Alan Baddeley's Model Of Working Memory
Summary of Introduction
The class article that we have read today discusses the Picture span test: Measuring visual working memory capacity involved in remembering and comprehension. This articles primary focus is going to be looking at the concept of working memory and how it actually works and is able to function alongside all other kinds of memory. The beginning of this article starts off by trying to determine the relationship between working memory and cognitive abilities. According to Alan Baddeley these two functions are attached to specific domains within the mind. Baddeley developed a model of working memory, which helps tell us the parallel transfer of information within the phonological loop.
Baddeley’s model of working memory had multiple parts to it, the first of which is a domain-general excusive part and two domain-specific storage parts; these parts all called the phonological loop, the visuospatial sketch pad, and the central executive. The phonological loop is what holds the sequences of acoustic or speech related items. Next the visuo-spatial sketchpad is what contains the visually and or spatially items that encoded. Finally the central executive is an attentionally–limited function that …show more content…
manipulates and selects materials into two systems. When two researchers Shah and Miyake (1996) used this model to determine the separability between spatial and verbal working memory they discovered that the spatial span test does indeed relate conclusively with the spatial ability to be measured but no with the verbal ability to be measured. With these results it is safe to say that tasks involving working memory do require materials of a certain domain that can only be predict cognitive skills in the parallel domains.
Sense this article is looking at working memory it should be clear that there is a distinct difference between working memory tasks and that of STM tasks. Working memory is easily predictable of being a cognitive ability that is capable of being measured, however it is not of STM. In other studies data tells us that there is in fact a correlation between spatial span test and spatial ability which means that there is a cognitive involvement between working task memory and storage tasks. Gathering all of this information leads up to the visual working memory task. This task is designed to test an individual’s reading capacity while being able to maintain visual information. Now to test the validity of PST scores that are congruent with the visuospatial ability subjects were given storage tasks that required memorizing images of familiarity. This test is called simple object span test or SOST for short. The SOST has been designed more as a visual analogue of word span, which actually has a lower correlation with language understanding. Methods For this test 52 graduate and undergraduate students from Kyoto University took part as volunteers. Of these 52 volunteers there were 35 males, 17 females, and age ranging from 20 years old all the way up to 37 years old. All of the volunteers had reported to be normal or close enough to normal vision and none of them has any vision defects. The volunteers for this tests were given 3 memory tasks of PST, RST and SOST. There was also 3 psychometric subject that were from Kyoto University’s intelligence test that were going to be administered to the volunteers. The PST task was designed to evaluate the visual working memory capacity of the volunteers. The volunteers were shown a set of scenario images for a time span of 4 seconds. Volunteers were required to judge whether each object were compatible with the imposed background of scenario image while being able to recall a specific part of the image that is surrounded with a red square or frame for about 1 second so that the volunteer couldn’t memorize the target without connecting the target to the context of the scene. The individual who were taking the test were told to click on the image that was not compatible with what was being shown on the computer screen, after the individual was done with looking at all of the images then a verbal questionnaire was conducted to evaluate the connection between the target image and the background.
Next the SOST was administered to test the visual storage capacity of traditional STM.
The participants were shown a set of recognizable objects with a particular colored background; none of the target objects were the same color as the background to help avoid blending in. Now the participants were told to count from 1 to 9 to help with the articulatory suppression. After the SOST was completed then the RST was given to the participants. RST task was created to measure the capacity of the verbal working memory. The participants were told to real aloud a string of sentences while simultaneously remembering an underlined word, which was the “target word”. After the string of sentences had been read the participant was told to orally recall the target
word.
