Cognitive studies

Question 1

what are the two studies in the cognitive area

Answer 1

Loftus and palmer (1974)

Grant et al (1998)

Question 2

What did Bartlett say before the Loftus and Palmer study took place

Answer 2

Bartlett (1932) - Developed a theory called ‘reconstructive memory’

• he said our memory is not like cameras-we actually only remember parts of events that happen to us
• our mind fills in the blanks with information that makes sense or we expect to be there
• we get this information from our SCHEMA - these are organised packages of information about stimuli (e.g. events, objects, people, places) stored in our brain.
• If a certain schema is activated this may even change our minds

Question 3

What is the key theme in the Loftus and Palmer study

Answer 3

memory = external influences on memory

eyewitness testimony

Question 4

what were the aims of the Loftus and Palmer study

Answer 4

• To investigate factors that influence the accuracy of eyewitness testimony
• To investigate if post-event information could alter our memory
• To investigate if leading questions can alter the way we remember events

Question 5

What was the Loftus and Palmer study:
Field/Laboratory
Quantitative/qualitative
primary/secondary
independent/repeated measures

Answer 5

Field/Laboratory —>Laboratory
Quantitative/qualitative —>Quantitative
primary/secondary —>Primary
independent/repeated measures —>Independent

Question 6

what was the Independent variable for the Loftus and Palmer study and how was it operationalized
Experiment 1
Experiment 2

Answer 6

the language used in the question

experiment 1 = the verb used in the question: hit, smashed, collided, bumped, contacted

experiment 2 = only smashed or hit (or no speed question)

Question 7

what was the dependent variable for Loftus and Palmer study and how was it operationalized
experiment 1
experiment 2

Answer 7

experiment 1 = Speed estimated of cars (mph)

experiment 2 = Whether or not participants reported seeing broken glass (closed question: yes or no)

Question 8

How was the Loftus and Palmer study controlled

Answer 8

• All participants watched the same 7 videos

- Same questions asked (only the verb that changed)

Question 9

In the Loftus and Palmer study what was the sample for experiment 1 and what was the sampling method

Answer 9

experiment 1 = 45 students from a university
in groups of various sizes
opportunity sampling

Question 10

In the Loftus and Palmer study what was the sample for experiment 2 and what was the sampling method

Answer 10

experiment 2 = 150 students from a university
divided into 3 groups of 50
opportunity sampling

Question 11

briefly describe the Loftus and Palmer experiment 1

Answer 11

1) All groups were shown 7 films of traffic accidents in a random order
2) After each film, the participants were given a questionnaire
- Firstly they had to give an account of the accident
- Secondly they had to answer 10 questions
3) One question was a critical question:
- About how fast the cars were going when they (hit, smashed, bumped, collided, contacted) each other
4) this lead to the five experimental groups

Question 12

briefly describe the Loftus and Palmer experiment 2

Answer 12

3 equal groups of 50
1) shown 7 films of traffic accidents in a random order
2) After each film, the participants were given a questionnaire:
-Firstly they had to give an account of the accident
-Secondly they had to answer 10 questions
3)One question was a critical question:
-How fast were the cars when they smashed/hit ( 1 group of 50 participants did not get asked the question)
-(one week later)
did you see any broken glass? (there was no broken glass)

Question 13

in the Loftus and Palmer, experiment 1 what order (quickest to slowest) did the participants mean estimate each verb

Answer 13

Smashed - 40.5mph
Collided - 39.3mph
Bumped - 38.1pmh
Hit - 34.0mph
Contacted - 31.8mph

Question 14

In the Loftus and Palmer, experiment 2 how many participants said:
smashed group = yes and no
hit group = yes and no
control group = yes and no

Answer 14

smashed group:
yes = 16
no = 34

hit group:
yes = 7
no = 43

control group:
yes = 6
no = 44

Question 15

what did Loftus and Palmer’s study rely on

Answer 15

eye witness testimony

Question 16

what was the overall conclusion from the Loftus and Palmer study

Answer 16

Post-event information can severely affect the accuracy of eyewitness testimony - we should not rely on eyewitness testimony too heavily and should be very careful what we say to witnesses

Question 17

In the Loftus and Palmer study what were the conclusions for experiment 1

Answer 17

-The word used in a question can distort our memory of an event we have witnessed
-This could happen through:
=memory change (the word actually changes the way we remember an event)
=Response bias (the words make us interpret what we remember in a different way - this is when we are unsure of what we witnessed)

Question 18

In the Loftus and Palmer study what were the conclusions for experiment 2

Answer 18

• Leading questions can distort our memory of events even to the extent of making us believe we saw something we didn’t (creating a false memory)
• We use our schema to fill in information we don’t remember - this supports Bartlett’s theory of reconstructive memory

Question 19

Loftus and Palmer - internal validity

Answer 19

-It’s unlikely that participants guessed the aim, as they were each only asked the speed question once (and they didn’t even know that was the critical question)

Question 20

Loftus and Palmer - external validity

ecological

Answer 20

ecological - Watching a car crash on film is probably very different to seeing it in real life. you don’t have the same distractions emotional reaction etc. that might affect your memory

Question 21

Loftus and Palmer - internal reliability

Answer 21

The participants saw the films in different orders so this could have affected their focus on the critical film. However all participants were asked exactly the same questions with only the critical verb changed

Question 22

Loftus and Palmer - external reliability

Answer 22

It’s reasonable to believe the study would get the same results if repeated - the cognitive process used e.g. schema would work in the same way regardless of time or day

Question 23

How can the Loftus and Palmer study be applied to everyday life

Answer 23

anywhere where they need to be aware of inaccurate eyewitness testimonies e.g. court, police interviews

