the working memory model Flashcards
What is the Working Memory Model (WMM)?
A representation of STM that suggests it is a dynamic processor of different types of information using sub-units coordinated by a central decision-making system.
What does the Central Executive (CE) do in the WMM?
It coordinates the activities of the three subsystems in memory and allocates processing resources to those activities.
What is the Phonological Loop (PL)?
The component of the WMM that processes information in terms of sound, including both written and spoken material.
What are the two parts of the Phonological Loop?
The phonological store and the articulatory process.
What is the Visuo-spatial Sketchpad (VSS)?
The component of the WMM that processes visual and spatial information in a mental space often called the ‘inner eye’.
What is the Episodic Buffer (EB)?
The component of the WMM that integrates material from the other subsystems into a single memory and bridges working memory with long-term memory.
What is the Dual-task technique?
Methods used to measure the performance of the different slave systems of the WMM while participants perform two tasks simultaneously.
Who developed the Working Memory Model?
Baddeley and Hitch in 1974.
What was a criticism of Atkinson and Shiffrin’s Multi-Store Model (MSM)?
It was criticized for over-simplifying STM and LTM as a single storage system.
How does the WMM view STM?
As an ‘active’ store that holds several pieces of information while they are being worked on.
What is the role of the Central Executive in attention management?
It acts as a filter to determine which information received by the sense organs is attended to.
What did Baddeley (1996) discover about task performance?
Participants found it difficult to generate lists of random numbers while simultaneously switching between pressing numbers and letters on a keyboard.
What does CE stand for in the context of cognitive resources?
CE stands for Central Executive, which is limited in capacity and can only cope with one type of information at a time.
What did D’ Esposito et al. (1995) find regarding the prefrontal cortex?
They found that the prefrontal cortex was activated when verbal and spatial tasks were performed simultaneously, suggesting its association with the Central Executive.
What is the Phonological Loop (PL)?
The PL temporarily retains language-based information in auditory form and holds the amount of information that can be spoken out loud in two seconds.
What are the components of the Phonological Loop?
The PL consists of an articulatory process and the phonological store.
What is the role of the articulatory control process?
It allows maintenance rehearsal, converting visually presented language into a phonological state through subvocal repetition.
What does the phonological store do?
The phonological store holds auditory speech information and the order in which it was heard.
What did Trojani and Grossi (1995) report about the Phonological Loop?
They reported a case study of SC, who had brain damage affecting the functioning of his PL but not his VSS, suggesting the PL is a separate system.
What is the word length effect?
The word length effect is where participants recalled more short words in serial order than longer words, supporting the idea that the capacity of the PL is determined by how long it takes to say words.
What does the Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad (VSS) do?
The VSS temporarily retains visual and spatial information and can hold 3 or 4 objects at one time.
What are the components of the Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad?
The VSS consists of the visual cache, which stores visual information about form and color, and the inner scribe, which deals with spatial relationships.
What did Klauer and Zhao (2004) find regarding visual tasks?
They reported more interference between two visual tasks than between a visual and spatial task, implying the existence of a separate visual cache and inner scribe.
What did Gathercole and Baddeley (1993) find about task performance?
They found that participants had difficulty simultaneously tracking a moving point of light and describing the angle on a hollow letter F, indicating both tasks used the VSS.
