Simplistic Assumptions About Memory
Jonathan Firth's Memory & Metacognition Updates #69
Hi! If you recently had a mid-term or reading week, I hope it was an enjoyable break. And if you missed either of my last two posts, you can find them here:
As I mentioned last time, the familiar ‘modal model’ of memory provides a useful overall architecture of human memory, but some major details are inaccurate.
In particular, the assumption that new information enters LTM via repetition is problematic. This ignores many of the things that I have discussed in these updates, such as spaced practice, the role of prior learning, retrieval practice, and the meaning of what has been learned. Important omissions!
And so, while it’s true that learners need to think about things (processing them in WM) in order to learn, issues of how and when they do so can’t be overlooked.
Simplification of WM
Another issue with the model is that working memory is displayed as a single box (which Atkinson & Shiffrin suggest has a limited number of spaces for items – around seven).
Later researchers have shown that this isn’t accurate. Working memory contains multiple stores, each of which can operate simultaneously.
For example, we can process visual and verbal information at the same time. An example of this occurs if you are driving a car and simultaneously listening to a conversation on the radio, or speaking to a passenger. Driving uses visual working memory, while conversing/listening to speech uses verbal working memory.
The Modern View of WM
The example of driving might not appear to be about learning (at least, not directly). But this shows another way that scientists’ understanding of working memory has changed.
In the early days of cognitive psychology, working memory (or short-term memory) was seen as a brief storage unit – a holding cell before things were permanently memorised.
Now, we recognise that working memory isn’t just about learning, it’s also about doing.
That’s why it’s called working memory nowadays! And in the classroom, students are using their WM all the time – for pretty much every classroom task. It’s used to listen, to draw, to compose a sentence, to watch a video, to carry out a practical… in fact, it’s really hard to think of a classroom task that doesn’t draw on this system. It’s really the centre of all of our day-to-day cognitions.
All in all, WM is now seen just as much as a processor as a storage unit.
The paper below by Baddeley (2003) is a good and fairly short summary of this more modern way of looking at working memory, delving into some supporting research:
Baddeley, A. (2003). Working memory: looking back and looking forward. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 4(10), 829–839.
That’s it for now – hope you have a great week!
Jonathan
Last week: Is the Classic Model of Memory Accurate?
Please note that my slides and similar materials are used under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license. This means you can use or adapt them with attribution for non-commercial purposes. If you wish to use my materials for other purposes, feel free to get in touch.