Download The Working Model of Memory

The Working Memory Model
Central
executive
Episodic
Buffer
Phonological
Loop
Visuo-spatial
sketchpad
Central executive
Drives the system.
Decides how attention is directed
Allocates the resources
Has no storage capacity
Has limited capacity so cannot attend to many things at
once
Episodic Buffer
General storage space for both acoustic and visual
information
It integrates information from the central executive, the
phonological loop, the visual sketchpad and the longterm memory.
Has limited capacity
The phonological Loop
Deals with auditory information and the order of information
Baddeley(1986) divided it into two components:
The auditory store ( the inner ear )
Which holds information in speech based form for 1-2
seconds
The articulatory control process:
Used to rehearse verbal information from the phonological
store
Memory traces in the auditory store decay in 1.5 -2 seconds
but can be maintained by articulatory control process
Holds visual (what things look like) and spatial
(relationship between things) information for a very
short time.
You use it when you are planning a spatial task i.e. going
from your home to the college.
Studies: the central executive
Baddeley (1996)
Asked participants to think of random digits that bore no
connection to each other (by tapping in numbers on a
keyboard). Either carried out on its own, or with one of the
following tasks:
1. Reciting the alphabet
2. Counting from 1
3. Alternating between letters and numbers e.g. A1 b2 c3
Generated number stream was much less random in
condition 3 – Baddeley said they were competing for the
same central executive resources.
Studies: The phonological
loop
 Baddeley, Thompson & Buchanan (1975)- word length
effect.
HARM
WIT
TWICE
BUS
TIN
Presented words for very brief periods of time.
One condition – 5 words, one syllable,
familiar. Two condition: 5 polysyllabic words.
Average correct recall over several trials
showed participants remembered the short
words much better. This is the ‘word length
effect’.
What does this tell us about the
phonological loop?
ORGANISATION
UNIVERSITY
ASSOSCIATION
NEUROLOGICAL
UNDENIABLE
Studies: The phonological
loop
Baddeley et al also found that the word length
effect disappeared (short words recalled no
better than long words) under conditions of
articulatory suppression (given a task that
would normally make use of articulatory loop
e.g. Saying la-la-la-la-la - this means that the
word length effect depends on having a verbal
rehearsal system.
Studies: The visuospatial sketchpad
 Shepard & Feng (1972)
Imagine folding the shapes into a cube... Do the
arrows meet?
Time taken to make the decision was related to
the time taken if the participants had actually
been required to do the folding.
VISUAL IMAGES WORK IN VERY SIMILAR
WAYS TO REAL LIFE PERCEPTION.
Studies: The visuospatial
sketchpad
Baddeley, Grant, Wight & Thompson (1973)
Participants were given a visual tracking
task: track a moving line with a pointer at
the same they were given one of two
tasks:
1. To describe the angle of the letter F
(which system did this task involve?)
2. To perform a verbal task (which
system did this task involve?)
They performed better in the second
task Why?
Rehearsal
Sensory
Memory
Attention
Short Term
Memory
Rehearsal
Long Term
Memory
Recall / Retrieval
Decay
Decay
Displacement
..........
Interference
Decay
Retrieval Failure
..........
OUTPUT
..........
Evaluation of the multi-store
model
 Strength: It is simple and be tested. Research
evidence supports the idea that STM and LTM are
qualitatively different types of memory.
 Weakness: In real life, memories are created in
contexts rather different from laboratory ased ‘freerecall’ experiments, so perhaps this model does not
explain fully the complexities of human memory. The
model also suggests that memory is a passive process.
Multi-store Model Recap
The model suggests memory consists of 5 separate stores.
The model suggests there is only one single, unitary store for each
type of memory (Sensory, STM & LTM).
The model suggests memory is an active process.
Encoding in STM is mainly acoustic, whereas in LTM it is mainly
visual.
Atminson and Shiffron proposed the model.
STM has unlimited capacity and duration.
Elaborative rehearsal involves repeating something over and over
again.
Working Memory Model
Baddeley and Hitch (1974)
Baddeley and Hitch (1974)
Working Memory (STM) is…….
“that bit of memory you are USING when you
are WORKING on something.”
21 + 12 + 52 =
Task
 Work out how many
windows are in your house…
 How did you do it?
 Discuss your answer with the person next to you…
 Did you use similar strategies?
How does Working Memory
operate?
 I formed a mental image of my house and counted
the windows by walking through the house room by
room.
 Did you?
 Or, did you form a mental image of your house and
count the windows by imagining the outside of the
house?
Think!
 How will each of the Working Memory
components contribute to the completion of the
TASK?
 Phonological Loop
 Visuo-spatial Sketchpad
 Central Executive
How does Working Memory
operate?
 The image of your house will be set up and manipulated in your
‘Visuo-spatial Sketchpad’.
 The tally of windows will be held in your ‘Phonological Loop’ as
you count them under your breath.
 The whole operation will be supervised by the ‘Central
Executive’ which will allocate the tasks and recognise when the
final total has been reached.
Working Memory Model
Diagram
 Success Criteria
• a suitable image to illustrate each component
• a description of how each component works
• an everyday example of each component
Dual-Task Experiment
 Letter Recall Score = Acoustic Task
 Position Score = Visual Task
 Person 1 = Verbal Interference
 Poor Letter Recall Score
 Person 2 = Visual Interference
 Poor Position Score
Multi-store
Model
Working
Memory
Model
Working memory model of
Baddeley and Hitch
Central executive
The attentional control system
Limited capacity
Phonological loop
Articulatory control system
Verbal rehearsal system
Time-based capacity
‘The inner voice’
Phonological store
Speech-based storage system
Decay rate: 2 seconds
‘The inner ear’
Visuospacial sketchpad
Spatial and visual informationstorage system
Limited capacity
‘The inner eye’
Strengths and weaknesses of
the WM model
 (+) Strengths: It suggests that rehearsal is an optional
process, which is more realistic than the multi-store
model, especially since we do not rehearse everything
that we remember.
 The model can explain how we can successfully do two
tasks at the same time if the tasks involve different
stores, but why we have trouble performing two tasks
at the same time if the tasks involve the same stores.
Weaknesses:
 (-) Least is known about the precise function of the
most important component, the central executive,
and the suggestion that there may be a single central
executive may be inaccurate.
 It is too rigid and simplistic