...Atkinson and Shiffrin's (1968) Multi-Store model of memory was extremely successful in terms of the amount of research it generated. However, it became apparent that there were a number of problems with their ideas concerning the characteristics of short-term memory. Baddeley and Hitch (1974) developed an alternative model of short-term memory which they called working memory. Baddeley and Hitch (1974) argue that the multi-store model is too simplistic. Instead of all information going into one single store, there are different systems for different types of information. Working memory consists of a central executive which controls and co-ordinates the operation of two subsystems: the phonological loop and the visuo-spatial sketchpad. Baddley and Hitch investigated if participants can use different parts of working memory at the same time. They conducted an experiment in which participants were asked two perform two tasks at the same time - a digit span task which required them to repeat a list of numbers, and a verbal reasoning task which required them to answer true or false questions. The result was that as the number of digits increased in the digit span task, participants took longer to answer the reasoning questions, but not much longer. They didn't make any more errors in the verbal reasoning task as the number of digits increased. This was also known as the dual method. They concluded that the verbal reasoning task made us of the central executive and the digit span...
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...Outline and Evaluate the Working Memory Model The working memory model (WM) explains why we can do two different tasks at the same time, but not two similar tasks. It replaced the idea of a unitary short term memory (STM) in the working memory model information is passed from STM to the central executive and this decides if the information is visual or auditory. Information is then passed to the corresponding store. The central executive is a key component of the WM. It directs information from STM to one of the "slave systems" It also has a very limited capacity and duration so can't attend to too many things at once. The first "slave system" is the phonological loop. This deals with auditory information and maintains the order of the information. It consists of two stores, the phonological store which is like an inner ear and deals with sounds and the articulatory process is used for words which are heard or seen. These words are silently repeated (looped) like an inner voice. The next "slave system" is the visuo-spatial sketchpad. This deals with visual information and spatial information is the relationship between this information. This store is used when you have to plan a spatial task such as getting from one room to another or counting the number of windows your house has. Hitch and Baddley showed support for the WM by conducting an experiment where they gave participants two tasks to do at the same time. They found participants were slower completing these tasks...
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...Outline and evaluate the Working Memory Model. The Working Memory Model (WMM) is a model of the STM. The WMM was proposed by Baddeley and Hitch when they carried out a Dual-task method experiment only to find that the MSM was too simple as it stated that the STM is only one store. The model shows that information is first received by the Central Executive. The Central Executive has overall control of the STM and it is multi-modal meaning it can process information from different senses. This information can then go to one of two stores. If it is speech-based information it will be transferred to the Phonological Loop. It has two subcomponents, phonological store and articulatory control process. The phonological store is the inner ear and contains snippets of sounds either from the outside world or recalled from long term memory. The articulatory control process is the inner voice which essentially is our own voice inside our heads as it constantly repeats or rehearses information so therefore preventing forgetting by decay. The visuo-spatial sketch pad is visual short term memory, or the inner eye. It can manipulate images in two and three dimensions. The WMM shows memory as an active process as the Central Executive can store and retrieve information from either slave store. As this is a model of the STM, all three stores have a limited duration and capacity. A good thing about the WMM is that it’s pioneering. This model is the first of its kind to explain STM as having separate...
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...The working memory model (Baddeley and Hitch 1974) replaced the idea of a unitary STM, it suggests a system involving active processing and short term storage of information. The working memory model consists of four components which each have a different job. The Central executive (CE) is the key component and can be described as attention. It has a limited capacity and controls two ‘slave’ systems that also have limited capacity. The function of the CE is to direct attention to particular tasks, determining how the brain's ‘resources’ are used for the task. The ‘resources’ are the three ‘slave’ systems. Data arrives from the senses or from the long term memory. Because the CE has a very limited capacity it can’t attend to too many things at once and has no capacity for storing data. The next component is the Phonological loop (PL) which is one of the ‘slave’ systems. This deals with auditory information and preserves the order of information. Baddeley (1986) further subdivided this loop into: - The phonological store which holds the words you hear, like and inner ear. - An articulatory process which is used for words that are heard or seen. These words are silently repeated like an inner voice. This is a form of maintenance rehearsal. The next component is the episodic buffer which is another ‘slave’ system. Baddeley (2000) added the episodic buffer because he realised the model needed a general store. The Phonological loop and Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad...
