Working Memory: Intro & The 2 Slave Systems

Front 1

What are the [very] basic principles of the Working Memory operation?

Back 1

1) What it is:

Working memory consists of different systems for different functions.

It is a complex system with several "blocks".

2) What it isn't:

It is not a unitary system/store. It is not a single system/store without any subsystems. All the information does not go to a single store.

Front 2

What are the [very] basic principles of the Working Memory operation?

Back 2

1) What it is:

Working memory consists of different systems for different functions.

It is a complex system with several "blocks".

2) What it isn't:

It is not a unitary system/store. It is not a single system/store without any subsystems. All the information does not go to a single store.

Front 3

What are the components of the Working memory model described by Baddeley (2012)?

Back 3

Components of working memory:

# Central Executive (the boss of working memory!);

2 slave systems:

# Phonological loop;

# Visual-spacial sketchpad;

# Episodic buffer.

Front 4

What are the key assumptions about the working memory?

Back 4

- has limited capacity;

- its 3 key components {Central executive, Visual spacial sketchpad, Phonological loop} function largely independently

Front 5

What does "independence" mean for functioning of the components of the working memory?

Back 5

# if 2 tasks use the same component, there will be more interference [they cannot be successively performed together]

# if 2 tasks rely on different components of the working memory, there will be less interference [they can be performed successively both together and separately]

Front 6

What is the Central Executive?

Back 6

The system of processes responsible for organisation & coordination of the cognitive system to fulfill current goals.

Front 7

What are the functions of the Phonological loop?

Back 7

1) Keep speech-based info (spoken/written material);

2) Do subvocal rehearsal.

*eg. can be used to remember a phone number

Front 8

What are the 2 components of the Phonological loop?

Back 8

1) Articulatory Control System {the "inner voice"};

2) Phonological store {the "inner ear"}.

# the brain areas associated with these two components are different.

Front 9

What is the Articulatory Control System?

Back 9

# a time-limited verbal rehearsal system;

# provides indirect access to the Phonological store through subvocal articulation;

{in other words}

> used to rehearse and store phonological info from the Phonological store.

>> linked to speech production.

# one of the components of the Phonological loop.

Front 10

What is the Phonological store?

Back 10

# a passive speech-based storage system;

# gets directly activated by speech perception;

# holds info in a speech-based form for ~2 sec;

>> linked to speech perception.

# one of the components of the Phonological loop.

Front 11

What sort of information feeds in the Phonological store?

Back 11

# Auditory & Visual word presentations;

# Articulatory control processes.

Front 12

What can be seen as the evidence of the fact that Phonological loop is engaged in the verbal rehearsal?

Back 12

1) Phonological similarity [phonologically similar sets of words (eg. knee, see, be, we) are remembered worse than the dissimilar ones (eg. bus, it, odd, shy)]

2) Word-length effect [words taking shorter time to say are remembered for longer than words taking a longer time to say]

Front 13

What is the Visual-Spatial Sketchpad?

Back 13

# a temporary storage system for visual & spatial information;

# used for manipulation of visual patterns and movement;

# used for navigation.

Front 14

What are the 2 components of the Visual-Spatial Sketchpad?

Back 14

1) Visual cache;

2) Inner scribe.

Front 15

What is the function of the Visual cache?

Back 15

# store visual information about form & colour

Front 16

What are the functions of the Inner scribe?

Back 16

# process spatial & movement information;

# active rehearsal of the visual info from the Visual cache;

# transfer of info from the Visual cache to the Central Executive.

Front 17

What are the key take-home messages?

Back 17

# There is an evidence that the 2 slave systems of the working memory (Phonological loop & Visual-spatial sketchpad) are relatively independent & consist of independent components.

# every component of working memory has a limited capacity.