Working memory model

• What are the four parts of the working memory model?

  centeral executive

  phonological loop

  eposodic buffer

  visual spatial sketchpad
• what is the centeral executive?

  . acts as a filter to determine which info is recieved

  . processes info in all sensory forms

  . directs info to the slave systemsand recieves responses

  . limited capacity can get overwhelmed

  . directs attention
• what did Baddeley (1996) suggest about the CE capacity ?

  limited capacity

  participants had to generate lists of random numbers while simultaniously switching between pressing numbers and letters on a keyboard.

  competing for the CE
• what is the phonological loop?

  . auditory info

  . lexial data(words)

  . similar to maintenance rehearsal in MSM

  . limited capacity of woerds said in 2 secs , confusion of similar sounds
• what is the primary acoustic store?

  stores words recently heard
• what are the articulatory processes?

  . keeps info in the PL

  . allows sub vocal repetition

  . linked to speech production
• what did Trojani & Grossi (1995)conclude ?

  the VSS and PL are two seperate systems

  reported a case study of SC who had brain damage affecting the functioningof his PL but not his VSS
• what did Baddeley et al (1975) conclude about the PL capacity?

  the capacity of the PL is set by how long it takes to say words rather than the actual number words

  participants recalled more short words in serial order compared to longer words
• what is the Visuo-spatial sketchpad ?

  handles non-phonological information

  temporary store for visual and spatial items

  navigatearound and interact with their physical environment

  information being coded and rehearsed through the use of mental pictures
• what are the two sub-divisions of the VSS?

  visual cache

  inner scribe
• what is the visual cache?

  stores visual material about form and colour
• what is the inner scribe?

  handles spatial relationships

  rehearses and transfers info in the visual cache to the CE
• what did Gathercrole & Baddeley (1993) suggest about the VSS?

  it was a seperate slave system

  participants ahd little difficulty in tracking the light and performing a simultaneous verbal tasks
• what is the episodic buffer?

  temporary storage combined from all slave systems
• what did Prabhakaran et al (2000)show about the EB?

  FMRIs showed greater right- frontal brain activation for combined verbal and spatial information

  providing biological evidence of an EB that allows temporary storage of integrated info
• what did Alkhalifa (2009) suggest about the EB?

  reported om a patient with severely impared LTM who demonstrated STM capacity of up to 25 prose items , exceeding the capacity of both the PL & VSS

  suggests the existence of an EB , which holds items in working memory until they are recalled
• what was the aim in Ashaa Alkhalifa (2009)?

  to determine the existance of the EB

  by seeing if parallel presented info overwhelms both the PL and the VSS causing a reduction in learning
• what was the procedure - Ashaa Alkhalifa(2009)

  48 uni students were presented with numbers on a screen given either as a sequence or in parallel fashion where participants compare information in different parts of the screen simultaneously

  numbers of sufficient complexity were used to overwhelm the capacities of both the PL & VSS
• what were the findings? - Ashaa Alkhalifa (2009)

  participants given numbers presented in a sequence got more problem solving questions right than those given the parallel
• what were the conclusions ? - Ashaa Alkhalifa (2009)

  as sequential processing was more effective, it suggests the total capacity of WM is larger than determined by the capacity of the PL & VSS, implying the existance of the EB
• what were the evaluation points ?- Ashaa Alkhalifa (2009)

  . students will be able to learn more material with teaching methods that use sequential rather than parallel means

  . the EB provides the storage space and the CE the underlying processing of info that allows seperation of accurate recall from false memories and delusions

  . seen as a strengthening of the model's ability to explain how memories work