Working Memory

Working Memory

1. Components

   • Central Executive
     • Direct attention to particular tasks, determining at any time how resources are allocated to tasks.
   • Visuo-spatial sketchpad
     • Plan a spatial task. Visual/ spatial information is stored here. Spatial info is the relationship between things.
       • Like counting the windows in your house
   • Phonological Loop
     • Deals with auditory info and preserves order.
       • Subdivided
         • Phonological store
           • Holds words you hear, like an inner ear.
         • Articulatory Process
           • Words your heard or seen. silently repeated, like an inner voice

2. Support

   • Evidence for central executive
     • Bunge et al
       • Used FMRI see parts of the brain were more active when participants were doing two task
         • Recalling a sentence and recalling the last word in each sentence
         • Same brain areas were active in either single or dual task conditions
           • More activation in the dual task indicating that increased attentional demands were reflected in brain activity.