Understanding Working Memory

Discuss what psychological research has shown about working memory. In your answer, refer to theory and/or evidence

Working memory can be defined as the central structures and processed that temporarily store, maintain, and manipulate information required to support the thought process (Chai et al. 2018). In describing the working memory, most researchers cite the multicomponent working memory model. From this model, working memory is seen to manipulate information storage for more complex and greater cognitive utility. Three subcomponents are involved in this process namely the verbal working memory, visual-spatial working memory, and the attentional control system (Ashkenazi et al. 2013). Working memory can be conceptualised as a short-term storage component with limited storage capacity, crucial in tasks such as psychology dissertation help.

The capacity of the working memory has received significant attention. According to D'Esposito and Postle (2015), the capacity of the working memory can be compared with the directed/held attention information inhibition. In an experiment using reading span and reading comprehension, the authors concluded that working memory capacity is a product of the attention allocated to the task at hand. In the same vein, Ashkenazi et al. (2013) write that the attention and the duration the attention is allocated determines the likelihood of success in completing the task, which implies that information stored in the working memory though not long-lasting involves higher-order processing. Ziaei et al. (2017) establish that working memory declines with age. Therefore, older adults will perform poorly on working memory tasks as compared to younger generations.

Describe and Evaluate Milgram’s research into obedience

In his study, Milgram wanted to establish whether Germans were obedient to authority figures which were a common explanation for the Nazi killing in World War II. A sample of 40 participants was selected (all male) through newspaper advertising. In the experiment were three roles: instructor, teacher learner. It was designed that the learner was an outsider and a friend to Milgram. The forty participants took the role of a teacher. They were informed that the aim of the experiment was to find out the effect of punishment on the learning process.

The learner was tied to an electric chair. In a different room, there was an electric panel and the participants. Though separated from the learner, the participants and the learner could hear each other. The instructor sat behind the participants. The participants were asked to read a number of word pairs. They were then asked to one by one recite a word and the learner would give the pair out of the four provided options. With every incorrect answer, the participant was instructed to deliver an electric shock starting from 15 volt increasing by 15 volt to a maximum of 450 volt. 65% of the participants went to the final step of delivering an electric shock of 450 volt despite the pleading of the learner. Therefore, it is evident that ordinary people are likely to follow orders given by the authority even to the extent of killing innocent human beings. We can conclude that obedience to authority is ingrained which explains why Germans executed Nazi killings in World War II.

Describe and evaluate learning theory as an explanation of attachment

Bowlby’s theory of attachment holds that infants are born with innate ability to form attachments in order to increase their survival chances (Bowlby and Ainsworth 2013). At birth, Bowlby believes that children are blank slates thus learning is essential for them to develop survival tactics. According to Holmes (2014), a child can associate food with the mother because she is consistently present at the time the child is feeding. The presences of the mother thus become neutral stimuli. The mother therefore becomes learned conditioned stimulus which produces a conditioned response in that the baby will want to deed anytime the mother is present. In such a case, attachment occurs because the child associates the mother with food and will always seek the mother anytime he/she is hungry. From the lens of the learning theory of attachment, it is the things that a child associates with the mother that forms the child mother attachment. Once a child is separated from the mother, he/she will struggle to do the things associated with the mother (Holmes 2014). For example, it will be hard for the child to be fed by another person because food is associated with the mother.

Describe and evaluate the biological approach to OCD

The biological approach to obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) explores the hereditary and other biological factors associated with the development and maintenance of OCD. The biological approach to OCD has shed light on the genetic and neurobiology of OCP as well as its subtypical classification. According to Hertler (2016), the biological approach to OCD has led to the discovery there are hereditary factors in OCD. In the same vein, a study conducted by Sinopoli et al. (2017) reveal that genetic factors have a pivotal role in the transmission and expression of OC symptoms.

Studies on the heritability of OCD are majorly conducted among twins. The results reveal that monozygotic twins have the uppermost concordance rates followed by zygotic twins (Sinopoli et al. 2017). These types of studies do not specify the genes involved in the susceptibility of OCD in twins. Hertler (2016) state that OCD is not a homogenous disorder thus systematic approaches to gene discovery should rely on segregation, association, and linkage of the twins and families. Segregation studies have shown that specific genes have a considerable effect on a particular trait but they have not been able to establish the transmission model. The commonly studied genes in OCD are serotonin systems and are associated with the transmission and expression of OC symptoms. Biologically, SSRIs have been used in managing OC symptoms in that serotonin systems is said to facilitate the expression of OC symptoms. Research is noticeably silent on the biological approach to managing OCD symptoms. Extensive research focuses on the roles of genes in OCD as well as the heritability of OCD.

References

Ashkenazi, S., Rosenberg-Lee, M., Metcalfe, A.W., Swigart, A.G. and Menon, V., 2013. Visuo–spatial working memory is an important source of domain-general vulnerability in the development of arithmetic cognition. Neuropsychologia, 51(11), pp.2305-2317.

Bowlby, J. and Ainsworth, M., 2013. The origins of attachment theory. Attachment Theory: Social, Developmental, and Clinical Perspectives, 45.

Chai, W.J., Abd Hamid, A.I. and Abdullah, J.M., 2018. Working memory from the psychological and neurosciences perspectives: A review. Frontiers in psychology, 9, p.401.

D'Esposito, M. and Postle, B.R., 2015. The cognitive neuroscience of working memory. Annual review of psychology, 66, pp.115-142.

Hertler, S.C., 2016. The biology of obsessive-compulsive personality disorder symptomatology: Identifying an extremely K-selected life history variant. Evolutionary Psychological Science, 2(1), pp.1-15.

Holmes, J., 2014. John Bowlby and attachment theory. Routledge.

Sinopoli, V.M., Burton, C.L., Kronenberg, S. and Arnold, P.D., 2017. A review of the role of serotonin system genes in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 80, pp.372-381.

Ziaei, M., Salami, A. and Persson, J., 2017. Age-related alterations in functional connectivity patterns during working memory encoding of emotional items. Neuropsychologia, 94, pp.1-12.

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