What part of memory is the WMM an explanation for?
Short-term memory
What is the WMM concerned with?
The 'mental space' active when we are temporarilystoring and manipulating information
What are the five main components of the WMM?
Central executive, phonological loop, visuo-spatial sketchpad, episodic buffer, long-term memory
What role does the central executive have?
A 'supervisory' role
Does the central executive store information?
No
What is the processing capacity of the central executive?
Very limited
What does the central executive do?
Monitors incoming data, focuses and divides our limitedattention and allocates subsystems to tasks
What two components is the phonological loop split into?
1 . Phonological store
2 . Articulatory process
What is the phonological store?
Storeswords we hear
What is the articulatory store?
Repeatssounds/words in a loop to keep them in working memory while needed (allows maintenance rehearsal)
What is the capacity of the phonological loop believed to be?
2 seconds worth of what you can say
What does the phonological loop do?
Deals with auditory information and preserves the order in which informationarrives
What does the visuo-spatial sketchpad do?
Stores visual and/or spatialinformation when required
What two components is the visuo-spatial sketchpad divided into according to Logie?
1 . Visual cache
2. Inner scribe
Who split the visuo-spatial sketchpad into two components?
Logie
What is the capacity of the visuo-spatial sketchpad according to Baddeley?
3 or 4 objects
What is the visual cache?
Stores visual data
What is the inner scribe?
Records the arrangement of objects in the visual field
What is the episodic buffer?
A temporary store for information, integrating the visual, spatial and verbal information processed by stores
What does the episodic buffer link working memory to?
Long-term memory
What can the episodic buffer be seen as?
The storage component of the central executive
What is the capacity of the episodic buffer?
About 4 chunks
What does the episodic buffer maintain a sense of?
Time sequencing - recordingepisodes that are happening
What can the working memory model explain that the multi-store model cannot?
Dual-task performance
Strength: Clinical evidence
What? Research support
Who? Shallice and Warrington - KF, poor STM ability for auditory information but normal processing of visual information; Phonological loop damaged but visuo-spatial sketchpad not
Why? Supports separatevisual and acoustic stores
Counterpoint: Clinical evidence
What? Unclear if KF had other cognitive impairments
Who? Trauma may have affected his cognitive performance
Why? Challenges evidence - brain injuries may have affected many different systems
Strength: Dual-task performance
What? Studies of dual-task performance support separate existence of visuo-spatial sketchpad
Who? Baddeley - Visual and verbal task, performance similar VS Both tasks visual, performance declines (Both visual tasks compete for same subsystem)
Why? Shows separate subsystem for visual and verbalprocessing
Limitation: Nature of central executive
What? Lack of clarity over nature of CE
Who? Baddeley - Needs to be more clearly specified than just being 'attention' (May consist of separate subcomponents)