working memory model

who proposed the working memory model?

Baddeley and Hitch 1974

what problems did Baddeley and Hitch see with the multi-store model?

it was overly simplistic and emphasised rehearsal as critical to learning

how many components for working memory did Baddeley and Hitch propose in their original model?

3

what components for working memory did Baddeley and Hitch propose in their original model?

the central executive to deal with the running of the memory system and 2 slave systems to deal with verbal and visual information

what is the role of working memory?

to temporarily store and manipulate information being used

what functions is working memory relied on for?

reasoning, mental calculations, comprehending sequences in the form of sentences

what is working memory fragile and susceptible to?

distraction, overload and overwork

what is the function of the central executive?

to monitor the overall memory system and allocate the cognitive memory tasks to the appropriate sub-systems

what is the capacity of the central executive?

limited but with the ability to deal with different types of sensory information

what is meant by modality free?

the ability to process different forms of information

what is the central executive defined as?

an attentional controller with the capacity to focus, divide, switch attention and connect working memory to long term memory

what is the phonological loop?

a slave system that holds speech based information for around 2 seconds before it decays

what does the phonological loop deal with?

the temporary storage of verbal information

how many components does the phonological loop have?

2 - the primary acoustic store and articulatory loop

what is the primary acoustic store also known as?

the inner ear

what happens in the primary acoustic store?

sound information goes directly into the primary acoustic store and remembers sound in their order

how much can the primary acoustic store hold?

a limited amount of verbal information for a few seconds, which can be extended if information is refreshed using the articulatory loop

what can the primary acoustic store be used to explain?

the phonological similarity effect where it is more difficult to remember similar sounding words or letters than dissimilar ones

what is the phonological similarity effect not true for?

words with semantic similarity or words semantically unrelated

why would it be difficult to process two conversations simultaneously according to the working memory model?

they are verbal and both utilise the primary acoustic store, which is unable to cope with the demands of two tasks at once due to limited capacity

what is the articulatory loop also known as?

the inner voice

what is the articulatory loop?

where information is repeated to maintain a trace

what can the articulatory loop be used to explain?

the word length effect, as short monosyllabic words were recalled more successfully than longer polysyllabic words

what is polysyllabic?

more than one syllable

how can the articulatory loop be used to explain the word length effect?

longer words fill up the limited capacity of the articulatory loop resulting in the decay of words positioned earlier in the list

what is the visuospatial sketchpad?

a slave system of working memory which can temporarily hold and manipulate visual and spatial information

how does the visuospatial sketchpad deal with visuospatial information?

directly through observing images or retrieving visuospatial information from long term memory

what is the role of the visuospatial sketchpad?

to maintain and integrate visual and spatial information from different channels using a visual code, it can also rehearse information and transfer it to the central executive

when do Baddeley and Hitch state that people can perform 2 tasks at once?

when they use different components of the working memory system, so that processing does not slow down