Flashcards
Working Memory
Cards in this deck (34)
- 1What is the modal model of memory? What does it emphasise, and what contradicts it?According to this model, a stimulus hits the sensory register, and upon recieving attention, is moved to short term memory. If rehearsed, the information is moved to long term memory, where it can reside permanently.
The key feature here is the distinction between short and long term memory.
This modl is contradicted by the case study KF, who showed damage to their short-term memory and thus shouldn't have been able to hold items long enough in this store to rehearse them enough to move them to long term memory. However, he was in fact able to learn. - 2Working Memory model (generally)This model only explains short term memory. It describes a multi-component system, which is active and dynamic.
It includes the phonological loop and visuo-spatial sketchpad, which are known as slave systems. These actually process information, as allocated by the central executive. Both include a store and an active process. Both are also able to put directly in the long term memory, or into the episodic buffer to be integrated with information from the opposite system. - 3Phonological loopThis slave system works with language-based information, which is held in the phonological store. Seen words, however, first need to first pass through the visuo-spatial sketchpad. This conversion process requires articulation or labeling via the articulatory process. Once information enters the store, it can't stay very long. However, because the store is a refreshing circuit, it is able to retain by continuously putting the information back in the store for further processing, before moving it to long term memory.
- 4Articulatory suppressionThis is suppression of the ability to say something, either verbally or mentally. This is done by making the person say something else, such as consonant sounds.
It is thought that by preoccupying the phonological loop, rehearsal doesn't occur, so memory is hindered. This was seen in a study where participants either learn a list of words with or without also doing a secondary task which caused articulatory suppression (repeating /b/). Those doing the secondary task performed significantly worse.
Research has also found that suppressing the articulatory process also slows learning of foreign words, but not learning of words from the participant's native language. - 5Dual-taskingIf tasks aren't similar, in that they use different slave systems, they can be performed simultaneously efficiently. However, if they're similar enough to require the same resources, it causes a dual-task cost.
- 6Word length effectResearch has found that words that are quicker to say are remembered better than slower words, because a faster word can be rehearsed more times in the phonological store, and thus are more likely to stay in the memory.
In a brain-damaged patient who is unable to rehearse, the word length effect disappears.
Speakers of the Welsh language show decreased recall of Welsh words, because these words are longer and cannot be rehearsed as many times. - 7What evidence contradicts the word length effect?This may be the effect of the number of neighbours that a word has. A neighbour is a word that has the same number of letters as another, and is only one letter different. Shorter words tend to have more neighbours. Research which controlled for the number of neighbours saw no word length effect.
- 8Phonological similarity effectWhen words are phonologically similar, immediate recall is decreased by about 25%. Because the phonological store is short and information here is fleeting, it becomes confusable with similar information.
- 9What is a weakness of the phonological similarity effect?There's a difference between articulatory similarity (the movements your articulators make) and acoustic similarity.
In spoken recall, these are equally influentially over recall. However, in written recall, articulatory similarity has significantly less influence over recall. - 10What is the relevance of short term memory on action control?The phonological loop can be used to control one's own actions by repeating what you need to do in your head.
In a study, participants performed a task which required action control. When their articulatory process was suppressed during this time, they made more errors.
This effect only occurs on task which have high demands on action control, however. - 11How do word length effect and dual-tasking interact?In a study, participants were required to memorise either long or short words. Some participants in each of these conditions were also performing a task which preoccupied the articulatory process.
The condition with short words (S) and one task (1) had the best performance. The condition with short words (S) and two tasks (2) was worse than S1. The condition with long words (L) and one task (1) wasn't as poor as S2, as the articulatory process could still be used to rehearse words, although not as many times, because the word is longer. When these effects combine (L2), there is no dual-task effect, since the articulatory process is already being suppressed, so the word length effect disappears, and performance is the same as S2. - 12What is the significance of the phonological loop to real life situations?A good phonological loop allows rapid learning of new words. The ability to hold words for longer in the phonlogical store allows superior phonological skills, better memory, and thus better reading.
