Working Memory Model

Question 1

What’s the working memory model?

Answer 1

• Baddeley and Hitch (1974)
• criticism of multi-store model
• questions existence of a single STM store
• explanation of how STM is organised and how it functions
• consists of four main components
• STM is seen as an active store instead of a passive store

Question 2

What are the two predictions of the WMM?

Answer 2

• if two tasks make use of the same component, they can’t be performed successfully together
• if two tasks make use of different components, they can be performed as well together as separately
• e.g. two visual tasks = poor performance

Question 3

Weaknesses of the MSM

Answer 3

• not supported by case study of KF
• oversimplified - says there’s only one type of STM
• too much emphasis on the role of rehearsal

Question 4

What’s the phonological loop?

Answer 4

• stores auditory and verbal information (acoustic coding)
• remembers the order the information is presented
• when words are written down on a page, we use subvocal rehearsal (in our head) to store them
• divided into the phonological store and the articulatory process
• limited capacity

Question 5

What’s the phonological store?

Answer 5

• passive store
• holds information for 1-2 seconds
• filters out information that is not needed

Question 6

What’s the articulatory process?

Answer 6

• allows maintenance rehearsal
• holds information needed for an ongoing task, until it’s no longer needed
• capacity is how many words we can say in two seconds

Question 7

What’s the word length effect?

Answer 7

• short monosyllabic words are recalled more successfully than longer polysyllabic words
• supports idea that the phonological loop holds the amount of information we can say in 2 seconds

Question 8

What’s articulatory suppression?

Answer 8

• prevention from rehearsal by repeating an irrelevant sound - it fills up the space and displaces the actual information to be remembered
• performing two tasks which both require the phonological loop can be difficult
• e.g. revising whilst listening to music

Question 9

What’s the phonological similarity effect?

Answer 9

• words that sound alike aren’t usually recalled as well as words that sound different
• supports idea that phonological loop uses acoustic coding

Question 10

What’s the visuo-spatial sketchpad?

Answer 10

• limited capacity
• stores visual and spatial information
• divided into the visual cache and the inner scribe

Question 11

What’s the inner scribe?

Answer 11

• stores spatial information (position of something, relationship between things)

Question 12

What’s the visual cache?

Answer 12

• stores visual information (appearance)

Question 13

What’s the episodic buffer?

Answer 13

• multi-modal store
• combines information from all five senses to create episodic memories
• added to the model in 2000
• limited capacity
• links working memory to LTM

Question 14

What’s the central executive?

Answer 14

• manages activity of all three stores
• directs correct information to each store and divides attention across stores
• no storage capacity
• limited attention capacity
• can become overloaded

Question 15

Strength - clinical evidence

Answer 15

Patient KF
- damage to his STM but no damage to his LTM
- impaired verbal STM but intact visual STM
- only his phonological loop had been damaged
- WMM says we have multiple STM stores
- MSM can’t explain this
- however, case studies are unique so can’t be generalised

Question 16

Strength - dual task performance

Answer 16

Baddeley (1975)
- showed that participants had more difficulty doing two visual tasks than doing a visual and verbal task at the same time
- this is because both visual tasks require the visuo-spatial sketchpad
- there’s no competition when doing a verbal and visual task
- provides support for their separate existence

Question 17

Strength - neuroimaging

Answer 17

• different parts of the brain are active during visual and verbal working memory tasks
• occipital lobe is active during visual tasks
• temporal lobe is active during verbal tasks

Question 18

weakness - artificial tasks

Answer 18

• tasks performed don’t relate to everyday life
• lacks ecological validity

Question 19

Weakness - central executive

Answer 19

• lacks falsifiability
• doesn’t explain anything
• vague and untestable
• some believe that it consists of separate components so it hasn’t been fully explained