Working Memory Model (WMM)

• Active processes

  WMM is a model of STM

  Baddeley and Hitch believed that the STM store in the Multi-store Model was too simplistic: they thought that short term memory was not a passive store, but several active processes that manipulate information. 

  When does WWM work? Examples?

  When working on a match problem or playing chess or comprehending language etc…
• Central executive 

  Central Executive allocates slave systems 

  = Considered the most important part of working memory, because it controls attention and coordinates the actions of the other components.

  = Can briefly store information, but has a limited capacity.

  (NB: recent views suggest there may be no storage at all)

  =  The central executive is modality free, which means that it can store information in any sense form.

  = Coding is flexible
• Phonological loop

  The phonological loop consists of two parts, the articulatory control system and the phonological store:

  = deals with auditory information and preserves the order in which the info arrives.

  It is subdivided into:

  • Phonological store: stores the words you hear
  • Articulatory process: allows maintenance rehearsal (repeating sounds to keep them in WM while they are needed)

  = Coding: acoustic

  = Capacity: about 2 seconds ’worth of what you can say
• Visuospatial sketchpad

  = Stores and manipulates visual and/or spatial information when required (eg. recalling how many windows your house has)

  = Input is from the eyes or long term memory. If you imagine an object and then picture it rotating you are using your visuo-spatial sketchpad.

  = Logie (1995) subdivided VSS into:

  • Visual cache : stores visual data
  • Inner scribe: records arrangements of objects in visual field
• Episodic buffer

  The episodic buffer is a fairly recent addition to the WWM (Baddeley, 2000).

  • Temporary store for information
  • Integrates visual,spatial and verbal information from other stores
  • Maintains sense of time sequencing- recording events ( episodes) that are happening
  • Links to LTM
  • Coding is flexible
  • Capacity: about 4 chunks
• AO3 - Evaluation

  (+) Case studies support

  Shallice and Warrington studied K.F whose short-term forgetting of auditory info was much greater than his forgetting of visual info.

  Therefore, his brain damage appeared to be restricting his phonological loop and not his visuo-spatial sketchpad.

  This supports the idea of a separate component for auditory and visual info, as suggested by WMM.
• AO3 - Evaluation

  (+) Dual task studies

  Hitch and Baddeley (1976) found that Pts were slower in a dual task study that involves both the central executive and articulatory loop, in comparison to a task which required just the articulatory loop

  This shows the dual task performance effect and shows that the central executive is separate from the articulatory loop.

  This supports the idea of multiple components in STM and the idea of WMM
• AO3 - Evaluation

  (-) Central executive

  Eslinger and Damasio (1985) studied EVR, who had a cerebral tumour involved. Although he performed well on some tests requiring reasoning, he had poor decision-making skills and would spend hours making simple decisions.

  This case suggests that the idea of a single CE is wrong and there are possibly several different components within our CE

  This suggests that the function of the CE is more complex than Baddeley and Hitch originally suggested.
• AO3 - Evaluation

  (+) Plausible model

  The working memory model is high in face validity, this means that the model seems plausible. In this case, it seems plausible because it fits with everyday experience of manipulating information when solving problems, with short term memory as a dynamic process rather than a static store.