working memory model

• what is the working memory model?

  representation of the STM
• what is the central executive?

  - monitors incoming data, focuses and divides our limited attention and allocated to subsystems
• what is the capacity of the central executive?

  very limited
• what are the subsystems of the central executive?

  - phonological loop

  - visuo - spatial sketchpad

  - episodic buffer
• what is the phonological loop?

  - deals with auditory information

  - preserves the order in which info arrive
• what are the two subsystems of the phonological loop?

  what are their functions?

  - phonological store: stores the words we hear

  - articulatory process: allows maintenance rehearsal
• what is the visuo-spatial sketchpad?

  - stores visual or spatial information

  - inner eye (images in head)
• what are the two subsystems of the vss + what do they do?

  1) visual cache (stores visual data)

  2) inner scribe (records the arrangement of objects in the visual field)
• what is the capacity of the visuo-spatial sketchpad?

  very limited
• what is the episodic buffer?

  - the component of the WMM that brings together material from the other subsystems into a single memory rather than separate strands

  - it also provides a bridge between working memory and long-term memory.
• give a strength of the WMM

  CLINICAL EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT:

  - Warrington + Shallice

  - KF: after a brain injury he had poor STM ability for auditory information but could process visual information normally

  - suggests there is two different stores for visual + auditory info
• give a limitation of the WMM

  FUNCTION OF THE CE:

  - there is a lack of clarity over the nature of the central executive - challenges the integrity of the WMM