Week 4/ Chapter 4

Chapter 4

1. The Working Memory has four components, the phonological loop, the visuospatial sketchpad, the central executive, and the episodic buffer. The phonological loop has limited storage and stores sound. The visuospatial sketchpad stores visual and spatial information and encodes verbal information and stores it as visual information. The episodic buffer gathers information from the visuospatial sketchpad, the phonological loop, and the long term memory. Finally, the central executive takes information from the phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, and the episodic buffer and uses it to plan and coordinate behavior while keeping irrelevant information out.

2. We’ve spent the last few weeks learning about how we view and hear things and about our attention and consciousness. Now, we are learning how all of the stimuli are affecting our memory. We have learned how we take that information and use it to make decisions and to process information.

3. I am still a little unsure on Proactive interference (PI) and why we can’t add another item to a list. Why does the new item have to be completely different? When I answered the discussion regarding this, I wasn’t sure if my answers were 100% what PI is.

4. Understanding the working memory will help me to try and make sure that the information I provide to students is clear and undisturbed so they have a better chance of remembering it. Also, to provide things in memorable chunks and to repeat information so they actually learn, rather than storing something for just a short while and then losing it.

5. & 6. To explain the visuospatial sketchpad, the author discusses a study by Brandimonte in which two groups of participants were to create a mental image of six different pictures. Then, they were asked to subtract part of the image and name the remaining object. I understand that this explains how they remembered the names of the pictures instead of the image, but I had to read it a few times to figure that out. Either the study is confusing or the way the author wrote about it way. I believe and understand the study now, but it didn’t stand out or make the point as effectively as other descriptions in the text.

7. Again, I will do my best to provide clear chunks of information to students and make sure they understand it and are not just storing it until something interesting distracts them. Since I want to be a school counselor, I could ask the student to explain what we talked about or give examples of the actions they will take before they even leave my office. Specifically with students who have ADHD, I can make sure to minimize any distractions while they are I my office. Also, I could try to see students more frequently if we have to go over a lot of information, rather than throwing it all at them at once.

8. A more cheap and effective way to understand these concepts would be to use these demonstrations in your own classroom. It may not work as well with younger students or in every classroom, but explain to your older students what you are learning and do the demonstrations the book offers. The students will get a chance to learn as well. You could even think up your own new ideas and try those out. On a college campus, students who wanted to do their own research could ask for student volunteers. This is a very cheap way to do research and better understand the working memory.