Application of working memory in different situations
Memory is thought to work through a process that was theorized by American psychologists Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin. In this process, information is perceived by your senses and makes it into your sensory memory, which is immediate and fleeting. If you pay attention to information enough to commit it to memory, it will become short-term memory. Working memory is related to short-term memory, but it lasts slightly longer and is involved in the manipulation of information
A situation where different components of working memory took up the capacity of another component of my working memory.
Few weeks back, my husband was planning to make dinner and he realized salt is over. So I got ready to go to the nearby Acme store. As I was leaving, he also asked me to get two potatoes, and two tomatoes. The phonological loop processed the info and I verbally rehearsed the items to store the list in my memory. I didn’t bother to write down the list as it was just a few items. The visuospatial sketchpad also helped me remember where the veggie section is in the store. I could visualize the salt bottle, the colors on it, and its name. I got in my car and started driving toward Acme. Since I have been to the store so many times, the episodic buffer along with the visuospatial sketchpad helped me navigate without any hindrance. In the parking lot, I heard my phone buzzing. It was my husband, but I ignored it as the central executive-controlled attention was on finding a parking spot, especially near the store entrance.
I found a spot and then called my husband back. He repeated the list to me again to make sure I remember. The phonological loop processed the info again and the central executive attention was on the task at hand. I entered the store and immediately went to the veggie section. I picked up two potatoes and two tomatoes. Salt was on one of the aisles and I wasn’t sure which one. I love wandering around in grocery stores and that’s what I did while looking for salt.
As I was going through the aisles, I saw some interesting items and added them to the cart. Eventually, I checked out and came back home. As soon as I reached the kitchen, my husband asked for the salt. And that’s when I realized I forgot to get the most critical item. The information decayed from my working memory because I got distracted by the vast array of items and my attention shifted. The central executive prioritized the visuospatial component over the phonological loop. This incident ended with me going to Acme again to buy salt.
The role that sensory, short term and working memory plays in a conversation between two friends who ran into each other on the street after not having seen each other for years.
Characters:
Friend A: Monica
Friend B: Michelle
Setting:
Streets of Philadelphia, Art Museum area
Monica POV:
As Monica was climbing the famous Rocky stairs leading up to the Art Museum, she notices a familiar face coming down the stairs. The episodic buffer goes back to her high school to this girl who used to sit next to her. Monica approaches the girl.
Monica: Excuse me, you look a lot like a friend I knew. Are you Michelle from St. John High School, Virginia?
Michelle: Yes, I am. You look familiar too. Wait, are you Monica?
Michelle POV:
The central executive-controlled attention along with Monica’s voice (phonological loop) and appearance (visuospatial sketchpad) and the episodic buffer that goes back to the same high school to her bench mate who looked exactly like Monica, but a slightly shorter version. She takes in the visual stimuli — her face, her structure, the mole on her right cheek, her clothes along with audio stimuli- her voice, which sounds mature than she remembers. She reaches out to hug Monica and they embrace. She could feel tactile: Monica’s body against her and hands on her back.
Michelle: This is pure serendipity!
Monica: Yes, absolutely! Are you here for the weekend or longer? We should catch up!
Michelle: I actually moved to Philly a few months back with my boyfriend.
Monica: That’s amazing! Where are you located?
Michelle’s phone buzzes, it is a text from her boyfriend
She reads the text, replies, and turns her attention to Monica
Michelle: Sorry about that! What did you ask?
Both Monica and Michelle are storing information in their sensory memory through auditory stimuli when they’re talking and asking questions. When Michelle’s phone buzzed, the central executive attention was on the text, and the information about the address decayed from the sensory memory. So when she focused her attention on Monica again, she forgot the question.
Monica: Where are you staying in Philly?
Here, the short-term memory played out. First, the limited capacity of STM, limited storage and, lastly encoding the information and converting it into a usable form. In the above case, Michelle is receiving auditory stimuli in the form of questions and encoding that information.
Michelle: Fishtown.
Monica: Where in Fishtown?
Now she’ll use her working memory to answer. After hearing the question, she describes the area where she lives, nearby landmarks, and street names. This includes all four components of working memory: phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, central executive, and episodic buffer.
Monica’s POV:
While Michelle was describing her location Monica’s phonological loop is holding and keeping active the verbal information, the visuospatial sketchpad is picturizing the house location and the episodic buffer is combining both information and forming the visual map of the home address.
Monica: Wow, such a coincidence! My place isn’t very far from yours. Let’s exchange numbers and coordinate to meet up.
Michelle: Sure, my number is 2675624355
Monica (pulls out her phone): Okay, 26756…. Ahh, could you repeat it again?
STM can hold 7 items, plus or minus 2. So when Michelle gave her number, Monica could only register 5
Monica: 267–562–4355
Now that the number is chunked into 3 smaller groups, it was easier for Monica to recall as it took up 3 slots in her STM instead of 10.
Monica: Awesome! See you later!
They hug and part ways.
Phonological Loop
The phonological loop is a component of the working memory model that deals with spoken and written material. It is subdivided into the phonological store (which holds information in a speech-based form) and the articulatory process (which allows us to repeat verbal information in a loop).
Visuospatial sketchpad
The visuospatial sketchpad is a component of the working memory model which stores and processes information in a visual or spatial form. The visuospatial sketchpad is used for navigation
Central Executive:
Drives the whole system (e.g., the boss of working memory) and allocates data to the subsystems: the phonological loop and the visuospatial sketchpad. It also deals with cognitive tasks such as mental arithmetic and problem-solving.
