Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Working Memory Model (WMM) - Coggle Diagram
Working Memory Model (WMM)
A SPASM
Central Executive
Controls
A
ttention
S
ynthesises information from the senses & LTM
Has a major role in
P
lanning
It can
A
ttend to a limited number of things at once
It has a limited
S
torage capacity (1974); it has no storage capacity (2000)
It can process information in any
M
odality
Just a lil guy - Baddeley & Hitch describe the CE as being like a “little man” inside your head, organising your memories.
APOI
Phonological Loop
The
A
rticulatory control process (inner voice)
Allows subvocal repetition of the items in the phonological store
Is used when we read written material as we say it to ourselves
The
P
honological store (inner ear)
Briefly stores speech sounds (1.5 to 2 sec)
External speech enters it directly
Can only process
O
ne phonological task at a time
Operates
I
ndependently of the Visuo-spatial sketchpad
VSOI
Visuo-spatial Sketchpad
It is responsible for processing
V
isual and
S
patial information from the external world
Can only process
O
ne visual or spatial task at a time.
Can operate
I
ndependently of the phonological loop.
Phonological Loop (
PL
)
Baddeley et al. (1975) Did a study to determine capacity of the phonological loop where participants were asked to recall lists of long and short words in an STM task. They were also asked to undertake a reading task with long and short words.
The Study found that Participants could recall 78% of the five short word lists but only 29% of the five long word lists. They found Ps could recall as many words as they could read aloud in 1½ to 2 seconds.
This shows that he capacity of the phonological store is about 1½ to 2 seconds of speech. In that time we can say about 7 short and 3 long words.
The Episodic Buffer
Was added later to the OG model
Has a limited capacity of four items or chunks
It is multi-modal and binds together information from different sources: visual, spatial, verbal & memories from LTM, into a unitary episode
Is needed as none of the others stores hold an integrated memory of an event
Passive store
Baddeley & Wilson (2002) did a study where they Found a small number of densely amnesic patients could perform at a normal level on immediate recall of a prose passage, containing some 20 or more idea units, and hence considerably beyond verbal or spatial span. Such a passage would be approximately 100 words.
The study showed these patients were recalling much more information than could be held in the phonological loop. Hence another component was required.
The Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad (
VSS
)
Logie et al. (1989) did a study to investigate the independence of the VSS
In this study participants were asked to play a complex computer game, which involves manoeuvring a spaceship around a computer screen. At some points they were asked to complete another VSS task, sequential key tapping
The study found performance on The game was much worse when participants had to perform an additional visuo-spatial task at the same time
this Shows that the visuo-spatial sketchpad was needed for effective performance on the computer game and it was bad at handling two VSS tasks simultaneously
Inner Scribe
which creates and manipulates images and
Visual Cache
which holds images very briefly (< 1sec?).
The Central Executive (
CE
)
Baddeley (1968) did a study to determine whether the central executive is capable of handling two tasks at the same time.
In the study participants had to do two tasks simultaneously. One was a reasoning task designed to occupy the central executive. and the other was either a PL task, a loop and CE task or no task.
The study found that Participants were slower answering the reasoning task when the second task involving both the CE and the PL. Speed on the reason task was the same whether the participant did no extra task or the simple articulatory loop task.
This showed that doing two tasks that involve the CE Is difficult. It also shows that, when different components are used, performance is not affected.
E
vidence
The KF Case Study supports Working Memory cuz KF suffered brain damage from a motorcycle accident that damaged his short-term memory. KF struggled to process verbal information but his visual memory was unaffected. This shows that visual information (VSSP) is processed separately from verbal information (phonological loop).
The idea of the little guy and the inner scribe are quite easy to understand and match up with what it feels like when we remember things So it has face validity. The model has also been backed up by brain scanning which shows acoustic and visual encoding going on in different parts of the brain.
L
imitations
Despite providing more detail of STM than the multi-store model, the WMM has been criticized for being too simplistic and vague. It's unclear what the central executive is, or its exact role in attention.
Results from laboratory experiments researching the WMM will often have low ecological validity (i.e. may not relate to real life), as tasks such as repeating ‘the the the’ are arguably not representative of our everyday activities.
The three main components of the working memory model interact with each other in the performance of tasks but it is not clear how this happens in practice.
The model is concerned with memory. but, it tells us very little about long-term memory and the ways in which processing in the working memory system relate to the long-term storage of information. It is as uninformative as the multi-store model in this respect.
The episodic buffer is seen as a helpful addition to the model of working memory, but it has not been investigated extensively and its functions remain unclear.
A
pplications
WMM is similar to the MSMM.and i can be said that Working Memory is a development of the MSM, with Working Memory replacing the STM Store. It’s still a linear model of memory, with the idea of information coming from the senses to the Sensory Store, being processed in Working Memory then encoded into LTM, from which is can be retrieved by the Central Executive.
Working Memory tells us how to improve our memory in some situations. If you have to encode something in one particular way then remove competing information. However, it suggests you can concentrate on two differently coded sources at once – so you can do revision by copying a mind map while listening to a podcast.
The model may have application to helping people with dementia. Using the Episodic Buffer seems to help people who cannot encoded memories in LTM or have trouble retrieving LTM. This means using Cognitive Stimulation: playing an old song and asking the patient to tell the story of how they first heard it.
