the working memory model

what is the working memory model and which psychologists suggested it?

an explanation of how the STM is organised

• suggested by Baddeley and Hitch

what are the four components of the WMM?

• central executive

• visuo-spatial sketchpad

• episodic buffer

• phonological loop

what is the central executive and what are its functions?

control centre that:

• allocates the slave systems to the appropriate tasks

• switches attention between things

what is the capacity of the central executive?

very limited

what components of the WMM are the slave systems?

• visuo-spatial sketchpad

• episodic buffer

• phonological loop

what is the function of the phonological loop?

deals with auditory info

• preserves the order in which info arrives in

what is the phonological loop subdivided into?

• the phonological store

• the articulatory process

what is the function of the phonological store?

temporary store for holding verbal info in speech based form

• concerned with speech perception

what is the capacity of the phonological store like?

limited

what is the function of the articulatory process?

• allows maintenance rehearsal

• concerned with speech production

what is the capacity/duration of the articulatory process?

limited to amount of info that can be verbally rehearsed in 2 seconds

what does the phonological loop contribute to?

our learning of the sounds of language

how does the phonological loop use our LTM store in relation to language?

accesses LTM to store and retrieve info about language sounds

what is the function of the visuo-spatial sketchpad?

it stores visual and or spatial information

what is the visuo-spatial sketchpad subdivided into?

• the visual cache

• the inner scribe

what is the function of the visual cache?

stores visual data

what is the function of the inner scribe?

records the arrangement of objects in the visual field

what does the visuo-spatial sketchpad contribute to?

our understanding of visual semantics

what are visual semantics?

the meanings of objects in our visual environment

how does the visuo-spatial sketchpad use our LTM store in relation to the info it stores?

accesses LTM to store and retrieve visuo-spatial info

what is the episodic buffer?

a temporary store for info

how does the episodic buffer work?

• integrates the visual, spatial, and verbal info processed by other stores

• maintains a sense of time sequencing

what is the capacity of the episodic buffer?

around four chunks

what does the episodic buffer link the working memory model to?

• long term memory

• wider cognitive processes such as perception