Working Memory Model

Question 1

Who created the WMM?

Answer 1

Baddley and Hitch

Question 2

What did Baddley and Hitch’s working memory model replace the idea of?

Answer 2

Replaced the idea of a unitary Short-term memory.

Question 3

What did Baddley and Hitch believe about the WMM?

Answer 3

That the STM is more active and complex than the Multi-Store Model has suggested.

Question 4

What does the WMM consist of?

Answer 4

• THE CENTRAL EXECUTIVE
• THE PHONOLOGICAL LOOP
• THE VISUO-SPATIAL SKETCHPAD
• EPISODIC BUFFER.

Question 5

What is the CENTRAL EXECUTIVE?

Answer 5

• It is the main part of the WMM
• ‘Controls’ the other ‘slave’ components
• Decides which component is required for the task.

Question 6

What does the CENTRAL EXECUTIVE do?

Answer 6

• It decides what the working memory pays attention to
• It is involved in higher mental processes such as DECISION MAKING and REASONING
• It can process information from different senses as each is coded differently.
• It can handle more than one task at once
• It allocates ATTENTIONAL DEMANDS to the ‘slave’ components by deciding which task is most important and should be handled first.

Question 7

What is the PHONOLOGICAL LOOP?

Answer 7

• It codes information ACOUSTICALLY (noises + words)
• Has two parts: SPEECH PERCEPTION and SPEECH PRODUCTION

Question 8

What is the PRIMARY ACOUSTIC STORE? (PAS)

Answer 8

• Linked to SPEECH PERCEPTION and UNDERSTANDING
• It is a SHORT TERM STORE that receives ACOUSTIC information and holds info for 1-2 seconds
• It remembers sounds in the same order that they were received in.

Question 9

How long does the Primary Acoustic Store hold information for?

Answer 9

Holds the information for approximately 1-2 seconds

Question 10

What is the Articulatory Process? (AP)

Answer 10

• Linked to speech PRODUCTION
• Used to VOCALLY REHEARSE and STORE sounds collected by the Primary Acoustic Store
• Information from the Primary Acoustic Store is REPEATED in a LOOP to PREVENT DECAY

Question 11

What is the capacity of the Articulatory Process?

Answer 11

The capacity is 2 seconds of speech

Question 12

What is the Visual spatial sketchpad? (VSSP)

Answer 12

• VISUAL RELATED; shape, form, colour
• Codes and rehearse information through visualising mental images
• Has a limited capacity of 3-4 objects

Question 13

What is the capacity of the Visual Spatial SKETCHPAD?

Answer 13

Has a limited capacity of 3-4 objects

Question 14

What did Logie (1995) subdivide the Visual spatial sketchpad into:

Answer 14

The VISUAL CACHE and the INNER SCRIBE

Question 15

What does the VISUAL CACHE do?

Answer 15

Stores passive VISUAL information about FORM and COLOUR

Question 16

What is the INNER SCRIBE?

Answer 16

It is your own SPATIAL AWARENESS. (e.g, follows a mental map)

• Also rehearses and transfers information into the visual cache to the central executive (e.g navigation from the bedroom to the kitchen)

Question 17

What does the EPISODIC BUFFER do?

Answer 17

• Takes information from the Visual spatial sketchpad and phonological loop and integrates them together
• It processes tasks that require both slave systems (e.g following directions rom a satnav)

Question 18

What does the EPISODIC BUFFER have?

Answer 18

• It has a TEMPORAL STORAGE SYSTEM
• Has links to long term memory - in case this information is needed by the working memory, there is a two way communication system with the LTM

Question 19

What is the capacity of the Episodic Buffer?

Answer 19

It has a LIMITED CAPACITY of 4 CHUNKS of information

Question 20

Which psychologist performed dual task studies?

Answer 20

Baddeley

Question 21

Who studied brain scans?

Answer 21

Cohen et al

Question 22

Who found that the WMM does not account for all types of memory?

Answer 22

Berz

Question 23

What did Berz find?

Answer 23

Berz found participants were able to listen to instrumental music without impairing performance on other acoustic tasks.

Question 24

What type of memory does the working memory model not account for:

Answer 24

Musical memory

Question 25

Strength of WMM: supporting research from dual task studies

Answer 25

* Baddeley: ppts asked to complete a verbal task in the Articulatory Loop and a separate task in the Central Executive = recall NOT affected. * However, when same participants asked to complete two SIMILAR tasks (i.e both in the ARTICULATORY LOOP) then recall on the first task is affected. * SB: demonstrates that the short term memory consists of different stores, each with limited capacity. * This increases the validity of the WMM.

Question 26

Strength of WMM: research support from brain scan studies

Answer 26

* Cohen et al: Found high brain activity in Broca’s area- linked to speech production - during verbal task * High brain activity in occipital lobe - linked to visual processing - when completing a task using VVSP * SB: provides physical evidence for the existence of the PL and VSSP. It also supports the phonological loop’s role in speech based tasks and the Visual spatial sketchpad’s role in visual tasks. * Therefore, this increases the validity of WMM

Question 27

Weakness of WMM: research refuting the idea that the central executive is unitary

Answer 27

* Case study EVR had a tumour removed from their brain. After - performed well on tasks requiring reasoning - Central Executive intact. But poor decision-making skills. * WB: The CE is responsible for both reasoning and decision-making. If CE was a single unitary store - higher mental processes would be either completely normal or damaged. In case of EVR, reasoning remained intact whilst decision-making was damaged * Shows there are several components to the CE - not unitary as WMM proposes, decreases the validity of the WMM.

Question 28

Weakness of WMM: doesnt account for all types of memory

Answer 28

* Berz: Found ppts were able to listen to instrumental music without impairing performance on other acoustic tasks * WB: according to WMM, doing a verbal task whilst listening to music should lead to impairment * As this is not the case, it suggests that there is a type of memory that the model does not account for - MUSICAL MEMORY. * As a result of this, we can consider the WMM as incomplete.