the working memory model

Question 1

working memory model

Answer 1

• the working memory model is a model of memory which suggests that short term memory is not unitary and is made up of many different parts which information comes through to enter the long term memory
• Baddeley and hitch suggested that the short term memory consists of a central executive, phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad and an episodic buffer

Question 2

central executive - P1, A01

Answer 2

• the central executive is an attentional process that has a supervisory role
• it focuses, divides and switches out limited attention
• it monitors data which is entering the short term memory, makes decisions and allocates slave subsystems to tasks
• the central executive has a very limited processing capacity and does not store information even at a very brief level

Question 3

weakness of central executive - P1, A03

Answer 3

• one weakness of the working memory model is that there is lack of clarity over the central executive and it is an unsatisfactory component of the working memory model which does not really explain anything
• Baddeley recognised this when he wrote ‘the central executive is the most important but least understood component of the working memory model
• the central executive needs to be more clearly specified than just being defined as ‘attention’
• some researchers suspect it consists of separate subcomponents such as conscious supervisory attentional processes
• therefore, this means that due to lack of clarity over the role of the central executive, the working memory model cannot be fully explained until this is resolved

Question 4

phonological loop - P2, A01

Answer 4

• the phonological loop is one of the slave subsystems within the working memory model
• the slave systems within the working memory model work separately
• it deals with auditory information, e.g., sounds including the sound of language, so encoding is acoustic
• the phonological loop also preserves the order in which the information arrives
• the phonological loop is subdivided into the phonological store and the articulatory control system
• the phonological store stores auditory information such as the words you hear
• the articulatory control system allows maintenance rehearsal (repeating sounds or words in a ‘loop’ to keep them in the phonological store while they are needed)
• the capacity of the loop is believed to be 2 seconds worth of what you can say

Question 5

application strength of phonological loop - P2, A03

Answer 5

• One strength of the working memory model is that it can be applied to understanding more about amnesia and about the nature of the amnesia
• Shallice and Warrington conducted a case study on KF who experienced amnesia after a brain injury
• he had poor short-term memory for auditory information but could process visual information relatively normally
  e.g., his immediate recall of words and digits was much better than when they were read out to him
  KF’s phonological loop had been damaged but his visuospatial sketchpad was still intact
• therefore, this means that amnesia does not affect all memory functioning and its exact nature can be explained by the working memory model and it shows that the phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad work separately

Question 6

COUNTERARGUMENT TO application strength of phonological loop - P2, A03

Answer 6

• however, brain-injured patients like KF are unique individuals who are not necessarily typical of the wider population
  so case studies are difficult to replicate, and we cannot be sure the findings are valid
• this does not mean that we should dismiss evidence from clinical studies of amnesia but should be cautious about generalising the findings

Question 7

visuospatial sketchpad - P3, A01

Answer 7

• the visuospatial sketchpad is another slave subsystem within the working memory model which deals with visual and spatial information
• it can temporarily store visual and / or spatial information when required
• for example, when someone asks you for directions you can visualise the route in your visuospatial sketchpad
• the visuospatial sketchpad has a limited capacity which is about 3 or 4 objects according to Baddeley
• Robert Logie subdivided the visuospatial sketchpad into:
  1. the visual cache which stores visual data e.g., images
  2. the inner scribe which records the arrangement of objects in the visual field. it is a process that allows you to rehearse visual / spatial information and to maintain it in the visual cache

Question 8

strength of working memory model - support from lab experiments P3, A03

Answer 8

• one strength of this is that dual-task performance studies have supported the predictions of the working memory model
• Baddeley found in 1975 that when participants performed a visual and verbal task together (dual-task performance), performance on each was no worse than when they carried them out separately
• on the other hand, when they performed two visual tasks, performance on both declined considerably (the same is true when two verbal tasks are performed together)
• this is because both visual tasks compete for the same slave subsystem whereas, when doing a verbal and visual task together, there is no competition
• therefore, this supports the working memory model because it shows that there must be separate slave subsystems (visuospatial sketchpad and phonological loop) that process visual and verbal input

Question 9

episodic buffer

Answer 9

• the episodic buffer is the third slave system
• it is a temporary store which integrates the acoustic, visual and spatial information which is processed by other subsystems
• it also maintains a sense of time sequencing, and basically records events which are happening
• it has a limited capacity of around 4 chunks, according to Baddeley
• it combines information from the other subsystems with long-term memory and links to wider cognitive processes such as perception