2 Memory- Working Memory Model Flashcards
(22 cards)
who proposed the WMM?
Baddeley and Hitch in 1974
what does the WMM propose?
STM has limited capacity with multiple components
-comprises of three components
what are the three components of the STM?
CE- central executive
PL- phonological loop
VSS- visuo-spatial sketchpad
what is the CE?
this is the main part of the STM, controls attention and coordinates the actions of the other components
-supervises and controls the flow of information within the STM
what is the capacity in the CE?
limited- deals with one task at a time, attention switches between tasks when divided between tasks
what does the CE being modality free mean?
it stores information in any sense modality
what is the PL?
this ‘slave’ component holds articulatory and auditory information
what is the capacity like in the PL?
limited, only a temporary storage system
what are the two parts of the PL?
primary acoustic store
-inner ear
articulatory loop
-inner voice
what is the primary acoustic store in the PL?
inner ear
-stores the words you hear
-holding info in a speech based form for 1-2 seconds
-written words must be converted into spoken code before entering this store
what is the articulatory loop in the PL?
it rehearses information from the phonological store verbally
-limited capacity of 2 seconds
what is the VSS?
this stores and manipulates visual and spatial information (spatial- input from eyes or LTM)
capacity in the VSS
limited capacity
what are the two components within the VSS?
inner scribe
visual cache
what is the inner scribe in the VSS?
this is responsible for spatial 3D tasks and movement
what is the visual cache in the VSS?
it is responsible for shape and colour identification
what is the episodic buffer?
provides temporary storage for the components in all modalities, and to help combine information together from the other components and long term memory
A03 WMM
supporting study
(KF case study)
this supports the model
-KF suffered brain damage from motorcycle accident, damaging his STM, had verbal information impairment
-suggests there are multiple components for verbal information (PL) and visual (VSS)
A03 WMM
supporting study
(baddeley et al)
he found that participants struggled to do two tasks at a time that both required the VSS (tracking point of light and spatial task), and managed to do a verbal task while tracking light better
-suggests that two tasks require use of the same system cannot be performed, there is limited capacity in the stores
-when using the VSS and PL, tasks can be carried out simultaneously
A03 WMM
opposing evidence
(credibility of research)
research support may lack credibility
-studies have been conducted in laboratories, performing artificial tasks, lacking mundane realism
-does not reflect real world memory, unnatural tasks that test memory, lacks ecological validity and doesn’t reflect meaningful information with our LTM
A03 WMM
application
dementia patients can be supported
-baddeley found impaired performance when using both stores at the same time, problems with their CE
-we can simplify tasks, taking a tailored approach supporting people with dementia
A03 WMM
limitation
(unfalsifiable)
certain features of the WMM can be considered unfalsifiable
-details on the CE are vague and limited
-it can never be directly measured, untestable, limiting the scientific credibility of the model
