WORKING MEMORY

• Working memory is a psychological construct that refers to the

“Processing Space” in the mind/brain when a person computes
information.
• Working memory is, for example where listeners fleetingly store n
process linguistic data for analyzing for comprehension.
• There are multiple theories and models of working memory but they
all have in common is the idea that working memory has a limited
capacity.
The Structure Beneath Short Term
Memory
• STM behaves differently depending on whether the things to be remembered are
presented visually or auditorily, rapidly or slowly, or whether the items activate
information stored in long term memory and where in a sequence of facts a
critical item falls.

• Cognitive psychologist have developed a theory of the underlying mechanism

STM not only to explain the properties of STM, but also to explain how STM help
us interact with the world and accomplish our goals.
This emphasis on the active and structural aspect of STM began with the work of Miler, Galanter and Pribram (1960)

They called STM working memory to emphasize that it serves as our support system for doing cognitive work, such as
reasoning, listening, or making decision.

Great progress in this effort to replace the static model of STM with a more process oriented model of working
memory was made by Baddeley and Hitch
PHENOMENA EXPLAINED BY WORKING
MEMORY.
The following application of the WM model illustrates how the four
components of WM function to explain 3 typical findings associated with
STM.

Phonological
confusions

Irrelevant Word
speech length
effect effect

Word Length Effect:
Phonological Confusions:
• If you try to memorize
• Occurs when people try words in foreign
to remember list of language, long words are
words, sentences, difficult to remember
memory worst for words than short ones.
that sounds same.
• STM span decreases as
• As a result the person the length of words to be
trying to remember memorized increases.
words that sounds alike
is judged to have smaller • WM shows that the
STM span. speed of articulation is
the key to the capacity of
STM.
Irrelevant Speech Effect:
• Ability of
inconsequential
background speech to
interfere with silent
verbal rehearsal.
• Can occur when the
spoken language is
different from the text
language you are
reading.
• Speech sounds from
irrelevant speech enter
P loop n added to the
sounds associated with
the words you try to
remember.
 WHEN DO WE USE WORKING MEMORY?

• Remembering telephone number, web address, vehicle registration number

while we are trying to find a pen n paper to write it down.

• Spoken directions: “GO straight over at the roundabout, take the second
left and the building is on the right opposite to the church.

• Checking of the items in a basket for the calculation of the supermarket bill.

• Measuring and combining the correct amount of ingredients when you

have just read the recipe but are no longer looking at the pages.
Situations that leads to the
loss of working memory:

Distraction

Trying to hold
Engaging in a
in mind too
demanding
much
task
information.
 WORKING MEMORY CAPACITY

• There is a personal limit to working memory with each individual

having a relatively fix capacity that maybe greater or less than that of
others. So, a particular activity maybe well within the capacity of one
person but exceed that of another.

• Working memory capacity also increases with age during childhood

young children typically have very small capacities that increase
gradually until the teenage years.
EVERYONE IS A GENIUS
BUT IF YOU JUDGE A
FISH BY ITS ABILITY TO
CLIMB A TREE, IT WILL
LIVE ITS WHOLE LIFE
BELIEVING THAT IT IS
STUPID.

--Albert Einstein
 TECHNIQUES OF MEMORY
MEMORY IMPROVEMENT:
• Exercise Regularly
• Limit stress
• Be conscious of what you consume
• Sleep
RETAINING INFORMATION:
• Organize Information
• Make Associations
• Use visual cues
• Create mnemonics
• Write it down
• Say it out loud
• Engage in active recall
• Rehearse