Working memory model

Cards (16)

  • Working memory model

    An improved version of the short-term memory store in the multi-store model
  • Working memory model

    • Able to hold and work on both auditory and visual information in short-term memory
  • Central executive

    The part of the working memory model that pays attention to information from the senses and controls the subsystems
  • Phonological loop

    Processes auditory information like sounds and words, consisting of a phonological store (inner ear) and articulatory process (inner voice)
  • Visuospatial sketchpad

    Processes visual and spatial information, consisting of a visual cache (passive store for forms and colour) and inner scribe (active store for 3D relationships)
  • Episodic buffer

    Integrates and stores information from visual, acoustic and long-term memory stores
  • Coding: Phonological loop is acoustic, visuospatial sketchpad is visual
  • Capacity: Phonological loop is what can be said in 2 seconds, central executive is limited to 4 items +/- 1
  • Dual task performance study

    Participants perform two tasks:
    1. Two visual tasks (tracking lights, describing letter F angles)
    2. One visual task and one verbal task
    Participants performed much better on the two different tasks, suggesting separation of visual and verbal processing
  • Case study of KF showed selective impairment to verbal short-term memory but not visual, suggesting phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad are separate processes
  • Brain scanning evidence showed more activation in prefrontal cortex when integrating visual and verbal information, suggesting existence of episodic buffer
  • Study found people could remember more short monosyllabic words than longer words, supporting 2 second capacity of phonological loop
  • The central executive is responsible for controlling attention, planning, problem-solving, and decision making.
  • Long-term memory stores unlimited amounts of information that can be retrieved when needed.
  • Working memory has limited capacity and duration, with the ability to hold only four chunks of information at once for up to 20 seconds.
  • There are three components of working memory: the phonological loop (for processing auditory information), the visuo-spatial sketchpad (for processing visual and spatial information), and the episodic buffer (which links these two systems).