Baddeley and Hitch questioned the MSM, believing the short term store was more than a single store. Instead, they saw the short term memory as an activestore, that holds several pieces of info whilst being workedon
Define the central executive
monitors and coordinates all other mentalfunctions in working memory.
Define the episodic buffer
receives input from many sources, temporarily stores this info, then integrates it in order to construct a mental episode of what is being expected
Define phonological loop
codes speech sounds in working memory, typically involving maintenancesrehearsal.
Define Visuo-spatial sketch pad
codes visual information in terms of separate objects as well as the arrangement of these objects in ones visual field.
What is the role of the central executive?
it acts as a filter to monitorincominginfo; deciding which information is paid attention to.
It makes decision and deals with cognitivetasks.
Directs information to other slave systems
Has a limited capacuity, can only cope with onestrand of information
Can process information from any sensory system.
what is the role of the phonological loop?
Deals with auditory information, preserves the order of it.
Has two subdivisions- the phonological store and an articulatelyprocess
The phonological store holds the words you hear, like the innerear
The articulately process is used for wordsheard or seen. They are silentlyrepeated.
what is the role of Visuo-spatial sketchpad?
temporary store for the relationship between visual and spatial items
helps individuals navigate around and interact with their physical environment
limited capacity of around 3/4 items
divided into a visual cache and inner scribe
visual cache- stores information about visualitems
inner scribe- stores arrangement of objects in the visualfield
what is the role of the episodic buffer?
the general store, which combines information from the CE, PL, VSS and LTM.
has a limited capacity of 4chunks, and can process information from anysensorysystem.
sends information to the LTM
What is the capacity of the central executive?
1strand of information
what is the capacity of the phonological loop?
limited- its determined by how much can be spoken in 2 seconds.
what is the capacity of the visuo-spatial sketchpad?
3-4items
evaluation point 1 WMM- Case studies
POINT- One strength is there’s research support via case studies to provide evidence that the memory stores are not unitary
EVIDENCE— Shallice and Warrington reported the case of KF- who was brain damaged as a result of a motorcycle accident. They found his STM could not process verbal information, but could process visual information.
EXPLAIN- Therefore, there is evidence in support of the working memory model, as it states that visual and auditory material are held separately in the STM store. this also provides evidence that the STM cannot be unitary
evaluation point 2 WMM- contradicting research
POINT- One weakness is there is research which goes against certain key ideas.
EVIDENCE- Bertz demonstrated that participants could listen to instrumental music without impairingperformance on other acoustic tasks. the research indicated that it was possible for 2auditory tasks to be completed at the sametime.
EXPLAIN- The working memory model states that the PL does not allow 2 tasks to be completed at the same time due to a limitedcapacity.But both tasks used the phonologicalloop and completed tasks successfully, going against WMM.
evaluation point 3- central executive
POINT- There is evidence that contradics the WMM, particularly the CE.
EVIDENCE- EVR had a cerebraltumour removed after which he performed well on tests requiringreasoning, however his decision making skills were poor.
EXPLAIN- The model suggests the CE is a singlestore, but many believe it must be subdivided. The evidence shows that differenttasks performed by the CE had different amounts of damage, suggesting that its more than a singlestore.
LINK- So, the researchdecreases the validity of the WMM.