Those with a poor phonological loop need to be told things repeatedly as their memory is more limited, and struggle with reading.
Patient PV suffered a stroke, causing damage to the left temporal lobe. Subsequently, they suffered damage to their short term memory, solely regarding linguistic processing. While their visual and spatial processing was unaffected, they were unable to learn new words or word associations, as observed when she failed to learn a single Russian word, as she couldn't keep them in her store long enough. She also couldn't follow complex language, and needed to be spoken to with short, simple sentences. - 13Visuo-spatial sketchpadThis mechanism is used for visual and spatial information. It includes a store, known as the visual cache, which is used to store information about visual form and colour. The active process is known as the inner scribe, which processes spatial and movement information. The inner scribe is also involved in the rehearsal of information from the visual cache. It's also used to transfer information from the visual cache to the central executive
- 14What evidence is there to that the visuo-spatial sketchpad exists?In the Brooks Matrix task, participants are given a set of instructions, which describe where to write particular numbers in a grid. This forms a path through the grid. In one condition, the participant later recalls the spatial words from the instructions, effectively recalling the path made through the matrix. In the control condition, the participant recalls unrelated words from the instructions, which is not aided by looking at the matrix.
When recalling spatial words, the participant could use both the phonological loop and the visuo-spatial sketchpad. This led to superior recall to the control condition, where only the phonological loop could be used.
This shows that part of short-term memory is devoted to a visuo-spatial sketchpad. - 15What evidence suggests how the visuo-spatial sketchpad functions?In a dual-task paradigm, participants recalled either spatial or control instruction words from the Brooks Matrix task, some simultaneously completing a tracking task, wherein they follow a moving object with a stylus, finger, or cursor.
Those recalling spatial words with no tracking performed the best, as they had two slave systems available.
Thos recalling control words without tracking could only use the phonological loop, and thus performed worse.
Those recalling spatial words while tracking were unable to use the visuo-spatial sketchpad, as it was preoccupied by the tracking, and thus could only use the phonological loop. They had the same performance as those recalling control words.
Those recalling control words and tracking performed similarly, as they also couldn't use the visuo-spatial sketchpad during recall, for both reasons. - 16WIn a study, two visuals were presented together, followed by a probe stimulus. The participant indicated whether the probe was in the same location as one of the initial visuals, or had the same form as one. When indicating a similarity in location (thus performing a spatial task), the right hemisphere showed more activity. When performing a visual task, the left hemisphere had more activity.
Research has found that visual processing causes more activity in the occipital and temporal lobes, while spatial processing causes more activity in the parietal cortex.
In a study, participants needed to remember dot locations (spatial task) or Chinese characters (visual task), sometimes while performing a colour discrimination (visual interference) or movement discrimination (spatial interference) task. These interference tasks lowered the performance of their respective primary tasks more than the opposite, indicating their distinctiveness. - 17What evidence suggests that both visual and spatial processing require attentional resources from the central executive?A study used more demanding versions of the interference tasks used in the study which supported the distinctiveness of the visual cache and inner scribe. This study found that, when more demanding, these interference tasks affected both types of processing. This shows that, because both require attentional resources, these distracting tasks will eventually begin impeding on both types of performance, when demanding enough.
This shows a distinction between general interference, caused by demanding tasks, and specific interference, caused by less demanding tasks. - 18How have psychologists researched the active process of the visuo-spatial sketchpad?In the Pegword method, a participant is made familiar with a rhyming sequence (1 is a bun, 2 is a shoe, 3 is a tree), which serves as a 'scaffolding' where items that need to be remembered can be 'pegged' (e.g. item 1 is a hairbrush, so you might imagine a hairbrush between the two slices of the bun). This is a highly effortful process, but it encourages deep processing and thus leads to superior memory.