Once the 3-memory span tests were completed then the 3 psychometric intelligence tests were administered. The first of these 3 tests was the plate matching test, which required the participant to be able to match numbers ranging from 1-16 and match characters (Japanese alphabet) from a select group. Next was the paper-unfolding test, which is imaging a sheet of paper that has been folded 2, 3, or even 4 times and having made several imaginary hole in the sheet. Then the participant was told to unfold the paper and had to figure out where the holes would be located on the unfolded paper. Lastly the figure reconstruction test, this test required the imagination of a figure being broken into multiple pi4eces and then being reconstructed into a square. Results
The results from the PST test tells us that the capacity of normal visual working memory is about 3 to 4 or 3.84. Whereas the capacity of SOST close to PST at 3.59. This slight difference is scores did not make any significant change in the outcome. The results between PST and SOST tells us that it for some individuals PST could be easier due to them using contextual information as retrieval cues. It is also clear that the individuals who partook in this test were able to engage in judging the context of the scenario but also memorizing the images that had been shown to them. After going over all of the test data it is safe to say that PST is in fact related to visuospatial cognitive abilities than simple storage tasks.
Discussion The main findings of this article are that both PST, RST, and SOST do work congruently together. With these findings they do agree with the hypotheses that had been stated in the beginning of this article. PST also does tell us that it is different from person to person in visual working memory. Having said that PST can be used for positive assistances in occupational fields by looking closer to the domain-specific of working memory.
Personal Reflection
I found this article to a good read, because of all the different kinds of tests that had been administered to the test subjects. I was amazed at how challenging all of the tests were, because I personally feel that I would have had a difficult time with a few of them and I would have found some to be rather easy as well. While reading this I was beginning to wonder if the plate-matching test would give different results if it had been administered in a different language. So with having that though perhaps this test could be converted into an English version and tested on those who use letter and words as apposed to Japanese characters.
References
Baddeley, A. D. (1986). Working memory. New York: Oxford University
Osaka, N., Osaka, M., Morishita, M., Kondo, H., Fukuyama, H., & Shibasaki, H. (2004). The neural basis of executive function in working memory: An fMRI study based on individual differences. NeuroImage, 21, 623-631
Shah, P., & Miyake, A. (1996). The separability of working memory resources for spatial thinking and language processing: An individual differences approach. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 125, 4-27.
The class article that we have read today discusses the Picture span test: Measuring visual working memory capacity involved in remembering and comprehension. This articles primary focus is going to be looking at the concept of working memory and how it actually works and is able to function alongside all other kinds of memory. The beginning of this article starts off by trying to determine the relationship between working memory and cognitive abilities. According to Alan Baddeley these two functions are attached to specific domains within the mind. Baddeley developed a model of working memory, which helps tell us the parallel transfer of information within the phonological loop.
Baddeley’s model of working memory had multiple parts to it, the first of which is a domain-general excusive part and two domain-specific storage parts; these parts all called the phonological loop, the visuospatial sketch pad, and the central executive. The phonological loop is what holds the sequences of acoustic or speech related items. Next the visuo-spatial sketchpad is what contains the visually and or spatially items that encoded. Finally the central executive is an attentionally–limited function that …show more content…
manipulates and selects materials into two systems. When two researchers Shah and Miyake (1996) used this model to determine the separability between spatial and verbal working memory they discovered that the spatial span test does indeed relate conclusively with the spatial ability to be measured but no with the verbal ability to be measured. With these results it is safe to say that tasks involving working memory do require materials of a certain domain that can only be predict cognitive skills in the parallel domains.
