Working memory model

• Who proposed the working memory model?

  Baddeley and Hitch
• What year was the working memory model proposed?

  1974
• What does it suggest STM consists of?

  Active component stores
• Describe the dual-processing experiment

  Participants were asked to recite aloud a 7 digit number whilst reading verbal reasoning tasks at the same time

  Most found the task difficult to complete as the two tasks required use of the same component and so were competing for the same resources within the phonological loop

  STM is an active stire and has independently functioning components
• Describe the purpose of the central executive

  -Acts as a processor

  -Deals with incoming information and sends it to the subsystems

  -Directs attention to particular tasks

  -Limited capacity
• When is the central executive used?

  -Mental arithmetic

  -Problem solving

  -Comprehension tasks

  -Switching attention between tasks
• Describe the phonological loop

  -Acoustically coded

  -Used for speaking and listening tasks

  -Divided into two subsystems

  -Phonological store holds memory of sounds and stores words heard. Verbal information is kept in a speech-based format for 1-2 seconds (inner ear)

  -Articulatory control system rehearses information through sub vocalisation (inner voice)
• Describe Baddeley's word length experiment

  Participants were asked to recall the same amount of words either long or short in length

  Participants found it more difficult to recall words longer in length even though they had the same amount of words to recall

  STM has a phonological store which holds speech-based information for words which can be heard and spoken quickly. Pronunciation time determines the capacity of STM
• Describe the visuospatial sketchpad

  -Used for manipulation, planning and understanding of visual and spatial information

  -Limited capacity (3-4 items)

  -Known as the inner eye

  -Divided into two further subsystems

  -Visual cache stores visual data regarding form and colour

  -Inner scribe stores spatial and movement data, involves rehearsing data from visual cache
• Describe research investigating the visuospatial sketchpad

  Participants were asked to complete two visual tasks at the same time - tracking a moving spot of light and mentally navigating a route around an angular letter

  Participants used their VSS to complete this task but found it difficult to do

  STM has a VSS which is used in the navigation and planning of information
• Describe the episodic buffer

  -Added in 2000

  -Explains how information can be integrated into LTM from STM

  -Holds information as episodes and scenes

  -Maintains a sense of time so events occur in a continuous sequence