Working memory model

• Who was the Working Memory Model proposed by and why?

  Proposed by Baddeley and Hitch because they felt the STM was multiple stores. Suggests one store for visual and one for acoustic processing. There are four main components of the WMM, each with different capacity, coding and duration
• What are the main steps/features of the central executive?

  • Attentional process that monitors incoming data
  • Decides how to process incoming information
  • Very limited processing capacity
• What are the main steps/features of the phonological loop?

  • One of the slave systems
  • Processes auditory info
  • Preserves order of info
  • Phonological store - stores the words you hear
  • Articultory store - maintenance rehearsal of acoustic info
• What are the main steps/features of the visuo-spatial sketchpad?

  • slave system
  • Stores visual and spatial info when required
  • Visual cache
  • Inner scribe - stores arrangement of objects in the visual field
  • Capacity limited to 3-4 objects (Baddley)
• What are the main steps/features of the episodic buffer?

  • Third slave system
  • Seen as a general
  • Both visual and acoustic info
  • Integrates info from central execute, phonological loop and the visuo-spatial sketchpad
  • Sends info to LTM
  • Capacity approximately at 4 chunks
• Give two strengths and two limitations of the WMM?

  STRENGTHS:

  • Case studies of individuals with brain damage support WMM
  • Ability to explain dual task performance - demonstrates there must be a seperate slave system that processes visual info

  LIMITATIONS:

  • Central executive criticised for being too vague because doesnt explain any mechanisms taking place in working memory
  • Problems with using people with brain damage as evidence as they arent generalisable to the general population