Sense this article is looking at working memory it should be clear that there is a distinct difference between working memory tasks and that of STM tasks. Working memory is easily predictable of being a cognitive ability that is capable of being measured, however it is not of STM. In other studies data tells us that there is in fact a correlation between spatial span test and spatial ability which means that there is a cognitive involvement between working task memory and storage tasks. Gathering all of this information leads up to the visual working memory task. This task is designed to test an individual’s reading capacity while being able to maintain visual information. Now to test the validity of PST scores that are congruent with the visuospatial ability subjects were given storage tasks that required memorizing images of familiarity. This test is called simple object span test or SOST for short. The SOST has been designed more as a visual analogue of word span, which actually has a lower correlation with language understanding. Methods For this test 52 graduate and undergraduate students from Kyoto University took part as volunteers. Of these 52 volunteers there were 35 males, 17 females, and age ranging from 20 years old all the way up to 37 years old. All of the volunteers had reported to be normal or close enough to normal vision and none of them has any vision defects. The volunteers for this tests were given 3 memory tasks of PST, RST and SOST. There was also 3 psychometric subject that were from Kyoto University’s intelligence test that were going to be administered to the volunteers. The PST task was designed to evaluate the visual working memory capacity of the volunteers. The volunteers were shown a set of scenario images for a time span of 4 seconds. Volunteers were required to judge whether each object were compatible with the imposed background of scenario image while being able to recall a specific part of the image that is surrounded with a red square or frame for about 1 second so that the volunteer couldn’t memorize the target without connecting the target to the context of the scene. The individual who were taking the test were told to click on the image that was not compatible with what was being shown on the computer screen, after the individual was done with looking at all of the images then a verbal questionnaire was conducted to evaluate the connection between the target image and the background.
Next the SOST was administered to test the visual storage capacity of traditional STM.
The participants were shown a set of recognizable objects with a particular colored background; none of the target objects were the same color as the background to help avoid blending in. Now the participants were told to count from 1 to 9 to help with the articulatory suppression. After the SOST was completed then the RST was given to the participants. RST task was created to measure the capacity of the verbal working memory. The participants were told to real aloud a string of sentences while simultaneously remembering an underlined word, which was the “target word”. After the string of sentences had been read the participant was told to orally recall the target
word.
Once the 3-memory span tests were completed then the 3 psychometric intelligence tests were administered. The first of these 3 tests was the plate matching test, which required the participant to be able to match numbers ranging from 1-16 and match characters (Japanese alphabet) from a select group. Next was the paper-unfolding test, which is imaging a sheet of paper that has been folded 2, 3, or even 4 times and having made several imaginary hole in the sheet. Then the participant was told to unfold the paper and had to figure out where the holes would be located on the unfolded paper. Lastly the figure reconstruction test, this test required the imagination of a figure being broken into multiple pi4eces and then being reconstructed into a square. Results
The results from the PST test tells us that the capacity of normal visual working memory is about 3 to 4 or 3.84. Whereas the capacity of SOST close to PST at 3.59. This slight difference is scores did not make any significant change in the outcome. The results between PST and SOST tells us that it for some individuals PST could be easier due to them using contextual information as retrieval cues. It is also clear that the individuals who partook in this test were able to engage in judging the context of the scenario but also memorizing the images that had been shown to them. After going over all of the test data it is safe to say that PST is in fact related to visuospatial cognitive abilities than simple storage tasks.
Discussion The main findings of this article are that both PST, RST, and SOST do work congruently together. With these findings they do agree with the hypotheses that had been stated in the beginning of this article. PST also does tell us that it is different from person to person in visual working memory. Having said that PST can be used for positive assistances in occupational fields by looking closer to the domain-specific of working memory.
Personal Reflection
I found this article to a good read, because of all the different kinds of tests that had been administered to the test subjects. I was amazed at how challenging all of the tests were, because I personally feel that I would have had a difficult time with a few of them and I would have found some to be rather easy as well. While reading this I was beginning to wonder if the plate-matching test would give different results if it had been administered in a different language. So with having that though perhaps this test could be converted into an English version and tested on those who use letter and words as apposed to Japanese characters.
References
Baddeley, A. D. (1986). Working memory. New York: Oxford University
Osaka, N., Osaka, M., Morishita, M., Kondo, H., Fukuyama, H., & Shibasaki, H. (2004). The neural basis of executive function in working memory: An fMRI study based on individual differences. NeuroImage, 21, 623-631
Shah, P., & Miyake, A. (1996). The separability of working memory resources for spatial thinking and language processing: An individual differences approach. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 125, 4-27.