In a study, participance remember a list of items either using the Pegword method (imagery), or rote repetition. Some also did a tracking task.
Those who used imagery without tracking had the best performance, as both slave systems were used.
While using repetition and tracking, only the phonological loop was used, and the visuo-spatial sketchpad would have been useless, even if it wasn't already preoccupied.
While using imagery and tracking, the visuo-spaital sketchpad was already preoccupied, and couldn't be used for recall. Only the phonological loop was available.
While using repetition and tracking, performance was the same, as only the phonological loop was used. - 19What experimental study suggests a double dissociation between the phonological loop and the visuo-spatial sketchpad?In a study, participants memorised a word list using either repetition or imagery. Some were also given a secondary task to repeat /b/, which caused articulatory suppression.
Rote repetition with no secondary task yielded good performance.
Those using rote repetition with articulatory suppression were unable to use the phonological loop, and thus performed worse.
Those using imagery and no secondary task yielded even better performance than undistracted repetition.
Those using imagery while also doing the secondary task were unable to use the phonological loop, but were able to use the visuo-spatial sketchpad, as required for imagery. However, this condition showed the best performance, showing that because the other slave system was unusable, the visuo-spatial sketchpad worked harder to compensate for it. - 20What is a double dissociation?A double dissociation describes a separation between mechanisms, which allows relevant tasks to be performed simultaneously and unhindered by the other.
- 21What case study suggests a double dissociation between the visuo-spatial sketchpad and the phonological loop?Patient ELD suffered an aneurysm in the right hemisphere, and thus was unable to acquire new visual or spatial information. For example, they were unable to recognise faces, and couldn't navigate their environment, or find their way home by recognising landmarks.
Hwowever, they could acquire new phonological information with no issue. - 22Central executiveThis mechanism is considered the 'seat of consciousness', as it holds the items you're currently aware of and thinking about. However, it has no storage ability, and is instead used to allocate attentional resources, and organising activity within th short-term memory. When recalling information from long-term memory, the central executive is used as the point of retrieval.
Some research considers the central executive to be localised in the prefrontal ortex, as transcranial megnetic stiumulation to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex has been seen to impair many complex tasks. However damage to areas outside of the prefrontal cortex has also been seen to cause deficits to executive functioning.
The central executive allows focusing, division, and shifting of attention. - 23According to Baddley, what are the executive functions?1
- 24Miyake et al (2000) used pocorrelations1. Inhibition function: the deliberate override of dominant responses, which is used to resist distraction. This is assessed using the Stroop task, wherein a participant must say the name of a printed colour, not the colour that the word is printed in.
2. Shifting function. For example, having participants first multiply then divide a pair of numbers.
3. Updating function: the rapid addition or deletion of the working memory's contents. For example, having participants keep track of the most recent additions to several categories. - 25Unity/Diversity FrameworkThis framework describes the executive processes, as an extension to the word done by Mijake et al. (2000). It states that each function shares some traits (unity) and all have some unique aspects (diversity). This was used to explain the different degrees of correlation between different tasks. The trait that influenced all functions was the ability to maintain goals and relevant information, and use it to alter lower-level processing.
Once all the common variance was accounted for, there was no variance left to be described by the unique aspects of the inhibition function - it correlated almost perfectly with common executive function. - 26What evidence is there to support the Unity/Diversity Framework?Neuroimaging studies have found that for all three processes suggested by the framework (inhibition function, shifting function, and updating function) cause some common areas of activation, and some unique areas.
Research has found several areas which are strongly associated with both inhibition and shifting, and some areas which are more associated with inhibition than shifting. There is not much evidence, however, for any areas being more activated by shifting than inhibition. - 27Dysexecutive syndromeThis is a condition caused by frontal lobe damage, impairing response inhibition, the maintenance and shifting of sets, information generation, etc. Affected people cannot manage their attention or impulses: they can fixate on a task and be unable to shift their attention away from it, or may be unable to finish tasks. They can also be volatile, as they can't control their emotions.
