the working memory model

Question 1

who devised the working memory model

Answer 1

Baddeley and Hitch (1974)

Question 2

what is the working memory model

Answer 2

• an explanation of how short term memory is organised and how it functions

Question 3

what are the 4 components of the working memory model

Answer 3

• central executive
• phonological loop
• visuo- spatial sketchpad
  episodic buffer

Question 4

what is the central executive

Answer 4

• supervisory role
• monitors incoming data
• focus and divide our attention
• allocates subsystems to task
• limited processing capacity

Question 5

what is the phonological loop

Answer 5

• deal with auditory information
• perseveres the order in which the information arrives
• subdivided into the phonological store which stores the words you hear and the articulacy process which allows maintenance rehearsal
• capacity of 2 seconds

Question 6

what is the visuo spatial sketchpad

Answer 6

• stores visual and spatial information
  capacity of 4 objects (Baddeley 2003)
  subdivided into the visual cache which stores visual data and the inner scribe which records the arrangement of objects in the visual

Question 7

what is the episodic buffer

Answer 7

• added by Baddeley (2000)
• temporary store for information
• integrates the visual spatial and verbal information processed by other stores
• maintains a sense of time sequencing
• capacity of 4 chunks (Baddeley 2012)
• links working memory to long term memory

Question 8

strengths of the working memory model

Answer 8

1. clinical evidence
   - Shallice and Warringtons (1970) case study of patient KF
   - after brain injury KF had poor STM ability for auditory information but could process visual information normally
   - immediate recall of letters and digits better when he read them than when they were read to him
   KFs phonological loop was damaged but his visual spatial sketchpad was intact
2. Dual task performance
   - studies of dual task performance support the separate existence of the visuo spatial sketchpad
   - when Baddeley et al (1975) participants carried out a visula and verbal task at the same time (dual task) their performance on each was similar to when they carried out the task separately
   - but when both tasks were visual performance on both declined
   - this is because both visual task compete for the same subsystem wheres there is no competition when performing a verbal and visual task together

Question 9

limitation of the working memory model

Answer 9

1. nature of the central executive
   - lack of clarity over the nature of the central executive
   - Baddeley (2003) said ‘ the central executive is the most important but the least understood component of the working model’
   - some psychologist believe the CE may consist of separate sub components