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...Outline and evaluate the working memory model (12 marks) Baddeley and Hitch proposed that memory has 4 components. The central executive, phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad and the episodic buffer. The central executive decides how to share out and direct attention to incoming information. The phonological loop can be thought of as a maintenance rehearsal mechanism for retaining verbal information. It is sub-divided into two other components, the phonological store (inner ear), which holds acoustically coded information, and the articulatory process (inner voice), which allows for sub vocal rehearsal (words you are about to say). Furthermore, the visuospatial sketchpad (inner eye) is responsible for storing visual and spatial information. In other words, it codes information in images and can create and manipulate visual and spatial images. Finally, the episodic buffer. This component takes information from different sources and integrates them together. For example, Baddeley suggested if we imagine an elephant playing ice hockey, we have to draw out images stored in long term memory and combine them into a moving image. The working memory model is good and is an improvement over the multi-store model. It demonstrates how the short term memory works because it explains how we can store information briefly and simultaneously manipulate it, for example, mental arithmetic. This shows that the model has face validity, which means that the test appears to measure what it is...
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...Memory is very like a storage unit in the brain. It can keep memory stored for a short period of time, short term memory or working memory, and for a long period of time, long term memory. There are various types of memory that make up our memory storage such as general knowledge, things you have learned and metamemory, which is your own awareness of your memory. Many researchers predict that the information storage capacity of humans is up to 50,000 topics on every subject that we have a reasonable amount of knowledge in (Norman, 2001). Short term memory allows us to remember a telephone number for the few seconds it takes us to dial the number (Eysenck and Keane, 2015). Baddeley and Hitch (1974) suggested replacing the concept of the short term store with that of working memory. Working memory is defined as a system that temporarily holds and manipulates information as we perform cognitive tasks. This is for the reason that short term memory stored brief information about an outcome of an early incident and then the memory moves straight onto another outcome and the previous one is forgotten. It just was not sufficient enough. Working memory is the development of short...
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...Discuss the working memory model The working memory model was proposed by Baddeley & Hitch as an alternative to the multi-store model of memory. It has been developed to directly challenge the concept of a single unitary store for short-term memory. It is divided into four components, being the central executive, phonological loop ( which includes the two sub components , auditory and articiulatory store) episodic buffer and the visuo spatial sketch pad. The most important component is the central executive; it is involved in problem solving/decision-making. It also controls attention and plays a major role in planning and synthesizing information. It is flexible and can process information from any modality which makes it modality free, although it does have a limited storage capacity and so can attend to a limited number if things at one time. Lastly the CE is responsible for monitoring the slave systems ( the other components) and directing which slave system to send information to. Another component of the working memory model is the phonological loop, it stores a limited number of speech-based sounds for brief periods. It is thought to consist of two components - the auditory store (inner ear)which is modality specific as it receives it’s inputs from the ear and long term memory, it allows acoustically coded items to be stored for a brief period. The articulatory store (the inner voice) allows repetition of the material stored in the phonological store. This slave...
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...Outline and evaluate the working memory model In the working memory model, there are four main components; The central executive is the most important component as it is involved in problem solving and decision making. It controls attention and plays a vast part in planning and processing information from subsidiary systems and LTM. It is flexible and can process information. It has a limited capacity and can only contain a limited amount of information at one time, Secondly the phonological loop stores a limited amount of speech-based sounds for quick periods. It contains two components. The phonological store (inner ear) allows acoustically coded items to be stored for a brief timing. The articulatory control process (inner voice) allows subvocal repetition of the items stored in the phonological store. Repetition can be prevented by a technique known as ‘articulatory suppression’. The visuo-spatial scratch pad (inner eye) stores visual and spatial information. It is responsible for setting up and manipulating mental images. It has a limited capacity but the limits of the system are independent. The episodic buffer interrogates and manipulates material in the working memory. It has a limited capacity, depending a lot on executive processing. It is capable of binding together information from different sources into chunks/episodes. It interrogates material from LTM to meet the requirements of working memory. The working memory model has many advantages which are that it...
