3. Baddeley (classic study) Flashcards
(22 cards)
What is the nature of memory processes and what does this lead to?
- Memory processes are often unconscious
- Therefore people cannot accurately report what type of encoding they use
What did Baddeley find in his first experiment? (1966a)
1966a found that:
- recall of acoustically similar words from STM was poor
- STM was not affected by semantically similar words
- experiment was to apply the same procedures to see if a similar pattern existed for LTM
Aim
- Investigate the encoding in STM and LTM
- The influence of acoustic and semantic similarity on LT memory for word lists
Method (experiment type)
Lab experiment
Participants
- 72 participants
- All servicemen
What was done to exclude any extraneous variables from some participants?
- A hearing test was given beforehand and 3 participants were excluded
What did he do?
- He gave 4 different lists of 10 words to groups of participants to remember
- Participants were shown the original words and asked to recall them in the correct order
Experimental design
- Independent groups design
- 4 groups learned 1 list each
What were the four groups
- Acoustically similar (cat, can, cab)
- Acoustically dissimilar (pit, few, cow)
- Semantically similar (great, big, large)
- Semantically dissimilar (good, huge, hot)
Steps
- They heard the words presented aloud on tape, 1 word every 3 seconds
- 40 seconds to write the words in any order
- Distracter task for 20 minutes (recalling sequences of 8 digits) and then had to recall words in correct order again
- This was done 4 times
What was the IV?
Type of word list (4 groups listed)
What was the DV?
Ability to recall the words in the correct order
Results (DV)
Performance DV: number of words recalled in correct position, analysed with a Mann-Whiteny U test
Results (immediate)
- Immediate recall (STM recall): tended to perform worse with acoustically similar words
- Acoustically similar words confusing at start but participants soon catch up with control group
- Not affected by 15 min interference task (between Trial 4 and the Forgetting Test)
- Participants perform worse because STM gets confused retrieving acoustically similar words
Results (later)
- Recall after 20 minutes (LTM recall), tended to perform worse on semantically similar words
- Participants perform worse because LTM gets confused retrieving semantically similar words
Conclusion
Suggests that info encoded acoustically in STM and semantically in LTM
Generalisability
+ Not androcentric (used both men & women)
+ Fairly large sample size
- Population: psych students from Cambridge uni therefore low population validity as participants would have similar socioeconomic backgrounds and ages
- Psych students: demand characteristics may be present as they may have been able to guess aim of study as they are attuned to research methods
- Makes sample unrepresentative of target population therefore low generalisability
Reliability
+ Highly controlled lab experiment with standardised procedure
+ Got all participants to learn 10 words, 1 delivered every 3 seconds
+ Standardised interference task of six 8-digit sequences before recalling the word list
+ Means the experiment could be replicated and the reliability of Baddley’s results could be tested
+ High reliability
Application
+ Can use to improve LT info recall (due to its identification as semantically encoded)+ When revising, students should try to relate info to things they already know and process it using mind maps or other strategies to reorganise info
+ Helping students to process the meaning of the material, matching the form of encoding in LTM
+ Study has validity in terms of being applicable to real life scenarios
External validity
- In lab experiment procedure, Baddley placed participants in a controlled environment, with a task with low mundane realism and low task validity (memorising a word list)
- Also nothing at stake and no reason for participants to try hard to remember
- Study lacks ecological validity therefore its application to real life tasks are put into question, and the semantic encoding in LTM may be exaggerated
Internal validity
+ Independent groups design ensured that the results were not due to order effects or fatigue effects
+ Participants do not have opportunity to practice task to improve performance, controlled by methodology (Baddley identified this as a potential situational, extraneous variable)
+ Procedure standardised for all 4 experimental groups (provide detail in paragraph)
+ No situational extraneous variables and all variables operationalised
+ DV measured objectively (% recalled in correct order) reducing investigator bias (subjectivity)
+ High internal validity: relationship between cause and effect between IV and DV much clearer
- Procedure did NOT rule out STM as an influence on later recall from LTM as participants still able to rehearse words between trials, leaving an important confounding variable uncontrolled
- Baddley later conducted more studies, modifiying his procedure
ETHICS
NOTHING
