Working Memory Model

central executive

• replaces sensory buffer

• direct attention to tasks

• allocated info based on modality

Phonological loop

• deals with auditory information and language; both written and spoken

• 2 sections

  • phonological store holds words heard

  • articulatory process hold words seen and silently repeated

visuospatial sketchpad

• limited capacity

• visucal and spatial information stored here

• visual cache- what things look like; stores info about shape and color

• inner scribe- processes spatial and movement information

episodic buffer

• links info across domains to form units of visual, spatial and verbal info with time sequencing (memory of a story/event/movie scene)

• temporary store for info that is retrieved from long term memory

dual task technique

• if performance is impaired while simultaneously doing two tasks = that each task is competing for the same resources in the brain

• supports that working memory is different components, not single unit

• supports working memory has limited capacity

word length effect

idea that people recall short words better than long words

supports existence of PL

dual coding theory

we enode info both verbally and visually, we create two memory traces, which increases the likelihood of recal

Myth of multitasking

• we can handle more than one task at a time if those tasks use different parts of working memory

• tasks aren’t competing for same resources→allows for more efficient multitasking