Wmm 12 Marks

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Outline and Evaluate the Working Memory Model (WMM) (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. The working memory model is an improvement over the multi-store model. It demonstrates how the short term memory works as it explains how we can store information briefly and simultaneously manipulate it, e.g. mental arithmetic. This shows that the model appears to measure what it is intended to. There is evidence to prove the existence of the phonological loop; Baddeley thought that because longer chunks of information take longer to say, this may affect how much the short term memory can hold, rather than the capacity. However, there are also arguments to suggest weaknesses of the working memory model. The main limitation is the lack of precision about the central executive. A psychologist argued that the central executive may be more than just one system, possibly consisting of more than one component. This could make the working memory model appear that it is lacking in detail and is

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