Outline And Evaluate The Working Memory Model

The working memory model is the part of the short term memory which is governed by the ‘central executive which monitors and coordinates the operation of the store systems; Phonological loop and visuo – spatial sketchpad. The phonological loop allows sounds to be stored for brief periods. The visuo spatial sketchpad allows visual and spatial information to be stored for brief periods. The two slave systems within the WMM are completely separate and can work individually.
A piece of evidence which shows support for the slave systems being two separate systems within the WMM is the case of KF. He had a motorcycle accident and damaged his brain and memory, which therefore left him with no new memory, h couldn’t remember anything since the accident. When KF memory was assessed psychologists found out that he could remember things from sight using his visuo spatial sketch pad however he couldn’t remember things from ear using his phonological loop, this suggests that the slave systems must be separate.
This research has weak reliability that the slave systems are separate this is because these findings were only found on one person and not a collective of people, therefore you can’t generalise findings from one person on everybody else, so this evidence on supply’s weak support for the WMM. A piece of research which shows support for the slave systems working independently to each other is psychologists carried out an experiment on two groups asking them to do specific tasks. Group one was asked to perform two visual tasks using only there visuo spatial sketch pad.

The other group was asked to do a visual and verbal task using both slave systems. The psychologists found out that group 2 performed better this is because they don’t overload ne slave systems like the other group this suggests that both slave systems work independently and can become over capacitated. A criticism of this research method is that it was a lab experiment, and is low in ecological validity, which could have affected the results, as participants may feel under pressure with the lab setting.