The Working Memory Model

Question 1

what are the 4 components of the working memory model

Answer 1

• central executive
• visuospatial sketchpad
• episodic buffer
• phonological loop

Question 2

who developed the working memory model

Answer 2

baddeley and hitch

Question 3

what is the role of the central executive

Answer 3

• controls and coordinates the operations of the other components
• it filters which information is and is not attened to and it then directs incoming sensory information to other components

Question 4

what is the role of the phonological loop

Answer 4

responsible for processing sound based information

Question 5

what are the two sub-components of the phonological loop and explain them

Answer 5

• Phonological Store (“Inner Ear”) - system which receives sound information from the environment and stores it for 1 to 2 seconds
• Articulatory Rehearsal Process (“Inner Voice”) - verbal rehearsal component which is used to prepare speech and think in words

Question 6

what is the role of the visuospatial sketchpad

Answer 6

deals with visible and spatial information

Question 7

explain supporting evidence for the visuospatial sketchpad

Answer 7

logie et al

• particpants played a video game, at the same time they carried out either
• visuospatial distractor task or verbal memory distractor task
• they found when doing visuospatial distractor task their performance in terms of perception and movement got worse
• when doing verbal distractor task their performance in terms of verbal elements got worse

Question 8

what is the role of the episodic buffer

Answer 8

temporary store for informatio

Question 9

What is the capacity of the central executive?

Answer 9

Very limited capacity — can only focus on a few things at a time.

Question 10

Explain why two tasks involving the same type of processing (e.g., both visual or both verbal) cannot be performed at the same time.

Answer 10

The central executive has a limited capacity and can only direct attention to one type of information at a time. When two tasks require the same component (e.g., both using the visuospatial sketchpad), the central executive struggles to manage them simultaneously, causing performance to drop.

Question 11

How does dual-task performance support the idea of separate components in the working memory model?

Answer 11

When people perform two tasks that use different components (e.g., one visual and one verbal), performance doesn’t suffer. This shows the central executive can manage tasks efficiently when they rely on separate systems like the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad, supporting the idea of multiple, independent stores.

Question 12

strength

Evaluate the working memory model

Answer 12

• P - supporting evidence
• Eg - logie et al foujnd when participants played a video game while performing a second task, performance depended on the type of task. a visual distractor task impared visual aspects of the game while a verbal distractor impaired verbal aspects
• Ex- this supports the idea that the visuospatial sketchpad and phonological loopp are seperate stores that deal with differerent types of information
• L - increases the validity of the WMM
• H - the task done in the study may not reflect everyday memory use, meaning ecological validity is limited

Question 13

limitation

Evaluate the working memory model

Answer 13

• P - the central executive is not fully understood
• Eg - baddeley himself stated that the central executive is the most important component yet the least understood
• Ex - this means the model lacks clarity about how attention is controlled and how tasks are allocated between the slave systems. withjout a clear understanding of how the central executive works, the model is difficult to test scientifically
• L - reduces the validity of the WMM
• H - researchers argue that a full lack of understanding of the central executive does not necessarily invalidate the model