STRUCTURE OF WORKING MEMORY - created from Mind Map

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Multicomponent model.

Baddeley & Hitch 1974 assumed one component of WM is a limited capacity speEch based store capable of storing two to three items

Second component: described as CENTRAL EXECUTIVE,

Third Component: VISUO-SPATIAL SCRATCHPAD

THIS TRIPARTITE MODEL WAS DEVELOPED FURTHER BY BADDELEY (1983, 1986). iLLUSTRATED ON PG 161 MAIN TEXT BOOK.

This subsystem was described as an ARTICULATORY REHEARSAL LOOP

This can roughly be equated to the earlier concept of STM

Can be used to store small memory loads during cognitive tasks, and is responsible for the effect of phonemic similarity on performance.

Small irrelevant memory load can be stored in ARL (AL) without taxing the CENTRAL EXECUTIVE

Responsible for control & coordination of mental operations in a range of activities including but extending beyond reasoning, comprehension, learning and memory.

Seen as a limited capacity workspace that can be flexibly allocated to control processes or temporary info storage.

A larger memory load would take up extra memory resources in the CE.

Due to limit on capacity of workspace, this theoretical account maintains that there will be a trade off such that fewer resources are available to support processing operations when temporary storage demands increase.

Info from DUAL TASK studies (Baddeley & Hitch) suggests there are seperate resources for dealing with either verbal (ARL) or visuo-spatial info.

V-SS analogous to ARL

An interesting observation about thois model though is that neurological patients can show selective impairments in visuo-spatial STM and imagery tasks, suggestive of a separate brain location for V-S function. (pg161 MTB)

Using dual task methodology Badelley & Lieberman (1980) made observation that use of a visual imagery mnemonic was disrupted by a spatial task but not by a visual task.

This pattern not observed when the mnemonic strategy was rote rehearsal rather than imagery, indicating it wasn't a function of the relative difficulty of the spatial and visual interfering tasks.

B & L (1980) interpreted this as evidence that mental imagery is spatial rather than visual.

Hitch (1995) did some interesting research illuminating the idea that this counterintuitive conclusion did not generalise to all forms of imagery. MTB pg162 paragraph 1.

In review of visuo-spatial WM Logie (1995) suggested there were separate visual and spatial systems such that a spatial movement system can be used to rehearse the contents of a visual store.This corresponds to a visuo-spatial analogue of the articulatory loop.

PHONOLOGICAL WORKING MEMORY: New Mind Map attached.

Attached Study Aids

Mind Map - PHONOLOGICAL WORKING MEMORY

STRUCTURE OF WORKING MEMORY