WMM Flashcards
What is the WMM?
Developed by Baddeley and Hitch (1974) as a new approach to understanding how short-term memory works. It tries to overcome some of the weaknesses of the MSM. Particularly, it accounts for the evidence that STM is not a single store. Instead STM is seen as a workplace, in which we carry out various tasks using old and new memories. Overall, the system can link to LTM through the episodic buffer
What is the central executive?
- Supervises and coordinates a number of subsidiary ‘slave’ systems
- It directs attention to particular tasks, determining at any time how ‘slave systems’ are allocated to tasks
- For novel tasks that you can’t do off the top of your head
- Says memory is active
What is the capacity for the central executive?
Limited
What is the encoding for the central executive?
Modality free
What did Bunge (2000) do?
Conducted fMRI to see which parts of the brain are most active when competing two tasks at the same time or one after the other. It was found that the same areas were active in both conditions but there was significantly more activity in the dual task. This shows increased attentional demands occur when performing multiple tasks, must be a central executive making this happen
Baddeley’s research for the central executive?
P’s were asked to generate random strings of digits on a keyboard. The task was carried out on it’s own and then whilst also doing one of the following tasks
- Reciting the alphabet
- Counting from 1
- Alternating between letters and numbers e.g. A1 B2 C3 D4
They found that the string became increasingly less random in condition 3 where participants had to switch from the alphabet to numbers at the same time. This supports the central executive and suggests we have limited attention
What is the visuo-spatial sketchpad?
Stores and processes visual and/or spatial information is stored here like an inner eye. The visual info and physical relationship of items is processed. Made up of the visuo-cache and the inner scribe
What is the visuo-cache?
Stores information of visual items
What is the inner scribe?
Stores information on the arrangement of objects in the visual field (spatial relations)
What did Gathercole & Baddeley (1993) find?
Participants were given a visual tracing task (they had to track a moving light with a pointer) at the same time they were given one of two different tasks
- Describe all angles on the letter F (VSS)
- Perform a verbal task (PL)
P’s found task 1 very difficult but task 2 much easier presumably because the second task involved 2 different components (or slave systems) but task 1 used the VSS twice. The stores can’t handle more than one thing at a time
What is the encoding of the visuo-spatial sketchpad?
Iconic (visual)
What is the capacity of the visuo-spatial sketchpad?
Limited
What is the phonological loop?
Deals with auditory information and preserves word order like an inner ear. Consists of the phonological store and the articulatory process.
What is the phonological store?
Holds words heard like an inner ear for 1.5 - 2 seconds
What is the articulatory process?
Silently repeats words (looped) like an inner voice. This is a kind of maintenance rehearsal
