The Working Memory Model


• This model is an alternative to the MSM – as you study it, focus on:

• How is it an improvement on the MSM,• What are its weaknesses compared to the

MSM.


Baddeley & Hitch 1974They felt that STM is not just one store but a

number of different stores.

Why?

1 store for visual processing, 1 store for processing sounds.


Question

What would you say about the CAPACITY of The Working Memory Model?


Question

Why was the CAPACITY question not a good one?

How would you improve it?

EPISODIC BUFFER later added byBaddeley as a general store whichEncompassed information from theVS,PS and LTM

Baddeley & Hitch 1974

Central ExecutiveActs like attention and draws on the

phonological loop or the visual spatial sketchpad.

Has a very limited capacity.Cant attend to too many things at a time.


Central ExecutiveRaise your hand.What has that got to do with the central

executive?


Phonological LoopHas a limited capacity.Deals with auditory information.Preserves the order of information.Called a loop because information goes round

and round in a loop.


Phonological LoopThink of TWO ways you can use your

phonological loop.

Baddeley & Hitch 1974 Baddeley further subdivided this loop into the:

Phonological store& an

Articulatory process Phonological store holds the words you hear. It is like

an inner ear. Articulatory process used for words that are seen or

about to be said. These words are silently repeated (looped). It is like an inner voice.


Phonological loop used when learning new words.

Phonological store holds auditory data.


Visuo-spatial sketchpadVisual & spatial info is temporarily stored

here.Visual information is what things look like.Spatial information is the relationship

between things.Visuo-spatial sketchpad is used when you have

to plan a spatial task, or if you are engaged in a visual task.


Visuo-spatial sketchpadHow does your visuo-spatial sketch-pad help

you around your house in the dark?

Criticisms

PositivesThe model explains many observations, e.g. it

is easier to do 2 tasks that are different than 2 tasks that are similar.

The model explains the word-length effect.

Criticisms

X NegativesX What is the central executive? The model says

very little about it.X It is too vague and doesn’t really explain

anything.X Psychologists feel that a single executive is

wrong and that there are probably several components.

Research to support the working memory model

Doing 2 tasks using the same or different components.• Hitch & Baddeley (1976) gave participants 2 tasks to do

simultaneously. Task 1 occupied the central executive. Task 2 involved the articulatory loop.

• Task 1 was slower when participants were given task 2 involving both the central executive and the articulatory loop.

• This shows that doing 2 tasks that involve the same component causes difficulty.

• It also suggests that when different components are used, performance is not affected.


The phonological loop and articulatory process.• The word-length effect has been used to support this model.

It describes the fact that people cope better with short words in working memory (STM) than long words.

• The phonological loop holds the amount of information you can say in 2 seconds. (Baddeley 1975)

• This makes it hard to remember a list of long words compred to a list of short words.

• The longer words can’t be rehearsed on the phonolgical loop because they don’t fit.


• However, the word-length effect disappears if a person is given an articulatory suppression task.

• The repetative task ties up the articulatory process and means you can’t rehearse the shorter more quickly than the longer ones, so the word-length effect disappears.

• This is evidence of the articulatory process.


The visuo-spatial sketchpad• Baddeley et al (1975) demonstarted the existence of the

visuo-spatial sketchpad.• Participants were given a visual tracking task. At the same

time they were given 1 or 2 other tasks.• Task 1 was difficult but not task 2, presumably because the

second task involved 2 different components.• It also shows that doing 2 tasks involving the same systems

caused problems, and doing 2 tasks involving different systems did not cause problems.


Brain-damaged patients• Studies of individuals with brain damage help

to support this model.• One individual had good learning abilities with

the exception of being unable to learn words in pairs that were presented out loud.

• This suggests damage to the phonological loop (Trojano & Grossi, 1995)


• Brain-damaged patients• Another patient, LH, who had been involved

in a road car accident performed better on spatial tasks than those involving visual imagery (Farah et al, 1998)

• This supports the view that there are separate visual and spatial systems.

Essay Tips

• The essay will ask you to discuss “alternatives to the MSM” so always focus on the strengths and weaknesses of this model in comparison to the MSM.

• Don’t forget the importance of supporting research

The Working Memory Model

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Transcript of The Working Memory Model