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...Outline and evaluate the working memory model. The working memory model was proposed in 1974 by Baddeley and Hitch, who felt that Atkinson and Schifrin’s multi store model, was too simplistic, therefore the working memory model acted as an alternative, unlike the multi store model the working memory model presents short term memory stores because it focuses on the short term memory. The term working memory is used by Baddeley and Hitch to refer to the part of the memory that is active, for example calculating sums or reading a sentence all of which are collecting data to be stored. There are three parts main of the original working memory model: the central executive, phonological loop, visual spatial sketch pad and the later added episodic buffer. The central executive controls attention and draws on the other the other two systems also known as slave systems. The central executive only has a limited capacity, which is supported by the dual task technique. This is when an individual struggles to do tasks that require the same component – this is because they are competing for the central executive’s capacity. There is evidence to suggest that there may be more than one component of the central executive, for example Eslinger and Damasio study. Their findings were that a patient, who had recently had a brain tumour removed, performed well on tasks that required reasoning, but not on decision making tasks. The two slave systems in the working memory model have similarities – this...
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...Memory 1. Describe STM and give an example Short-term memory, also known as primary or active memory, is the information we are currently aware of or thinking about. In Freudian psychology, this memory would be referred to as the conscious mind. The information found in short term memory comes from paying attention to sensory memories. A good example would be to write down a spoken telephone number before it is forgotten. 2. Describe and give an example of LTM Long-term memory refers to the continuing storage of information. In Freudian psychology, long-term memory would be call the preconscious and unconscious. This information is largely outside of our awareness, but can be called into working memory to be used when needed. Some of this information is fairly easy to recall, while other memories are much more difficult to access. A good example would be recalling the date of your wedding anniversary or families birthdays’. 3. Describe the multi-store model of memory Multi-store Model of Memory: Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968) This model builds on the idea of three memory stores and tries to explain how they work together. Components Sensory Memory stores the incoming information from the senses. The model assumes that these are modality specific that is there is a separate store for each of the five senses. The store is very brief and the vast majority of information is lost here. Only information that is relevant or important is attended to and passed...
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...Baddeley's model of working memory Schematic of Baddeley's Model Alan Baddeley and Graham Hitch proposed a model of working memory in 1974, in an attempt to describe a more accurate model of short-term memory. Baddeley & Hitch proposed their three part working memory model as an alternative to the short-term store in Atkinson & Shiffrin's 'multi-store' memory model (1968). This model is later expanded upon by Baddeley and other co-workers and has become the dominant view in the field of working memory. However, alternative models are developing (see working memory) providing a different perspective on the working memory system. The original model of Baddeley & Hitch was composed of three main components; the central executive which acts as supervisory system and controls the flow of information from and to its slave systems: the phonological loop and the visuo-spatial sketchpad. The phonological loop stores verbal content, whereas the visuo-spatial sketchpad caters to visuo-spatial data. Both the slave systems only function as short-term storage centers. In 2000 Baddeley added a third slave system to his model, the episodic buffer. Baddeley & Hitch's argument for the distinction of two domain-specific slave systems in the older model was derived from experimental findings with dual-task paradigms. Performance of two simultaneous tasks requiring the use of two separate perceptual domains (i.e. a visual and a verbal task) is nearly as efficient as performance of the tasks...
