The working memory model

Cards (15)

  • The WMM is an explanation of how short-term memory is organized and how it functions.
  • The WMM suggests that STM is an active processor of different types of information using sub systems (slave systems), which are coordinated by a central decision making system.
  • The WMM is made up of four components
    • central executive
    • phonological loop
    • visuo-spatial sketchpad
    • episodic buffer
  • The central executive supervises and has overall control. It monitors incoming data and allocates tasks to the slave systems.
  • The CE has limited capacity, however encoding is flexible as it can process information from any sensory system, like vision, hearing, touch, taste or smell.
  • The phonological loop processes auditory information and deals with verbal information. It keeps the order at which the info arrived.
  • Encoding in the phonological loop is acoustic, capacity is about two seconds worth of what you can say.
  • The PL is sub-divided into two stores
    • the phonological store - stores the words that you hear
    • the articulatory control system - allows maintenance rehearsal, repeating sounds to keep them in the working memory while they're needed.
  • the visuo-spatial sketchpad processes visual and spatial information, encoding is visual and spatial. Provides a bridge from working memory to long-term memory.
  • the VSS has a capacity of three to four objects.
  • The VSS is divided into two stores
    • the visual cache - stores a limited amount of visual data briefly
    • the inner scribe - records the arrangement of objects in the visual field.
  • The episodic buffer is a temporary store of information.
  • The EB integrates visual, spatial and verbal information from other stores. It also provides a bridge between the working memory and the long-term memory.
  • The EB maintains a sense of time sequencing, recording events (episodes) that are happening.
  • The EB links to the long-term memory for information. Encoding is flexible and it has a capacity of about four chunks.