PSY270H1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Mental Rotation, Short-Term Memory, Working Memory

• School: UTSG
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY270H1
• Professor: David Chan

Document Summary

Working memory: limited-capacity system for temporary storage & manipulation of information for complex tasks such as comprehension, learning, and reasoning. Different from the old model, in that information manipulation occurs here. Short-term memory: stores information for brief period of time. Working memory: manipulating information during complex cognition (such as mental math) People are able to hold short amounts of information in their heads, while doing other tasks. Working memory must consist of multiple processes, that work separately. Phonological loop (2 components: phonological store: limited capacity & holds information only for a few seconds, articulatory rehearsal process: rehearsal that keeps items in the phonological store from decaying (repeating the phone number over & over) Visuospatial sketchpad: holds visual & spatial information. Central executive: pulls information from long-term memory & coordinates activity b/w phonological loop & visuospatial sketchpad, focuses on specific parts of a task, and decides how to divide attention b/w different tasks, regulates the work.