Working+memory

=The working memory model=

An [|overview]

Your task
Using class notes, the above source, and the information below
 * 1) Create a blank diagram of the model and fill in each component with a summary of that component (this is part of your study notes)
 * 2) Fill in the table below


 * **Components** || **Strengths of this component** || Evidence || **Weaknesses of this component** || Evidence ||
 * Central executive ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Visuo-spatial sketchpad ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Phonological/Articulatory loop ||  ||   ||   ||   ||

Overall strengths of the model

Overall weaknesses of the model

Working memory model
Essentially consists of 3 components:
 * short-term store (verbal info)
 * short-term store (visual info)
 * central executive (manipulates/transforms info - therefore has to use info from sensory, ST and LT memory through processes of encoding, rehearsal and retrieval)
 * Overview of strengths**
 * more detailed than the multi-store model (Atkinson & Shiffrin)
 * adds more depth to the levels of processing model (Craik & Lockhart)

See http://alevelpsychology.co.uk/as-psychology-aqa-a/cognitive-psychology/memory/working-memory-baddeley-hitch-1974.html

Notes from Crane (p 75)
 * WM includes active storage and processing - helps us understand reading comprehension and mental arithmetic
 * provides an explanation for multi-tasking
 * see evidence from Baddeley & Hitch's experiment on whether STM has more than one unitary store (reading prose for comprehension simultaneously with remembering number sequences)
 * see evidence from the Pickering and Gathercole (2001) research on performance in working memory capacity in children aged 5-15


 * Problems with the model?**

Research
What is the most current piece of research you can find?

http://www.psypress.co.uk/ek5/resources/demo_ch06-sc-02.asp

//One theoretical account of short-term memory functioning is [| Baddeley and Hitch's (1974)] 'working memory model'.//

//In this model short-term storage of information forms part of a broader working memory system in which information is both held and manipulated.//

//The actual storage of verbal information relies on a sub-system of the model termed the phonological loop (see [|Baddeley, 1986]).//
 * // Consequently digit and word span tasks are seen as measures of phonological loop functioning //
 * // a number of authors have suggested that the relatively poor performance on these tasks shown by individuals with Down syndrome reflects some form of impairment to the phonological loop component of this model ([|Broadley, MacDonald & Buckley, 1995]; [| Comblain, 1996]; [| Das & Mishra 1995]; [| Hulme & Mackenzie 1992]; [| Jarrold & Baddeley, 1997]; [| Jarrold et al., 1999]; [| Kay-Raining Bird & Chapman, 1994]; [| Mackenzie & Hulme, 1987]; [| Varnhagen, Das & Varnhagen, 1987]; [| Wang & Bellugi 1994]). //

//One might argue that proposing a phonological loop deficit in Down syndrome amounts to little more than a redescription of the apparent difficulties in verbal short-term memory.//
 * // However, this claim does, potentially, advance our understanding of verbal short-term memory difficulties in Down syndrome. //
 * // This is because the working memory model, and the phonological loop component in particular, are theoretically well-developed and have been heavily researched empirically. //
 * // In fact there are two important implications of the claim that Down syndrome is associated with a deficit in phonological loop functioning. //
 * // The first is that our detailed knowledge of intact phonological loop functioning allows us to be more specific about the ways in which performance might break-down in Down syndrome. This in turn will inform the ways in which remediation programmes might be implemented. //
 * // A second implication is that current evidence suggests that the phonological loop plays an important role in young children's language development. It is thought to be involved in the acquisition of vocabulary in particular, and possibly in reading development as well (see [| Baddeley, Gathercole & Papagno, 1998], and below). A phonological loop impairment in Down syndrome would therefore have potential consequences for the development of these abilities. //

http://www.down-syndrome.org/reviews/97/