WMM eval

• WMM eval strength studies of dual-task performance

  Studies of dual-task performance support the separate existence of the VSS

  Baddeley et al showed that participants had more difficulty doing 2 visual tasks (tracking a light and describing the letter F) than doing both a visual and verbal task at the same time

  This increased difficulty is bc both visual tasks compete for the same slave system whereas, when doing a verbal and visual task at the same time, there is no competition

  This means there must be a separate slave system (the VSS) that processes visual input and a separate system for verbal processes (the PL)
• WMM eval strength clincial evidence

  Clinical evidence: Shallice and Warrington's case study of patient KF who had suffered brain damage

  After this damage happened, KF had poor STM ability for verbal info but could process visual info normally when presented with it

  He had difficulty with sounds but could recall letters and digits

  This suggests that just his PL had been damaged, supporting the existence of a separate visual and auditory store
• counterpoint of WMM eval clinical evidence

  Counterpoint: It's unclear whether KF had any other cognitive impairments which may have affected his performance on memory tasks i.e some of the key evidence for WMM comes from case studies of individuals who have suffered serious brain damage, for which there are a number of associated problems therefore you cant make before and after comparisons. This challenges evidence from clinical studies of brain injury
• WMM eval limitation very little is known about how the CE works

  Very little is known about how the CE works

  Critics feel that the notion of a single CE is wrong and that it's more complex than currently represented i.e there's more than one component

  For e.g, Eslinger and Damasaio studied EVR after brain surgery and found he performed well on tests requiring reasoning however had poor decision-making skills suggesting his CE was not wholly intact

  This means that the CE hasnt been fully explained
• WMM eval limitation validity of the model

  Validity of the model

  Dual-task studies support the WMM bc they show that there must be separate components processing visual (VSS) and verbal info (PL)

  However these studies are highly-controlled and use tasks that are unlike everyday working memory tasks

  This challenges the validity of the model bc it's not certain that working memory operates this way in everyday situations