Working memory model

Question 1

What is the working-memory model?

Answer 1

An explanation of how STM is organised and how it functions.

Question 2

What does the central executive do?

Answer 2

Monitors incoming data, focuses and divides our limited attention and allocates ‘slave systems’ to tasks.

Question 3

What does the phonological loop do?

Answer 3

Deals with auditory information and preserves the order in which info arrives.

Question 4

What is the phonological loop divided into?

Answer 4

• Phonological store
• Articulatory process

Question 5

What does the phonological store do?

Answer 5

Stores the words you hear

Question 6

What does the articulatory process do?

Answer 6

Allows maintenance rehearsal

Question 7

What does the visuo-spatial sketchpad do?

Answer 7

Processes visual and spatial information in a mental space called the ‘inner eye’.

Question 8

What is the visuo-spatial sketchpad divided into?

Answer 8

• Visual cache
• Inner scribe

Question 9

What does the episodic buffer do?

Answer 9

Brings together material from the other subsystems into a single memory rather than single strands

Question 10

One strength is that there is clinical evidence from studies. - Explain this point

Answer 10

• Case study: KF.
• KF had poor STM ability for sound information but could process visual information.
• Suggests his phonological loop was damaged but his VSS was intact.
• Supports existence of seperate visual/acoustic memory stores.

Question 11

One strength is that there are studies of dual-task performance that support the seperate existence of the VSS. - Explain

Answer 11

• Baddeley’s participans carried out verbal and visual task at the same time, performance was similar to when they did them seperate.
• But when both were visual or both were verbal, performance decreased.
• Both tasks used same slave system.
• Suggests there must be a seperate slave system to process visual input.

Question 12

One limitation is that there is a lack of clarity over the nature of the central executive. - Explain

Answer 12

• Baddeley: ‘The CE is the most important but least understood component’.
• Needs to be more specified than just being ‘attention’.
• CE is an unsatisfactory component and this challenges the integrity of the WMM.