Working Memory vs. STS
Baddeley, one of today’s most influential theorists in memory, has argued that the concept of an undifferentiated STS is incorrect. As an alternative he has proposed the concept of working memory which has three main components.
a. Identify the components of this system and explain what each of them does and how they are related.
b. Explain how the word length effect as manipulated by Baddeley fails to support the simple chunking in STM hypothesis advocated by Miller.
c. Describe at least two experiments, the results of which support the existence of one or both of the other sub-systems of the executive component.
d. Describe the experimental evidence suggesting that the VSSP has two separable sub-components one purely visual and the other spatial.
e. Discuss the contribution of Farah’s work with brain injured patients on visual vs. spatial imagery tasks and its relevance to the issue addressed in “d’ above.
3. Selective Attention
In 1958 Broadbent proposed a filter model of attention which attempted to explain why only some but not all aspects of the stimulus environment reached attention. Following Broadbent’s lead, several variations on this model were proposed (Treisman, 1964; Deutsch & Deutsch, 1963).
a. Sketch out all three models indicating:
a. What each model assumes about the sort of processing that takes place with respect to both targeted and non-targeted stimulus information.
b. Describe at least one experiment which supports Broadbent’s model (indicat9ing, of course how the data support the model.)
b. Based upon your assigned readings, class notes, outside readings etc.
a. Select and discuss at least two experiments that led to the rejection of Broadbent’s model. (You may use but are not limited to Grey and Wedderborn, 1960; Treisman, 1964; Corteen and Wood, 1972; Mackay, 1973 etc.)
b. Explain how attenuation or late filtering models handle the data from the experiments you just described above.
c. Evaluate the merits of choosing between the Treisman’s and Deutsch and Deutsch’s model.
