Working Model of Memory Flashcards
What does WMM say about STM?
Made up of multiple parts (not just one unitary store as
indicated by MSM)
What does the phonological loop deal with?
Acoustic/sound information e.g. speech
Limited storage
What two sub-systems is the phonological loop split into?
Articulatory Loop - voices information you are rehearsing
Primary Acoustic
Store - holds on to the memory of sounds.
What does the visuo-spatial sketch pad deal with?
Memory of imagery - visual and spatial images
e.g. reading and navigation
Limited capacity
What does to central executive do?
Manages two slave systems
Doesn’t handle memories but it allocates them to the slave systems
No storage
Pays attention and switches tasks
Non-specific modality - processes any of the 5 senses
How does the KF case study support the WMM?
Damaged his short-term memory from motorcycle accident but impairment
was mainly verbal information and his memory for visual information was largely unaffected so shows that there are separate STM components for visual
information (VSSP) and verbal information (phonological loop), meaning the theory is
more credible
Why is WMM an incomplete explanation?
Doesn’t include the LTM so its a less of a complete explanation of human memory than MSM
meaning it might be less credible
How is WMM useful?
Explains problems that people with dementia may have because they have a decline in central executive ability which means they cannot pay attention or switch tasks,so its a credible theory as it can explain
real world events/behaviour
Why is it a less credible explanation that the central executive is focused on the two slave systems in WMM?
Not much is known about the function of the central executive so it is difficult to scientifically test its
role in memory meaning it might be a less credible explanation of human memory
How is the WMM more holistic than the original?
Episodic buffer was added to the theory in 2000, to explain how memory gets from
STM to LTM
How does Parkin conflict the WMM?
Could not find any special areas of activity in brain scans when conducting CE tasks, suggesting that the model might not be credible as there is no empirical evidence that one of its
core components exist
