Up Learn – A Level Psychology (AQA) – Memory
Strengths of the Working Memory Model: Case Studies
Case studies of patients like patient KF support the working memory model, because these studies suggest there are multiple short-term memory stores.
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More videos on The Working Memory Model
Limitations of the Multi-store Model: Patient KF Case Study
Limitations of the Multi-store Model: Short-term Memory Stores (free trial)
Limitations of the Multi-store Model: the Role of Rehearsal (free trial)
Progress Quiz: Limitations of the Multi-store Model (free trial)
Phonological Loop (free trial)
Sub-components of the Phonological Loop (free trial)
Rehearsal and the Word-length Effect (free trial)
Visuo-spatial Sketchpad (free trial)
Memory
2. Memory stores (free trial)
3. Capacity, duration + encoding (free trial)
4. Types of coding: sensory coding (free trial)
5. Types of coding: semantic coding (free trial)
6. The sensory register (free trial)
7. The Sperling experiment: method (free trial)
8. The Sperling experiment: results (free trial)
9. Short-term memory: part 1 (free trial)
10. Short-term memory: part 2 (free trial)
11. Jacobs’ study of short-term memory (free trial)
12. Miller and short-term memory capacity (free trial)
13. Long-term memory (free trial)
14. Progress Quiz: Types of memory (free trial)
15. Bahrick’s experiment (free trial)
16. Bahrick’s experiment: evaluation (free trial)
17. Support for coding: Baddeley (1966) (free trial)
18. The multi-store model: introduction (free trial)
19. The multi-store model
20. The multi-store model: predictions (free trial)
21. Support for the multi-store model: case studies (free trial)
22. Support for the multi-store model: imaging studies (free trial)
2. Tulving’s long-term memory model (free trial)
3. Episodic memory(free trial)
4. Semantic memory (free trial)
5. Procedural memory (free trial)
6. Support for Tulving’s long-term memory model (free trial)
7. Limitations of Tulving’s long-term memory model: Squire and Zola (free trial)
2. Limitations of the multi-store model: patient KF case study
3. Limitations of the multi-store model: short-term memory stores (free trial)
4. Limitations of the multi-store model: the role of rehearsal (free trial)
5. Progress Quiz: Limitations of the multi-store model (free trial)
6. The working memory model (free trial)
7. Phonological Loop (free trial)
8. Sub-components of the phonological loop (free trial)
9. Rehearsal and the word-length effect (free trial)
10. Visuo-spatial sketchpad (free trial)
11. Sub-components of the visuo-spatial sketchpad (free trial)
12. Episodic buffer (free trial)
13. Central Executive (free trial)
14. Multi-tasking and the central executive (free trial)
15. Support for the working memory model: case studies (free trial)
16. Support for the working memory model: dual-task studies (free trial)
17. Support for the working memory model: imaging studies (free trial)
18. Limitations of the working memory model: the central executive (free trial)
19. Limitations of the working memory model: ecological validity (free trial)
2. Do we lose our memories forever? (free trial)
3. Interference theory (free trial)
4. Proactive interference (free trial)
5. Retroactive interference (free trial)
6. Evidence for interference theory: part 1 (free trial)
7. Evidence for interference theory: part 2 (free trial)
8. Interference theory: limitations of the evidence (free trial)
9. Interference theory: limitations of the theory (free trial)
10. Retrieval cues (free trial)
11. Retrieval cues: part 2 (free trial)
12. Internal/external cues (free trial)
13. Cue-dependent forgetting theory (free trial)
14. Cue overloading (free trial)
15. Cue overloading and interference (free trial)
16. Support for CDF: Godden & Baddeley (free trial)
17. Tulving & Pstoka methods (free trial)
18. Tulving & Psotka results (free trial)
19. Tulving & Psotka conclusions (free trial)
20. Limitations of CDF (free trial)
21. Limitations of CDF 2 (free trial)
2. Memory Reconstruction (free trial)
3. False memories (free trial)
4. Memory Schema (free trial)
5. Leading questions (free trial)
6. Post-event discussion (free trial)
7. Anxiety (free trial)
8. Loftus & Palmer (free trial)
9. Loftus & Palmer evaluation (free trial)
10. Loftus’ Weapons study (free trial)
11. Yuille & Cultshaw (free trial)
12. Cognitive interview: introduction (free trial)
13. The cognitive interview (free trial)
14. Effects of context: mental reinstatement (free trial)
15. Reducing schema effects: change of perspective (free trial)
16. Decreasing forgetting: change of narrative order (free trial)
17. Effect of cues: recalling everything (free trial)
18. Evidence for the cognitive interview (free trial)
19. The enhanced cognitive interview (free trial)
2. Exam How-To: The Working Memory Model (free trial)
3. Exam How-To: Explanations of Forgetting (free trial)
4. Evaluation: Eyewitness Testimony and the Cognitive Interview (free trial)
5. Exam How-To: Eyewitness Testimony (free trial)
6. Exam How-To: The Cognitive Interview (free trial)
7. Exam How-To: Types of Memory (free trial)
We’ve now seen the four components of the working memory model…
The phonological loop is a store for auditory and verbal information…
The visuospatial sketchpad is a store for visual information…
The episodic buffer is a multi-modal store that combines information across senses to create a memory of an event.
And the central executive is a system that manages the three working memory stores and divides our attention across the stores!
So, now that we’ve looked at the working memory model, we can look at the evidence supporting the model.
And we’re going to look at evidence from three sources: case studies, laboratory experiments, and imaging studies…
And first up, we’re going to look at patient case studies…
For instance, earlier we looked at a patient KF, who had…
Patient KF had damage to his short-term memory, but not his long-term memory.
And his short-term memory damage affected his ability to retain verbal information, but not visual information.
Now, we also saw earlier that the multi-store model can’t explain how patient KF has damage to just his short-term memory…
According to the multi-store model, information must go through the short-term memory store before it is transferred to the long-term memory store…
And there is just one short-term memory store….
So, if this store is damaged, there’s no way for information to reach the long-term memory store!
On the other hand, the working memory model says that we have multiple short-term memory stores, called the…
The three memory stores in the working memory model are the phonological loop, the visuospatial sketchpad and the episodic buffer.
Now, if one of the stores is damaged, such as the phonological loop, [show store crossed out], information can’t pass from this store to long-term memory….
But, information can still be transferred to long-term memory using one of the remaining stores!
So, the working memory model predicts that people can damage their short-term memory without damaging their long-term memory…
…so long as they haven’t damaged all of their working memory stores!
So, now, how would the working memory model explain patient KF’s symptoms?
According to the working memory model, patient KF had damage to his phonological loop, but not his visuospatial sketchpad, or episodic buffer.
This meant that he struggled to retain sounds and verbal information, but he could still retain other kinds of information in working memory.
And, with the help of his visuospatial sketchpad and episodic buffer, he could still transfer this information into long-term memory.
So, one strength of the working memory model is that it receives support from case studies, like patient KF.
But we’ve also seen that patient case studies have their own limitations…
First, case studies only look at a small number of rare cases.
So, the results might not generalise to other people: we can’t be sure that everyone’s memory works the same way!…
And a second limitation of patient case studies is that it’s hard to establish a cause and effect relationship between the patient’s brain damage, and their behaviour, because we don’t know how the patient behaved before the brain damage!
Luckily, the working memory model is also supported by other types of research, which we’ll see in more detail next.
But first, to recap…
Case studies of patients like patient KF support the working memory model, because these studies suggest there are multiple short-term memory stores.