Research Study for Working Memory

Page 1

Research Study for Working Memory

Dual Task Experiment

Baddeley and Hitch conducted an experiment in which participants were asked to perform two tasks simultaneously - the dual task technique. These two tasks were, 1 - a digit span task, which require them to repeat a list of numbers; and 2 - a verbal reasoning task, which required them to answer "True" or "False" to various questions.

Findings:

As the number of digits in the list increased in the digit span tasks, participants took longer to answer the verbal reasoning questions, but not much longer - only mere fractions of a second. However, they didn't make any more errors in the verbal reasoning tasks as the number of digits in the list increased, so this was the only change in their responses.

Conclusion:

The verbal reasoning task made use of the central executive, and the digit span task the phonological loop. These are two, separate components of the Working Memory Model and so this must be why very minimal errors were made by the participants - the two tasks did not require the same store and so they did not compete with one another, meaning they could be performed, simultaneously, with minimal errors.