Working memory model

Question 1

what kind of memory does the working memory model explain?

Answer 1

short term memory

Question 2

What is the working memory model consisted of?

Answer 2

central executive, phonological loop, visuo-spatial sketchpad, episodic buffer

Question 3

What is the central executive?

Answer 3

An attentional process that monitors incoming data, and allocates slave systems to tasks.

Question 4

what is the capacity of the central executive?

Answer 4

very limited.

Question 5

what does the phonological loop store, and how is it encoded?

Answer 5

auditory information, acoustically encoded.

it preserves the order in which information arrives.

Question 6

what is the phonological loop subdivided into?

Answer 6

phonological store, and the articulatory process.

phonological store: stores words you hear.
articulatory process: allows maintenance rehearsal, the capacity is 2 seconds worth of what you can say.

Question 7

what is the visuo-spatial sketchpad?

Answer 7

stores visual and/or spatial information when required.

Question 8

what is the visuo-spatial sketchpad subdivided into?

Answer 8

the visual cache and the inner scribe.

visual cache: stores visual data
inner scribe: records the arrangement of objects in the visual field.

Question 9

what is the episodic buffer?

Answer 9

added by Baddley, it is a temporary store which integrates the visual, spatial, and auditory information processed by other stores. also maintains a sense of time sequencing.

Question 10

what is the capacity of the episodic buffer?

Answer 10

4 chunks

Question 11

evaluate the WMM.

Answer 11

1. strength: research support, case study KF. after his brain injury, KF had poor STM ability for auditory information but was ok with visual information. his phonological loop was damaged and his visuo-spatial sketchpad was okay. This supports the separate visual and auditory information.
2. weakness: lack of clarity over nature of CE. Baddeley should’ve discussed the importance of the CE, other psychologists believe that the CE should be subdivided. The CE challenges the integrity of the WMM.