working memory model

• working memory model

  = representation of STM. It suggests that STM is a dynamic processor of different types of information using subunits co-ordinated by a central decision-making system.
• WWM

  = Baddeley and Hitch

  • an explanation of how one aspect of memory is organised and how it functions. The WWM is concerned with the 'mental space' that is active when we are temporarily storing and manipulating information.
• central executive

  = monitors incoming data, focuses and divides our limited attention and allocates 'slave systems' to tasks.

  • limited processing capacity and does not store information.
• phonological loop

  = deals with auditory information and preserves the order in which the information arrives.

  • phonological store= stores the words that you hear.
  • articulatory process, which allows maintenance rehearsal. The capacity of this 'loop' is believed to be two seconds' worth of what you can say.
• visuo-spatial sketchpad

  = stores visual and or spatial information when required. It has a limited capacity of about 2 or 3 objects.

  • visual cache= which stores visual data.
  • inner scribe= which records the arrangement of objects in the visual field.
• episodic buffer

  = temporary store for information, integrating the visual, spatial and verbal information processed by other stores and maintaining a sense of time sequencing.

  • it can be seen as the storage component of the central executive and has a limited capacity of about 4 chunks.
  • links working memory to LTM and wider cognitive processes such as perception.
• Evaluation- clinical evidence

  = Shallice and Warrington's case study of KF.- after injury, had poor STM ability for auditory information but could process visual information normally. eg: Recall of letters and digits was better when he read them than when they were read to him.

  • KF's phonological loop was damaged but his visuo-spatial sketchpad was intact.
  • supports the existence of separate visual and acoustic memory stores.
• Evaluation- counterpoint

  = unclear whether KF had other cognitive impairments which might have affected his performance on memory tasks. eg: injury was from a motorcycle accident - trauma involved may have affected his cognitive performance quite apart from any brain injury.

  • so challenges evidence that comes from clinical studies of people with brain injuries that may have affected many different systems.
• Evaluation- dual task performance

  = studies of dual-task performance support the separate existence of the visuo-spatial sketchpad.

  • Baddeley, participants carried out a visual and verbal task at the same time, their performance on each was similar to when they carried out the tasks separately. But when both tasks were visual, performance on both declined. - because both visual tasks compete for the same slave subsystem, but there's no competition when performing a verbal and visual task together.
  • so there must be a separate slave system that processes visual input.
• Evaluation- nature of the central executive

  limitation= lack of clarity over the nature of the central executive.

  • Baddeley said the central executive is most important but least understood.
  • the central executive needs to be more clearly specified than just being simply 'attention'.
  • this means that the CE is an unsatisfactory component and this challenges the integrity of the WMM