The working memory model

• What does the working memory model (WMM) explain?

  How short-term memory is organized
• What type of evidence supports the WMM?

  Clinical evidence from brain-damaged patients
• Who conducted a study on patient KF?

  Shallice and Warmington
• What was KF's ability after brain damage?

  Poor STM for sounds, normal for visuals
• What does KF's case suggest about memory stores?

  Existence of separate visual and acoustic stores
• Why might evidence from brain-damaged patients be unreliable?

  It involves unique cases with traumatic experiences
• What do studies of dual-task performance support?

  The separate existence of the visuo-spatial sketchpad
• Who conducted the dual-task performance study in 1975?

  Baddeley et al.
• What was the finding of Baddeley et al.'s dual-task study?

  More difficulty with two visual tasks
• Why do two visual tasks create more difficulty?

  They compete for the same slave system
• What is the role of the central executive in the WMM?

  Coordinates activities of the subsystems
• What did Baddeley say about the central executive?

  It is the least understood component
• What do some psychologists believe about the central executive?

  It may consist of separate components
• What is the word length effect?

  Difficulty remembering long words over short ones
• What happens to the word length effect with articulatory suppression?

  It disappears during the task
• What did Baddeley et al. (1975) demonstrate about word length effect?

  People struggle more with long words
• What did Braver et al. (1997) study in relation to the WMM?

  Activity in the central executive area
• What was observed in the left prefrontal cortex during tasks?

  Increased activity as tasks became harder
• What are the components of the working memory model (WMM)?

  • Central executive (CE)
  • Phonological loop (PL)
  • Phonological store
  • Articulatory process
  • Visuo-spatial sketchpad (VSS)
  • Visual cache
  • Inner scribe
  • Episodic buffer (EB)
• What are the functions of the phonological loop (PL)?

  • Processes auditory information
  • Preserves order of items
  • Subdivided into:
  • Phonological store (stores heard words)
  • Articulatory process (allows maintenance rehearsal)
• What are the functions of the visuo-spatial sketchpad (VSS)?

  • Processes visual and spatial information
  • Limited capacity (about 3-4 objects)
  • Subdivided into:
  • Visual cache (stores visual data)
  • Inner scribe (records arrangement of objects)
• What is the role of the episodic buffer (EB)?

  • Temporary store for information
  • Integrates information from other stores
  • Maintains sense of time sequence
• What are the limitations of the central executive (CE)?

  • Lacks clarity and specification
  • Considered unsatisfactory by psychologists
  • May consist of separate components
• What is the significance of brain scanning studies for the WMM?

  • Show activity in the central executive area
  • Support the theory of the WMM
  • Indicate increased activity with task difficulty
• What is the importance of the word length effect in memory studies?

  • Demonstrates limitations of the phonological loop
  • Shows difficulty in recalling longer words
  • Highlights the role of rehearsal in memory
• How does dual-task performance relate to the WMM?

  • Supports the existence of separate memory systems
  • Shows competition for the same slave system
  • Illustrates the limitations of cognitive resources