Working Memory Model Flashcards
(24 cards)
What is it based on the principle of?
2 tasks can be carried out at the same time as long as they use separate components of the work in model
If we try and complete 2 tasks on the same component, we become overloaded and cant complete it
What did the original 1974 model only focus on?
STM
Who was the model later amended by?
Baddeley in 2000- with the episodic buffer
What are the 4 main components of WMM?
Central executive
Phonological loop
Visuo-spatial sketchpad
Episodic buffer
What does the central executive divide into?
The phonological loop and the visual-spatial sketchpad
The phonological loop divides into the articulatory process and the primary acoustic store
What is the central executive?
The control unit
Monitors incoming data
focuses and divides our limited attention (coordinates the activity needed to carry out more than 1 task at a time)
Allocates slave systems to tasks
What is the capacity like in central executive?
Very limited
What is one of the slave systems?
Phonological loop
What does the phonological loop do?
Deals with auditory information and preserves the order in which the information arrives
What is the primary acoustic store (phonological store)?
Stores the words we hear
Speech perception
Limited capacity
What is the articulatory process (inner voice)?
Allows maintenance rehearsal
Repeating sounds or words in a loop to keep them in working memory while they are needed (maintained by subvocal repetition)
Limited capacity
Temporary storage system
What is the second slave system?
The visuo-spatial sketchpad
What does the VSS store?
Visual/spatial information- helps us to navigate our physical environment
What is the capacity of VSS like?
Limited capacity (3/4 items- Baddeley)
Temporary memory system
What does the VSS divide into?
The visual cache- stores visual data
The inner scribe— records teh arrangement of objects in the visual field
What is the third slave system?
The episodic buffer
Why was episodic buffer introduced?
Explains how we temporarily store infromation combined from the central executive, phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad and long term memory
What is the capacity of episodic buffer?
4 chunks (Baddeley)
What does the episodc memory link working memory to?
Long-term memory
Evidence for WMM: Logie et al?
The ppts play a game and at the same time, carry out either a visuospatial distracted task or a verbal memory distracted task
The visuospatial task impaired performance on perceptual motor
Verbal memory task disrupted performance on verbal elements of the game
Strengths- case study: KF?
KF had poor STM ability for auditory information but could process visual information normally
E.g. his immediate recall of letters and digits was better when he read them (visual) than when they were read to him (acoustic)
His phonological loop was damaged but his visuospatial sketchpad was intact
Supports the separate visual and acoustic memory stores
Weaknesses of MSM: complete understanding, STM, central executive?
Does not offer a complete understanding of how memory works
Only involves STM- not a full theory
Exact role the central executive plays is slightly unclear- appears to be the most importantly but it is the part we know least about,
Research generated is artificial tasks/conditions
Lacks mundane realism, no external validity
Strength: practical application?
De Jong investigated dyslexia
Dyslexia involves deficits in the phonological loop and central executive functioning- affects children’s learning of phonics
A student has to be able to connect letters with the correct sounds, put them together to form a word, keep that word in mind while they read the next word, string those words together into a sentence and then figure out the meaning of all those words
To be able to take apart and analyse sounds in words requires the student to have a strong/active working memory- this affects spelling too
Research has shown a distinct link between WMM and reading comprehension
Limitation- lack of clarity over the nature of the central executive?
Baddeley recognised this when he said “the central executive is the most important but the least understood component of WMM”
The CE needs to be more clearly specified than just being simply attention
E.g. some psychologists believe the CE may consist of separate subcomponents
Means that CE challenges the integrity of WMM
