Memory - Working memory model

Question 1

What did Baddeley and Hitch do?

Answer 1

1974
* They argued that the picture of STM provided by the Multi Store Memory model is way too simple
* They proposed the Working memory model which is an alternative explanation of STM
* STM is shown to be processed in 3 different stores/slave systems

Question 2

Explain Dual Task Performance

Answer 2

• Stemmed from dual task experiments
• Researchers discovered that people are able to do one visual and one verbal task at the same time with their performance not being interfered with
• When you perform 2 visual or 2 verbal tasks at the same time, you will perform worse than if you do them separately
• Suggests there’s one store for visual processing and one store for auditory processing which formed the basis of the working memory model

Question 3

Explain an overview of the working memory model

Answer 3

• This model shows that STM comprises of 4 components that work together to enable us to perform simple tasks
• All components are different in terms of capacity and coding
  Components:
• The central Executive
• Phonological Loop
• Visuo Spatial Sketchpad
• Episodic Buffer

Question 4

Explain the Central Executive

Answer 4

• The boss - main component of WMM and drives whole system
• Coding: modality free - can deal with information from any of the senses
• Capacity: Very limited - can only pay attention to a small amount of stimuli
• Decides what we selectively pay attention to and how important new info is
• Has control over the other 3 components
• Sends info to the relevant stores: phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad
• Active when dealing with cognitive tasks such as mental arithmatic and problem solving - allocates processing resources to these activities

Question 5

Explain the Phonological Loop

Answer 5

• Slave system - auditory info
• Coding: acoustic
• Capacity: limted - can only hold what can be said in 2 seconds
• Preserves order information, use phonological loop to rehearse key points you want to say and contributes to learning sounds and language
• Accesses LTM store to retrieve information about language sounds which allows us to develop our vocab as childrn and in a foreign language

Question 6

What are the 2 parts of the Phonological Loop?

Answer 6

Part 1: Phonological store - inner ear, it holds words you hear in a speech based format
Part 2: Articulatory Control System - inner voice, allows for maintanence rehersal

Question 7

Explain Visuo Spatial Sketchpad

Answer 7

• Slave system 2
• Coding: Visual and spatial
• Capacity: limited to 3-4 objects
• Stores and manipulates visual and spatial info which is the relationship between things
• Access LTM and retrive visual spatial info like if you are asked to think of something you sit on, an image of a chair will be retrieved from LTM

Question 8

What are the 2 parts of the Visuo Spatial Sketchpad?

Answer 8

Logie 1995 divided it into 2:
Part 1: Visual Cache - stores info about form and colour
Part 2: The Inner Scribe - records an object’s spatial position in the visual field and it rehearses and transfers info in the visual cache to the central executive

Question 9

Explain the Episodic Buffer

Answer 9

• Slave system 3
• Added to the model in 2000
• Coding: modality free, can deal with info from any of the other slave systems
• Capacity: limited, can only hold upto 4 chunks of info
• General store and acts as a backup store which communicates with the LTM and components of the working memory
• Takes all info from other components and forms a memory of what’s happening, it’s dedicated to intergrating the visual, spatial and verbal info and maintaining a time sequencing like recording events of what are happening
• Links working memory model to LTM and wider cognitive processes such as perception