working memory 1 Flashcards

Question

blind and sighted peoples VSSP as evidence for functional distinction of visual and spatial

Answer 1

blind people generate spatial representations of environment almost as accurately as sighted (Schmidt et al., 2013) this uses same mechanisms as sighted people but without visual input - shows distinct systems maintain sense of where you are in environment without visual stimulus - spatial ability without visual imagery

Answer 2

Klauer and Zhao (2004) participants did one of two tasks: 1. memory of dot location on a grid (spatial) 2. memory of Chinese characters - which was presented (visual) sometimes complete task with colour discrimination task (visual interference) sometimes complete task with with movement discrimination (spatial interference) **predictions** if there are separate visual and spatial systems: * spatial interference task should disrupt performance more on spatial than visual task * visual interference task should disrupt performance more on visual than spatial **results** * supported predictions * movement interfered with both task - more with dots than characters * colour interfered with characters but not dots location idea that domain specificity causes conflict --> visual-visual task doesn't work well due to being overworked

Answer 3

CE is a homunculus - a critical part of the model that is not explained further homunculus = "small human like thing" - like a small person in your head making decisions and controlling things doesn't say how it does that despite WM relying on that

Answer 4

are two separate domain-specific storage systems needed e.g. VSSP and PL the fact that both are split down further too also other senses are needed - haptics, taste, smell idea of less is more - why split it up so much

Answer 5

complex span task to assess storage and processing of information 1. present a letter to remember (storage) 2. present a maths equation to say if it makes sense (processing) 3. another letter to remember 4. maths equation again and say if it makes sense 5. letter to remember 6. maths equation etc at the end, recall all stored letters accuracy of recall = DV this requires switching between using working memory to store and manipulate information

Answer 6

use complex span task to see if tasks conflict with each other use verbal and/or visuospatial info for storage and/or processing to see if performance varies - due to conflict e.g. verbal - verbal = same domain e.g. verbal - visuospatial = different domain **storage** verbal = letters, numbers, words visuospatial = location on a grid, shapes, patterns **processing** verbal = decision about equations, lexicality, rhyme visuospatial = decisions about symmetry, orientation, identity

Answer 7

domain-specificity predicts lower recall performance for same domain than different domain due to overloading of component of WM - resource is already used up

Answer 8

rationale = previous studies used task combinations that vary on more aspects than just the representational domain - response modality required --> this confound might have affected the results previous experimental design issues

Answer 9

complex span task verbal storage = auditory nonwords (e.g. lorro) - remember these - at the end click and select which words were presented to them verbal processing = make judgement of if two letters are rhymes e.g. B+D are, A+J are not visuospatial storage = remember locations in a grid - click where this was at the end visuospatial processing = asked whether two letters share axis of symmetry e.g. CD do (horizontal) but AC do not (vertical and horizontal)

Answer 10

no difference between same-domain and different-domain combinations therefore there may be no need for two separate storage systems however, lacks validity as it is the only study on this - needs more support this is just the start of challenging the assumptions of the model

Answer 11

are two separate memory systems needed (WM and LTM) e.g. no effort needed to remember some LTM things so is this actually being drawn out of LTM into WM or is there more overlap Occam's razor = explanations with fewer assumptions are preferred

Answer 12

representations in LTM are activated by similar words which are linked in a network e.g. "red" activates concepts such as: colour, roses, apples, fire etc. these other activations then spread further across linked network

Answer 13

**2 embedded components** * focus of attention = current contents of working memory * activated part of long term memory = nearest terms in network to it WM holds a limited amount of info temporarily in a heightened state of availability for use in ongoing info processing idea of WM as a subset of representations in LTM, not a separate system activate specific parts of LTM when we need it - more focussed - becomes more easily accessible when activated

Answer 14

idea that letters to remember (storage) are not new concepts - often used symbols and so will be in the "focus of attention" and easily accessible - already have these concepts that just needed activating but this would then spread and activate related things - how would a single representation be selected for processing and recall? - flaw of this model

Answer 15

*picture as a bullseye over a network of spreading activation* added layer to cowan's model which allows for activation of a single representation narrow focus of attention = one currently selected representation - can be recalled and processed broad focus of attention = region of direct access to representations bound to current context - readily activated for when it is needed activated part of long-term memory = wider spreading activations

Answer 16

the specific letters needed for storage and recall are in the narrow focus of attention * unclear how many representations are in broad focus of attention * capacity of processing * variation across individuals

working memory 1 Flashcards

(40 cards)