The Working Model Of Memory

The Central Executive → ‘supervisory role”

monitors incoming info

assigns other systems to tasks

coordinates info from any sensory modality

capacity : limited

does not store information

Phonological Loop

deals w auditory information + preserves order which information is given

subdivided into

phonological store → stores the words u hear (inner ear)

articulatory process → allows maintenance rehearsal (vocal repetition) → (inner voice)

The capacity of this loop is 2 seconds worth of what you can say

coding : acoustic

Visuo-spatial sketchpad

stores visual and spacial info

eg when u r asked to visualise something

has capacity 3-4 objects according to Baddley

coding : visual

Episodic buffer → introduced by baddley in 2000

temporary store for information

integrates the visual, spatial and verbal information from the phonological loop + visuospatial sketchpad

links all the information together to create episodes of memory - maintains time sequencing

links working memory to the LTM

capacity : around 4 chunks

Strengths

Clinical evidence → support from Shallice and Warrington's case study of patient KF

After brain injury, KF had poor STM ability for auditory information but could process visual information normally.

→ his immediate recall of letters and digits was better when he read them (visual) than when they were read to him (acoustic)

→ KF's phonological loop was damaged but his visuo-spatial sketchpad was normal.

supports the existence of separate visual and acoustic stores

Counterpoint

case study → not generalisable.

Dual-task performance → support there must be separate components in working memory model → visuo-spatial sketchpad + phonological loop

The participants in Baddeley’s study (1975) carried out a visual + verbal task at same time (dual task)

→ their performance was similar to when they carried out the tasks separately

→ but when both tasks visual or both tasks verbal, performance on both declined

Bc both visual tasks compete for the same visuo-spatial sketchpad subsystem, whereas there is no competition when performing a verbal and visual task together.

shows there must be separate subsystem that processes visual info (visuo-spatial sketchpad) and one that processes verbal info (Phonological Loop)

Counterpoint

These studies use tasks that are not typically performed in everyday life → reduces their ecological validity → makes the findings less applicable to real-world situations

also carried out in highly-controlled lab conditions → demand characteristics as participants know they r taking part in psychological research so try to perform really well, furthering weakening evidence for WMM

Weakness

Lack of clarity of nature of the central executive

→ The CE needs to be more clearly specified than just being 'attention’→ vague + harder to test

Eg some psychologists believe the CE may consist of separate subcomponents.

role of Central executive being unclear challenges the integrity of the working memory model

Wolbers et al 2011

research compared spatial awareness with people blind from birth and sighted volunteers

brain scans of participants show that they could use other senses like touch to help them with spatial awarenesss

showing spatial awareness is not depended on vision and is separate

suggest baddley and hitch idea on visuospatial sketchpad should be separated into different components → one for visual memory and one for spatial memory

A weakness of the Working Memory Model is that the central executive cannot be tested empirically. The central executive, proposed by Alan Baddeley, is said to control attention and coordinate the other components, but there is no direct way to measure or observe it. Most evidence for it is indirect, meaning psychologists infer its existence rather than test it directly. This makes it difficult to produce objective, scientific evidence for how it actually works. As a result, the central executive may be seen as an overly vague concept, which reduces the scientific credibility of the model.