Working memory model Flashcards
(21 cards)
What does the model propose ?
STM does not consist of a single unitary store as the MSM suggested, but consists of active component stores holding different pieces of information at any one time while they are being “worked on”
Who proposed the Working Memory Model
Baddeley and Hitch
Explain dual processing in STM
- Ppts who were asked to perform two similar tasks simultaneously performed less well compared to when they were asked to perform 2 dissimilar tasks
Explain procedure of Baddeley’s dual processing experiment
Ppts were asked to carry out two simultaneous tasks requiring the use of separate components (visual and verbal)
Explain the findings of Baddeley’s dual processing experiment
When Ppts were asked to carry out two tasks that use the same component Eg: visual and visual.
The performance was less efficient than carrying them out individually
What was the conclusions for Baddeley’s dual processing experiment
Shows that sound and vision are processed separately by different stores. Sound is processed by the phonological loop and visual information by the visual spatial sketch pad
What are the 5 components of the WMM
- Central executive
- Visuospatial sketch pad
- Phonological loop
- Episode buffer
- Long term memory
What does the central executive do ?
- control centre which acts as a processor dealing with incoming information and sending it to the sub - systems
- non specific modality and processes any information from any of the 5 senses
- directs attention to particular tasks. Involved in monitoring and coordinating info and making decisions which ‘slave systems’ to allocate resources to
- very limited capacity as it can’t attend to too much info at once, virtually no capacity to store data
What does the phonological loop do ?
- acoustically coded
- used for speaking and listening tasks and is divided into 2 further sub-systems: the phonological store and articulatory control system
What does the phonological store do
- Holds the memory of sounds and stores the words heard
- verbal information is kept in a speech based format for 1 to 2 seconds
- known as the inner ear
What does the articulatory control system do
- Rehearses information through sub - vocalisation (talking to yourself) to keep the information ‘alive’ within the store.
- known as the inner voice
Explain Baddeley’s word length experiment
Procedure: Ppts were given single syllables words or multi-syllable words to recall
Findings: Ppts could remember more singly syllable words than multi - syllabic ones, they called this the word length effect
Conclusion: provides strong evidence that we can hold as much and we can say in 1-2 seconds, supporting the duration of the phonological store
What is the visual spatial sketch pad
- temporary storage system used for the manipulation, planning and understanding of visual & spatial information
- used whenever navigation and interaction with the physical environment is needed
- has a limited capacity storing about 3-4 objects
- known as the ‘inner eye’
What 2 sub systems is the visuo spatial sketch pad divided into
Visual cache - stores visual data regarding form (what things look like) and Color
Inner scribe - stores spatial and movement data. Involves rehearsing information from visual cache
Procedure for Research in visual spatial sketch pad
Asked ppts to do 2 tasks that would utilise them viso-spatial sketch pad either separately or at the same time
One task was to use a pointer to track a point of light moving around on a screen, and the other task was to imagine a capital F and mentally move round the edge of the letter classifying the angles as either belonging to its top or bottom
Explain the findings of research into visuo-spatial sketch pad
- Ppts were able to perform the tasks separately without any difficulty, but when they did them together their performance at both was impaired
- if they asked them to do one of the two tasks at the same time as the verbal task then they were as good as the visual task as when performing it alone
Conclusion for research into visuo-spatial sketch pad
Shows that when tasks are using the limited capacity of the visuo-spatial sketch pad that it is unable to handle information that uses the same type of info
Eg: visual info as the visuo-spatial sketch pad has a limited capacity storing
Explain the episodic buffer
- Added to the model in 2000
- explains how information incoming from STM can be integrated into the LTM
- it is episodic in nature as it holds information as episodes and scenes within our memory and maintains a sense of time so events occur in a continuing sequence
Strengths: practical applications
I: practical applications based on research from WMM
E: individuals with dyslexia and ADHD often have limited performance for phonological loop processing but superior performance in the visuo-spatial sketch pad. Meaning that it has lead to increased teacher awareness of WM problems and interventions such as breaking down tasks and use visual aids in lessons
C: demonstrates research based on the WMM can help improve the lives of people in areas of education and health care
Strength: supporting evidence, research
I: supporting evidence for concepts within the WMM from experimental research
E: Baddeley’s word length effect experiment
C: demonstrates that the WMM is a valid explanation of memory
Weakness: Vague
I: vague and untestable concepts within the WMM
E: central executive is supposed to be the most important component, however it is unclear as to how it actually works, very little know about it due to limited experimental research
Now a fully comprehensible account of LTM and it has problems explaining how the practice of skills impacts memory
C: demonstrates that although WMM is the accepted view of STM, there are issues which may affect the validity of the model
