THE WORKING MEMORY MODEL

• who proposed the Working Memory Model (WMM)?

  Baddeley & Hitch (1974)
• what does the WMM explain?

  how STM is organised & how it functions
• what are the 4 components of the WMM?

  central executive, phonological loop, episodic buffer & visuospatial sketchpad
• what is the function of central executive?

  it monitors incoming data, focuses & divides our limited attention, & allocates subsystems to tasks
• what is the coding & capacity of CE?

  coding: modality free

  capacity: limited
• what is the function of the phonological loop?

  deals with auditory information
• what is the coding & capacity of PL?

  coding: acoustic

  capacity: 2 seconds worth of what you can say
• what are the 2 parts of the PL & their functions?

  - the phonological store stores the words you hear

  - the articulatory process allows maintenance rehearsal
• what is the function of the visuospatial sketchpad?

  it stores visual & spatial information when required
• what is the coding & capacity of VSS?

  coding: visual

  capacity: 3-4 objects
• what was the VSS divided into?

  - visual cache which stores visual data

  - inner scribe which records the arrangement of the objects in the visual field
• what is the function of the episodic buffer?

  integrate the information from the other stores, maintain a sense of time sequencing & links working memory to LTM & wider cognitive processes
• what is the coding & capacity of EB?

  coding: modality free

  capacity: about 4 chunks
• what is a strength of WMM?

  - P: there's support from KF' s case study

  - E: KF had poor STM ability for auditory info after his brain injury but could process visual information normally. his phonological loop was damaged but his VSS was intact

  - T: this finding strongly supports the experience of separate visual & acoustic memory stores
• what's another strength of WMM?

  - P: studies of dual-task performance support that separate existence of VSS

  - E: when Baddeley's pts carried out a visual & verbal task at the same time (dual-task) their performance on each was similar to when the tasks were carried out separately. but when the tasks were both visual or verbal performance declined, as the tasks compete for the same subsystem

  - T: there must be a separate subsystem that processes visual input & one for verbal
• what's a limitation of WMM?

  - P: there's a lack of clarity over the nature of the CE

  - E: Baddeley recognised this when he said ' the CE is the most important but least understood component of WMM'. the CE needs to be more clearly than just simply 'attention'.

  - T: CE is an unsatisfactory component & this challenges the integrity of WMM