However, case studies of brain-damaged patients which reveal discrete exeutive functions localised to different parts of the brain suggest that the idea of a dysexecutive syndrome is too general. - 28Struss & Alexander studied cases of limited brain damage to reveal what four executive functions?1. Task setting: planning responses. This is comparable to the inhibition function suggested by Miyake.
2. Monitoring: evaluation of performance. If damaged, this leads to increased variability of performance, and increased errors. This is comparable to the shifting function suggested by Miyake.
3. Energisation: sustained attention/concentration. If damaged, fast processing is slowed.
4. Metacognition/integration: recognition of differences between own knowledge and beliefs. - 29Gläscher et al (2012) had brain-damaged patients participate in the Iowa Gambling Task. What is this task, and what did they find?In this task, there are four decks of cards. The participant chooses a card, and either wins or loses money. Some decks are more likely than others to give money.
Results from this study revealed two networks:
Cognitive control network: this is associated with response inhibition, conflict monitoring, and switching.
Value-based decision-making network: this is associated with emotion and value judgements. - 30Episodic bufferThe episodic buffer holds information that has been combined from the two slave systems. For example, upon seeing a cup, the episodic buffer contains the mental image of a cup from the visuo-spatial sketchpad, as well as the word 'cup' from the phonological loop. Its capacity is 4 chunks.
This integration may be integrated as a result of their closeness in timing, allowing temporally based links between information.
The episodic buffer was added to the working memory model later, as the model required a place to hold integrated information, as well as a place to store chunks that are too large to be kept in the phonological loop.
It is unknown as to whether the processes of the central executive have direct involvement with the information stored here. - 31How is it that we can remember long sentences?This depends on the capacity of the episodic buffer, and the efficiency of the central executive to integrate or chunk information. Even those with amnesia are able to immediately recall a long sentence as long as the central executive is functioning correctly.
- 32Evaluate the Working Memory Model.Because this model includes both active processing and passive storage, it can explain a greater scope of complex cognitive tasks than the multi-store model of memory.
This model also explains situations of partial deficits to short-term memory, as one or more slave systems may be preoccupied.
Verbal rehearsal, in this model, is optional, which is more realistic than it being required, as suggested by the multi-store model.
However, other types of sense information are not considered. The model also makes no distinction between eye-centred, hand-centred, or foot-centred spatial working memory.
Task-impurity makes it difficult to identify executive processes, as different tasks often require multiple processes. - 33What do we mean by the capacity of working memory, and how is it measured?Capacity refers to the amount of information a person can store and process at a given time.
There are two ways in which capacity can be measured. The first is through reading span. In this task, a participant reads sentences for comprehension (a processing task), and recalls the final word of each sentence (a storage task). The largest number of sentences from which the last word was remembered that is achieved 50% of the time is the reading span. This assumes that people with a large working memory capacity use less of this capacity for processing.
Operation span is measured by having a participant answer a math question, then remember a word. The maximum number of words remembered is the operational span.
This capacity is reduced when a person is stressed or anxious - an effect which can be alleviated through relaxation training. - 34What is the significance of working memory capacity?There is a +0.6 correlation between capacity and fluid intelligence, which describes a person's ability to rapidly understand new things (opposite to crystallised intelligence, which describes knowledge, skills, and experience).
Research has found that that greater capacity yields better executive functioning, as described by the Two Factor theory, which suggests that a higher capacity yields better maintenance of task goals and the resolution of response competition (i.e. figuring out what to do).
Research has seen correlations between greater capacity and reduced influence by distractions, as shown by ERP studies, revealing their increased top-down control of processing.
Research has also found lower capacities to be associated with more mind wandering and thus worse performance on a sustained-attention task.
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- Language & Memory Flashcards on Working Memory, created by Jamie Otten on 14/01/2019.
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