Andrade's cognitive core study on doodling

Question 1

2 Assumptions of the cognitive approach

Answer 1

• Information in humans is all processed through input-process - output just like a computer
• People have diff. in cognitive proxessing with attention, thinking and memory help explain behaviour and emotions

Question 2

Assumptions of the cognitive approach and how they relate to this core study

Answer 2

The doodling group performed better on the monitoring task in comparison to the control group. This suggests that differences can be explained by cognitions as optimal levels of cognitive processing and reduced daydreaming.

Question 3

The psychology that is being investigated

Answer 3

• Attention our mental ability to concentrate, “paying attention” focusing on something, “dividing attention” concentration on more than one thing, “selective attention” paying attention to one thing while ignoring another on purpose.
• Memory: our ability to store information that has been processed

Question 4

The background

Answer 4

People daydream when they are presented with a boring task, causing them to pay less attention, and doodle as their mind drifts, not linked to the primary task. It is not known if doodling distracts from tasks or aids concentration.

Question 5

Andrade defines doodling as…

Answer 5

sketching patterns or figures that are unrelated to the primary task.

Question 6

Aim

Answer 6

To test whether doodling aided concentration during a boring task.

Question 7

The procedure

Answer 7

• The participants were randomly assigned to the two conditions.
• Participants were tested individually in a quiet and visually dull room.
• They were asked to note down the names of all people attending the party and nothing else. They were also told that they do not need to remember any of it.
• Participants listened to the tape for 2.5 minutes and wrote down the information as directed.
• As soon as the recording finished, the researcher came in and collected the sheets and talked to the participant for a minute.
• This conversation included a debriefing and an apology for misleading them about the memory test. The participants were asked if they suspected a memory test.
• Half the participants then recalled names of people then places and the other half the places then names. (Counterbalancing).

Question 8

Describe the participants in the control condition materials

Answer 8

given a piece of lined paper and a pencil

Question 9

Describe the participants in the doodling group materials

Answer 9

• given a piece of A4 paper with alternating rows of 10 squares and circles, 1 cm in diameter, with a 4.5 cm
• margin on the left-hand side where they could write any target information.

Question 10

What was asked of the doodling group?

Answer 10

• The doodling group was asked to shade the shapes.
• They were told that “it does not matter how neatly or quickly you do this - it is just something to help relieve the boredom.”

Question 11

When were partipants recruited

Answer 11

• recruited just after finishing an unrelated experiment for another researcher, and were asked if they would mind spending another 5 minutes helping with research.
• The intention was to enhance the boredom of the task by testing people who were already thinking about going home.

Question 12

Describe the Recording

Answer 12

• The researcher recorded a mock telephone message using a cassette recorder.A fairly monotonous voice was used.
• Average speaking rate was 227 words per minute.
• The recording was being played at a comfortable volume for the participant to listen to.
• The script included names of 8 people who would be attending a party alongside the names of 3 people and 1 cat who would not attend. 8 place names were also mentioned.

Question 13

Name the 2 catagories of information that was presented in the telephone message.

Answer 13

• Name of party goers
• Places

Question 14

The types of false alarms given by the participants when recalling the names of the party-goers.

Answer 14

• New names
• Non- party goers
• Names not in the message

Question 15

The research method used

Answer 15

Laboratory experiment

Question 16

The number of particpants and where they were from

Answer 16

• Participants were assigned randomly
• control group 20 - 18 females and 2 males
• doodling group 20 - 17 females and 3 males
• age 18-55

Question 17

What did the particpants do prior to listening to the recording

Answer 17

All participants were read a script before the tape played, stating that the tape was a phone call of a friend who was sharing details about their party and the participant was invited.

Question 18

The sampling methods used

Answer 18

• Opportunity sampling
• Those readily available from the medical research council

Question 19

The experimental design used

Answer 19

Independent groups
ps only took part in either the doodling or control conditions once.

Question 20

The controls used

Answer 20

• length of script
• time particaptn was spken to before recall ( 1 min)

Question 21

How was the ‘monitoring performance score’ calculated for each patient [1]

Answer 21

The number of correct names minus (the number of) false alarms

Question 22

Outline one result for the monitoring performance scores [2]

Answer 22

Monitoring performance was significantly higher in the doodling condition, 15/20 recalled all (8/8) names, compared to the control (non-doodling) condition

Question 23

Suggest one problem with the sample used in Andrade [2]

Answer 23

The sample was gender biased as there were more females so the results may not generalise to males in terms of doodling and remembering

Question 24

Outline the result for false alarms for places (incidental information) [2

Answer 24

Both the doodling and control condition had the same average recall [0.3].

Question 25

Types of questions asked

Answer 25

Half the participants then recalled names of people then places and the other half the places then names. (Counterbalancing).

Question 26

Data collection method used

Answer 26

Particapant were told to recall the number of names & places

Monitoring performace score calculated as # of correct names written - # of false alarms

Question 27

Independent and dependent variables used

Answer 27

IV
doodling and control

DV
Mean correcal reacll
false alarms
memory scores

Question 28

Ethical Issues

Answer 28

Participants did not give informed consent fully for the recall task. This may have caused psychological distress. However, participants were debriefed and apologised to by the researchers.

Question 29

Results

Quantitative/qualitative data & how it is represented and interpeted

Answer 29

• Participants in doodling group shaded a mean of 36.3 shapes (range 3-110). One participant did not doodle and was replaced.
• Recall was significantly better for those in doodling condition.
• In the doodling condition mean of 7.8 names of partygoers were recalled correct higer then control condition who has a mean recall of 7.1 names

Question 30

How many false alarms were measured?

Answer 30

• Doodling - 1
• Control - 4

Question 31

How many suspected a memory test

Answer 31

3 participants in doodling group and 4 in control group suspected a memory test

Question 32

Conclusion drawn

Answer 32

Participants who performed a shape-shading task concentrated better on a mock telephone message than those who listened with no concurrent task It is not clear whether they have scored better because of the doodling, or if they had simply concentrated better.
.

Question 33

Strengths
Methodological issues:

Reserach method, reliabilty,validty,generalibily,& control of variables

Question 34

Weakness
Methodological Issues

Reserach method, reliabilty,validty,generalibily,& control of variables

Question 35

Everyday Life

The issues of application of psychology and how it realtes to the study

Answer 35

Useful for students while they are revising or in class.

Question 36

Individual and Situational explanations debate

how it realtes to the study

Answer 36

Andrade supports a situational explanation. Participants responded to their situation by performing differently on the memory task depending on if they were doodling or not. Participants were randomly allocated to their conditions so there is little reason to believe that there were significant individual differences between the groups.

Question 37

Nature vs. Nurture Debate

how it relates to the study

Answer 37

Nature
Could be from biological differences in how memory is processed and some may recall info. better then others
Nurture
Some ps may be better at recalling info. because of experience or exposer