CE works
What’s the second part of the WMM and what does it do
The phonological loop is next, It’s responsible for holding auditory information. It preserves the order of how information arrives.
What are the features of the PL
It’s coded acoustically and is broken into two systems, the phonological store (stores words heard) and the articulatory loop (allows for maintenance rehearsal). Its duration is 2 seconds and has limited capacity
What’s the third store in the WMM, and what does it do
The Visuo-spatial sketchpad (VSS), stores visual information and spatial information.
What are the features of the VSS
It has a limited capacity of 3-4 objects according to Baddeley (2003). The VSS has limited capacity. Logins (1995) says that the VSS is spilt into two subsystems, the visual cache (stores visual data) and the inner scribe (records the arrangement of objects in the visual field).
The fourth part of the WMM is the episodic buffer, What does it do
The episodic buffer integrates visual and spatial and verbal information. It maintains time sequencing order of events.
What are the features of the episodic buffer
It has a limited capacity of 3-4 chunks, baddeley’s (2012) study shows that it’s also a storage component of the CE and links to the LTM.
what did Baddeley (1975) do in order to create the WMM
He conducted a study on dual task performance. p’s would complete a verbal and visual task at the same time.
What were baddeley’s (1975) findings on dual task performance
He found that their performance was similar to when the two tasks were completed separately. But, when both tasks were visual (VSS) or verbal (PL) their performance declined as the systems became overloaded
