Working Memory Model

Working Memory Model

1. It is stm.

   • Instead of all the information going into one single store,there are different systems for different type of information.
   • Central Executive
     • Drives the whole system and allocates data to the subsystems,it also deals with tasks such as mental arithmetic and problem solving
   • Phonological Store
     • Speech perception ~ holds info in speech based form for 1-2 seconds
   • Articulary Control Process
     • Speech production ~used to rehearse and store verbal info from the phonological store
   • Phonological Loop
     • Deals with spoken and written material,it consists of two parts
   • Visuo Spatial Sketch Pad
     • Stores and processes info in visual or spatial form,used for navigation

2. The labels given to the components of the working memory reflect their function and the type of information they process and manipulate.The model proposes that every component of working memory has a limited capacity and also that the components are relatively independent of each other

3. There are two predictions

   • If two tasks made use of the same component,they cannot be performed successfully together
     • If two tasks make use of different components,it should be possible to perform them as well as together as separately

4. Baddely and Hitch

   • Investigate if participants can use different parts at the same time
     • Participants were asked to perform two tasks at the same time - Repeat a list of numbers and answer true or false questions
       • As the numbers of digits incresed participants took longer to answer the reasoning questions but they didnt make any more errors in the reasoning tasks as the number of digits increased
         • The verbal reasoning task made use of the central executive and the digit span task made use of the phonological loop

5. Evaluation

   • It applies to real life tasks:Reading,Problem Solving,Navigation
   • It does not emphasize the importance of rehearsal for stm retention,in contrast to the multi store model
   • There is little direct evidence for how the central executive works and what it does
   • It only involves stm so it is not a comprehensive model of memory,it does not explain changes in processing ability that occur as the result of practice or time

6. The central executive is the most important part because it controls attention,it is modality free which means it can store info in any sense modality

7. The visuo spatial sketchpad stores and manipulates visual info,input is from eyes or ltm,if you imagine an object and then picture it rotating you are using it.

8. The episodic bufferis a fairly recent addition to the model,its purpose is to bind together all the info from other components of the memory with info about time and order,this prepares memories for storage in episodic long term memory

9. Negative evaluation

   • Still lack understanding of key concepts,there is a lack of info on how the components work,there is less research on the visuo spatial sketch pad so it's functioning is also not fully explained,It is unlikely that stm is controlled by one system as propsed by the model and so whilst the working memory model is a more sophisticated and realistic interperation of stm is not comprehensive,further research is needed

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