Working Model of Memory

Question 1

explanation / defo

Answer 1

• Baddeley and Hitch (1974) expanded the idea & complexity of STM.
• WMM: an explanation that sees short-term memory as an active store holding several pieces of information simultaneously.

Question 2

Central Executive

Answer 2

Central executive is an attention regulator that decides what information goes to the subsystems of the STM.

Duration: Baddeley (1996) generate a list of random numbers while simultaneously switching between pressing numbers and letters on a keyboard.

Participants could not attend to more than one flow of information at once, which demonstrates the central executive’s limited capacity.

Question 3

Phonological Loop

Answer 3

Auditory information & order of information (e.g words in a sentence) consists of two parts:
* Phonological store: stores words recently heard.
* Articulatory process: inner voice that keeps information in the phonological loop. Linked to speech production.

cheese, torch, sun, ear, crab
caravan, celery, tomato, submarine, typewriter

Baddeley demonstrated that the PL is limited by showing the length of words alters our ability to remember them. Thus, the PL seems to be becoming full because the second list had more syllables.

Question 4

Baddeley demonstrated that the PL is limited

Answer 4

by showing the length of words alters our ability to remember them. Thus, the PL seems to be becoming full because the second list had more syllables.

Question 5

• Phonological store

Answer 5

: stores words recently heard.

Question 6

• Articulatory process

Answer 6

inner voice that keeps information in the phonological loop. Linked to speech production.

Question 7

Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad (VSS)

Answer 7

Inner eye & temporary store for visual & spatial items. Consists of 2 parts:
* Visual cache (VC) stores visual material about form and color.
* Inner scribe (IS) spatial relationships & rehearses & transfers information in VSS to CE.

Question 8

Episodic Buffer

Answer 8

• Temporarily stores information combined from the CE, PL, VSS and LTM. It receives input from many sources, temporarily stores this information and then integrates it in order to construct a mental episode of what is being experienced.

Question 9

Evaluation: Clinical Evidence

Answer 9

• Shallice and Warrington’s (1970) case study on patient KF who suffered brain damage (could recall letters & digits but had trouble with sound).
• Suggested the phonological loop had been damaged.
• Supports existences of a separate visual and acoustic store.
• Brain damage patients in study may not always be reliable because cases are so unique.

Question 10

Evaluation: Dual Task Performance

Answer 10

• Dual task performance supports the separate existence of the VSS.

Question 11

Evaluation: Lack of clarity over the CE

Answer 11

• Baddeley said, “the CE is the most important but the least understood component of WMM”.
• CE needs to be more clearly specified than just being simply ‘attention’.

Question 12

Evaluation: Studies of the world length effect supports the PL

Answer 12

• Baddeley et al. (1975) demonstrated word length effect: that people find it difficult to remember lists of long words rather than short words.

Question 13

Evaluation: Brain scanning supports the WMM

Answer 13

• Braver et al. (1997): participants given tasks that involved CE while brains scanned.