the working memory model

Question 1

who proposed the working memory model

Answer 1

baddeley & hitch (1974)

Question 2

what is it an explanation for

Answer 2

how the STM is organised & how it functions

Question 3

what are the 4 main components

Answer 3

• central executive
• phonological loop
• visuo-spatial sketch pad
• episodic buffer

Question 4

describe the central executive

Answer 4

• ‘supervisory’ role
• monitors incoming data
• focuses/divided limited attention
• allocates subsystems to tasks
• very limited processing capacity
• does not store information

Question 5

describe the visuo-spatial sketchpad

Answer 5

• 2nd subsystem
• stores visual and/or spatial information
• limited capacity (baddeley 2003) - 3/4 objects
• robert logie (1995) subdivided it into:
  - visual cache = stores visual data
  - inner scribe = records arrangement of
  objects in visual field

Question 6

describe the episodic buffer

Answer 6

• 3rd subsystem
• added to model (baddeley 2000)
• temporary store for info
• integrates visual, spatial & verbal info processed by other stores
• maintains sense of time sequencing
• storage component of central executive
• limited capacity = 4 chunks (baddeley 2012)
• links working memory to LTM & wider cognitive processes eg. perception

Question 7

evaluation of working memory model - AO3

Answer 7

+) clinical evidence
P: support from Tim Shallice & Elizabeth Warrington’s (1970) case study of KF
E: after his brain injury, KF had poor STM ability for auditory info but could process visual info normally eg. his immediate recall of letters/digits were better when he read them than when they were read too him. KF’s phonological loop was damaged but his visuo-spatial sketchpad was intact.
T: strongly supports existence of separate visual & acoustic memory stores
-) COUNTERPOINT
P: unclear whether KF had other cognitive impairments (apart from damage to phonological loop) that may have affected his performance on memort tasks
E: eg. his injury was caused by a motorcycle accident & the trauma may have affected his cognitive performance
T: this challenges are evidence from clinical studies of people with brain injuries that may have affected many different systems

+) dual-task performance
P: studies of dual-task performance support separate existence of visuo-spatial sketchpad
E: when baddeley et al.’s (1975) participants carried out visual & verbal task at same time, their performance on each was similar. when both tasks were visual/verbal (same subsystem), performance declined substantially
T: shows there must be a separate subsystem that processes visual input (VSS) & verbal (PL)

-) nature of central executive
P: lack of clarity over nature of CE
E: baddeley (2003) recognised this in a statement how it is the ‘least understood component’ - the CE needs to be more clearly specified than just ‘attention’ eg. some believe it has consists of separate subcomponents
T: CE is an unsatisfactory component which challenges the integrity of the wmm

Question 8

(extra) validity of the mode

Answer 8

(+) we have seen dual-task studies support the wmm as 2 tasks that share a subsystem are harder to peform than those that use separate ones - thus, separate components in wmm
(-) these studies use tasks unlike tasks performed in everyday lives & in highly controlled lab conditions