The newer view of working memory is one that is in more of a parallel fashion. This means that all three parts can be working at the same time. information can travel back and forth at the same time from short term memory to working memory to long term memory or vice versa because short term and working memories are contained in the long term memory. The three stages model, on the other hand, is serial. It always travels in a predictable path from sensory memory to short term memory to long term memory.
In the newer working memory model, the long term memory contains both the working memory and short term memory. This is where your memories are stored for future use.
Short term memory works as part of the working memory where information is stored when we are using it at a particular time. Also, sensory is momentarily stored here while it is integrated and can be stored into your long term memory.
Working memory has multiple purposes. Working memory can pull information from your long term memory to help process information in your short term memory. It also can pull information from your long term memory for immediate conscious use, such as first aid care or for when you are taking a test. Lastly, it also moves information from your short term into long term for storage.
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The working memory seems more realistic than the three stage model. I think of working memory like the RAM (Random Access Memory) on a computer, that can temporarily store information to keep programs running. A lot of times it is a more important specification than hard-drive (storage) memory because it can help execute tasks faster rather than just store information.
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Explain the issues that Clive Wearing experienced based on the Working Model of Memory? Where would his memory problems arise from?
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Clive Wearing has both retrograde and anterograde amnesia. He cannot retrieve any information from the past nor store any new information into his long term memory. The problem, it would appear, lies within the working memory aspect. His short term memory works. He is able respond to his wife and knows whats happening in the present for roughly 7-30 seconds, the span of your short term memory. Also, it is evident he still has his long term memory because he still knows his wife debbie and can still play the piano. However, he is no longer able to transfer any new or old information between the two. He no longer is able to use his working memory.
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Clive Wearing's long term memory only works for his procedural memories. Procedural memory is memory that is stored in the cerebellum and is memory for motor activity such as riding a bicycle, using a screwdriver, or playing the piano. Therefore Clive was still able to recall how to play the piano.
However, episodic memory which is processed in the hippocampus is memory for events, when things happened and places (where things took place) is what was most effected by the virus that damaged Clive's hippocampus. This type of memory is often referred to as "autobiographical memory." Clive had primarily lost this type of memory and no longer could recall the past events of his life or form new memories of the events happening in his life. Working memory was damaged because he could no longer access information stored in long term memory to associate and form new long term memories.