4. WMM

Cards (9)

  • What is the working memory model?
    • An explanation of how STM is organised and how it functions
    • Concerned with the 'mental space' that is active when we are temporarily storing and manipulating information
    • The model consists of four main components, each of which is qualitatively different especially in terms of coding and capacity
  • Central executive
    • 'Supervisory' role
    • Monitors incoming data, focuses and divides our limited attention and allocates subsystems to tasks
    • Limited processing capacity and does not store information
    • Codes depending on the sense
  • Phonological loop
    • Deals with auditory information and codes acoustically
    • Preserves the order in which information arrives
    • Limited capacity of 2 seconds
    • Subdivided into a phonological store (stores the words you hear) and articulatory process (allows maintenance rehearsal and a 2 second capacity worth of what you can say)
  • Visuo-spatial sketchpad
    • Stores iconic memory when required
    • Has a limited capacity of 3-4 items
    • Codes iconically
    • Subdivided into visual cache (stores visual data) and inner scribe (records the arrangement of objects in the visual field)
  • Episodic buffer
    • Temporary store for info integrating the visual, spatial and verbal info processed by other stores and maintaining a sense of time-sequencing recorded events
    • Can be seen as the storage component of the CE
    • Codes depending on the sense
    • Limited capacity of 4 items
    • Links working memory to LTM and perception
  • Strength - case studies/clinical evidence
    • Shallice and Warrington study of patient KF
    • After his brain injury, KF had poor STM ability for auditory information but could process visual information normally
    • Phonological loop was damaged but his visuo-spatial sketchpad remained intact
    • Supports the idea of separate subsystems within the WMM
  • Counterpoint - did KF have other cognitive impairments?
    • If there is, they might have affected his performance on memory tasks
    • His injury was caused by a motorcycle accident and the trauma involved may have affected his cognitive performance
  • Strength - studies of dual task performance
    • Supports separate existence of the VSS
    • When Baddely's pps carried out a visual and verbal task at the same time their performance on each was similar to when carried out separetely
    • When both tasks were visual or both verbal, performance on both declined substantially due to both tasks competing for the same subsystem
    • Shows support for seperate subsytems
  • Limitation - lack of clarity over the nature of the CE
    • Baddely recognised this himself when he said 'The central executive is the most important but least understood component of working memory'
    • It needs to be more clearly specified than just simply being 'attention' - some psychologists believe the CE may consist of separate subcomponents
    • Challenges integrity of WMM