Memory- Working Memory Flashcards
Key components of working memory-
The central executive-
Features: Controls the other slave components.
Capacity: limited storage capacity, no capacity for storing data.
Coding: each sense coded differently
The phonological loop-
Features: primary acoustic store- linked to speech production, remembers sounds in order.
- articulatory process store- used to prepare sound and speech by rehearsal
-capacity: 2 sec worth of what can say
Capacity: sound based info is help for 1-2 seconds.
Coding: codes info acoustically.
VSSP:
Subdivided to visual cache- stores material about form and colour.
Inner scribe- handles spatial relationships.
Capacity: limited, 3-4 objects.
Coding: codes info visually.
Episodic buffer:
Brings together different types of info from other components.
Links to LTM
Capacity: limited capacity of 4 chunks
Evaluation
Research support from dual task:
Evidence comes from research that has found we can do two DIFFERENT tasks at the same time. Eg, baddeley and hitch illustrated this using laboratory investigation which demonstrated that we can visually do two DIFFERENT tasks that take up different resources. They found that when participants were asked to complete verbal task in articulatory process and separate task in central executive, recall is not affected. However when asked to do similar tasks then recall on first is affected. Suggests there are different components in WMM and has limited capacity.
Research support from PET scans:
Empirical support from PET scans provide psychological evidence of different components specialising in particular tasks. Eg, cohen et al found that brain activities were higher in brocas area(part of brain)(linked to speech production) when participants were completing verbal task. Whereas regions of occipital lobe(linked to visual processing) are activated when participants complete task using VSSP. This provides strong neuro cognitive support suggesting there being different components being responsible for different STM tasks.
CE oversimplified:
One major issue is theres not enough detail about HOW CE actually works. If it controls whole system then there must be research about its importance. Its obvious that there’s interaction between components when completing tasks but not clear how it happens in real life memory. However evidence thst conflicts with unitary CE comes from case study of EVR. After having tumour removed, performed well on reasoning tasks(CE intact) but poor decision making(CE damaged). Suggests there are several components to CE and in EVR only one was damaged.
WMM not account for all types of memory:
One factor that undermines the WMM as explanation for memory is its inability to account for all types of memory. Berz criticed the model for failing to account for musical memory, as we are able to listen to music without impairing performance on other acoustic tasks. Listening to instrumental music should occupy the primary acoustic stores limited capacity making it difficult to carry out other acoustic tasks. However is not the case. Suggests WMM doesn’t give us complete picture of how different types of memory are processed.
Difference between MSM and WMM
Msm processing info is passive WHEREAS WMM info is active.
Stm in msm is one component WHEREAS stm in WMM is multiple component structure.
Information in msm passes in a fixed order WHEREAS there is interchange between components of WM and no fixed order.
Coding in STM is acoustic in msm WHEREAS coding in stm is acoustic and visual in WM