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...Baddeley and Hitch’s working memory model suggest that short term memory isn’t a single system but rather an alliance of several temporary memory systems working together. The components of the working memory are, the central executive, phonological loop, visuo-spatial sketch pad (VSS) and the episodic buffer. Each part plays a vital role. In order for the WMM to work there must be some input which enters your sensory memory. The capacity is very large. The duration for sensory memory is very short up to 2 seconds. If the information receives no attention it gets lost through decay. However if I does get attention it goes into the central executive. The central executive is the key component of the working memory. Its function is to direct attention to particular tasks determining which of the slave systems should be allocated with a certain task. The capacity of the central executive is very limited therefore can’t attend to many things at once. After information enters the central executive depending on what the information is it would enter one of the three slave systems. One slave system is the phonological loop. Which is further subdivided into the articulatory process which is the inner voice and phonological store which is the inner ear. The phonological loop too has a limited capacity. It deals with auditory information and preserves the order of information. The phonological store holds words we hear like an inner ear. The articulatory process is used for words that...
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...The description and evaluation on the Working Memory Model Developed by Baddeley and Hitch (74’), the working memory model represents our short term memory; it is a dynamic processor of different types of information. The working memory model is categorised into four components which take on different roles when in the process of either storing or manipulating information. At the top of the model we have the central executive which is seen at the most important part of the model, its role is to co-ordinate and monitor the other three “slave systems” in the model. Below we have the other three components: The visuo-spatial sketchpad which stores data made up of visuals and spatial awareness within the two components of the visual cache and the inner scribe, the Phonological loop which deals with auditory information again consisting of two sections where one stores words we hear and the other allows maintenance rehearsal by repeating over and over (the phonological store and the articulatory process) and the final component added in 2000 by Baddeley; the Episodic buffer which links the working memory to long term memory and is used as extra storage for the VSS and the PL as these have limited capacity like the CE which places a timestamp on data. In 1997 Braver carried out a study where participants were given tasks designed to work the CE whilst having a brain scan. Researchers found most activity took place in the prefrontal cortex; front of the brain. As the task difficulty...
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...Describe and Evaluate the Multi-Store Model of Memory. Atkinson and Shiffrin proposed the Multi-store model of memory in 1968. The model had two distinct stores known as a Short-term store and a Long term store. The model also unravelled a stimulus from the environment known as the sensory register. The memory model elaborates three stages that take place from information passing to the sensory register then to the short-term memory and eventually stored in the long-term memory. The main features of the sensory register is its modality specific, therefore information is held in the same sense it is registered e.g a visual image is held as a picture in the person’s memory and taste is held as a taste. The capacity of the sensory register is quite large however it has a very brief duration of approximately half a second. A series of experiments have been conducted by Sperling in 1960 which discovered that the sensory register can hold at least nine items of modality specific information for a brief period of time. From the sensory register information can be lost or can be passed onto the short-term memory. The research was developed by Miller in 1956 called ‘The Magic Number Seven’ in which he discovered that the short-term memory can hold 5-9 items of information, with a capacity that can be extended by ‘chunking information’, e.g broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and peas can be chunked as one item known as vegetables. In 1959 Peterson and Peterson discovered the...
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...system that controls auditory and visual stimuli, and relates the stimuli to long-term memory (storing information over extensive time periods). More recent studies provided evidence of the non-unitary nature of the central executive (Miyake, Friedman, Emerson, Witzki, Howerter, & Wager, 2000). Miyake et al., (2000) referred to three components or functions of the central executive: (i) mental set-shifting: the ability to establish an attentional focus, mental set or problem-solving approach, and then to switch to another set according to environmental/task demands (McCallum, 2003); (ii) inhibiting pre-potent responses: the ability to over-ride 2. default responses to stimuli (Engle, 2005); and (iii) updating the content of WM: the selection of relevant information from the flow of incoming stimuli and internal knowledge, to be added to WM (Osaka, Logie & D’Esposito, 2007). Distinctions existed between the theoretical constructs of WM and short-term memory (STM). Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) proposed a STM model in which information passes through brief sensory registers which are part of the perception processes, and then moves into a limited capacity short-term store. The ST store has controls that organise and maintain incoming information to optimise recall. Baddeley and Hitch (1974) proposed an alternative multi-component model to replace the unitary ST store. The WM model proposed consisted of three components. The first component was the central executive...
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