working memory model

• what is the WMM?

  an explanation of how STM is organised and how it functions made by baddeley and hitch
• describe the central executive

  monitors incoming data, focuses and divides our limited attention and allocates slave systems to tasks, it has a limited processing capacity and doesnt store information
• why are the systems called slave systems?

  the central executive coordinates the activites of the 3 subsystems
• describe the phonological loop

  deals with auditory information, coded acoustically and preserves the order in which information arrives, its subdivided into :

  -phonological store = stored words you hear

  -articulatory process = allows maintenance rehearsal and the capacity of this loop is believed to be 2s worth of what you say
• describe the visuo-spatial sketchpad

  stores visual and/or spatial information e.g count how many windows in your house you must visualise it in your head, it has a limited capacity according to baddeley its 3-4 objects, logie divided VSS into :

  -visual cache = stores visual data

  -inner scribe = records arrangements of objects in visual field
• describe the episodic buffer

  added in 2000, its a temporary store which brings together material from other subsystems into a single memory instead of separate, limited capacity of 4 chunks and links WMM to LTM and seen as a storage component for central executive
• give me one strength and its counterpoint for the WMM

  strength = shalice and warrington found that KF cant recall words spoken to him (auditory) but could when he read to himself (visual), his phonological loop was damaged but his VSS wasnt which supports seperate visual and acoustic stores

  counterpoint= however its unclear if he had any other cognitive impairments which might have affected his memory e.g his injury was by a motorbike, trauma might have affected his cognitive abilities apart from any brain injury= challenges clinical evidence that brain affected by different systems
• give another strength of the WMM

  strength = studies of the dual task by baddeley, performance was low of two visual tasks than one verbal (PL) and one visual task because they compete for the same slave system (VSS) this shows there must be a VSS for processing visual input and PL for processing verbal input
• give one limitation of the WMM

  lack of clarity over central executive, baddeley argued its the least understood and is more than just attention, some psychologists think the CE has separate subcomponents meaning that CE is an unsatisfactory component and challenges the integrity of the WMM
• how valid is the WMM for dual tasking? (evaluate x-tra)

  some studies suggests that these tasks lack mundane realism and are carried out in highly controlled lab conditions where presentation of the stimuli is timed