Question 24

How does the Loftus and Palmer study relate to the ethical guidelines

Answer 24

There were no major ethical issues in this study due to the researcher getting consent, participants had the right to withdraw and no personal details were released.
experimenter was qualified, participants were debriefed and only watched videos so there was no harm

the only issue was a small amount of passive deception as they were not told that they were all given different questions but this was to avoid demand characteristics

Question 25

``` How does the Loftus and Palmer study relate to: situational/individual nature/nurture determinism/free-will reductionism/holism ```

Answer 25

situational - Better at remembering a certain way or in a particular environment individual - People's perception of the word used in the question may be different nurture - If you were taught to remember things in a certain way/technique determinism - Word made memory better not the person Reductionism - The word is the soul reason behind the memory of the participant

Question 26

What is context dependent memory

Answer 26

When an individual is tested in the same condition/context in which they leant the tested material

Question 27

In terms of the background of the Grant et al study, what did Godden and Badderly (1975,1980) say

Answer 27

They noticed that deep sea divers would forget things when underwater but when surfacing, they would soon recall it

Question 28

What is the key theme of the Grant study

Answer 28

memory/ Context dependent memory

Question 29

``` Which of these was Grant's study: field/lab independent/repeated/matched pairs quantitative/qualitative primary/secondary nominal/ordinal/interval/ratio ```

Answer 29

field/lab ---> Laboratory experiment independent/repeated/matched pairs ---> Independent quantitative/qualitative ---> Quantitative primary/secondary ---> Primary nominal/ordinal/interval/ratio ---> Nominal

Question 30

what were the independent variables operationalized for the Grant study

Answer 30

``` Reading condition (silent or noisy) Testing condition (silent or noisy) ```

Question 31

what were the dependent variables operationalized for the Grant study

Answer 31

``` Reading time (seconds) Performance on a multiple choice test Performance on a short answer test ```

Question 32

what were some of the controls in the Grant study

Answer 32

- Everyone wore headphones (silent and noisy conditions) - participants reading times were recorded - 2 minute break between end of study phase and beginning of test phase

Question 33

How many participants were there in the Grant study: gender age

Answer 33

``` 39 participants (40 took part but 1 was excluded) 17 females and 23 males 17-56 years old (mean=23.4 years) ```

Question 34

In the Grant study what sampling method was used to recruit the participants

Answer 34

Snowball sampling - Participants were recruited by eight experimenters, each experimenter recruited 5 participants

Question 35

Briefly describe the Grant study procedure

Answer 35

(lasted about 30 minutes) 1. Each of the eight experimenters took one participant through one of the four conditions (participants only took part on one condition) and an additional participant for one of the conditions as assigned by the instructor. Experimenters randomly assigned their participants to their five conditions. 2. Participants were read aloud the instructions of the study and were told the participation in the study was voluntary. 3. Participants were told to read the psychoimmunology article as if they were reading for a class project and told their comprehension would be tested with a multiple choice and short answer test. 4. All participants wore headphones as a controlled condition, silent would cancel out noise around them and noisy condition would hear moderately loud background noise. 5. Reading time was recorded 6. Approximately a 2 minute break between the end of study phase and start of test phase to minimise recall from short term memory 7. Short answer test, then the multiple choice test (noisy or silent) 8. Participants were debriefed concerning the purpose of the experiment

Question 36

``` In the Grant study what were some of the findings: mean average results what were the tests out of (Reading first, test second) S=silent N=noisy ```

Answer 36

``` people did a lot better in the same test and study conditions e.g. short answer /10 = SS=6.7 NN=6.2 SN=4.6 NS=5.4 ``` ``` multiple choice /16 = SS=14.3 NN=14.3 SN=12.7 NS=12.7 ```

Question 37

What were some of Grant's conclusions on his study

Answer 37

- Studying and testing in the same environment leads to enhanced performance - Regardless of whether a short-answer test or multiple choice test is used to assess learning, there are context dependency effects - Students are likely to perform better in exams if they study with a minimum amount of background noise

Question 38

Grant study - Internal validity

Answer 38

This is a good test of context, the variables were operationalized and controlled well with participants wearing headphones so that extraneous noise wouldn't interfere with the condition

Question 39

Grant study - External validity

Answer 39

The participants were all psychology students or their friends were - they may have been naturally more interested in learning and memory processes than other people

Question 40

Grant study - Internal reliability

Answer 40

Participants performed better in recognition than recall questions (people usually do) However, context had the same effect in both pairs of the test - Participants always remembered more when the study and test conditions matched

Question 41

Grant study - External reliability

Answer 41

The study might get different results if it was repeated at different times of day - research suggests we do study and learn more/less effectively depending on whether its memory, afternoon, just after lunch etc.

Question 42

How can the Grant study relate to everyday life

Answer 42

Useful for teachers and students to learn the best revision techniques

Question 43

How did the Grant study relate to the ethics guidelines

Answer 43

There were no major ethical issues in this study due to the researcher getting consent and participants had the right to withdraw. experimenter was qualified, participants were debriefed and no harm came to the participants. Only a small amount of passive deception happened because they weren't involved in a class project but no major deception.

Question 44

How does the Grant study relate to any of the debates: Nature/Nurture Reductionism/Holism Situational/Individual

Answer 44

``` Nature = Naturally remember in certain environment to help us survive Nurture = Teaching techniques in different environments ``` Reductionism = Just the environment affects memory Situational = Environment affects memory

Question 45

what are the main assumptions of the cognitive area

Answer 45

- This is an information processing approach - see the mind as working like a computer. Our brain inputs, processes and retrieves information (and the way it does these, can effect our behaviour) - Focuses on internal mental processes such as memory thinking, reasoning, problem solving and language - believes the way we think is the chief cause of all our behaviour

Question 46

what are the most common research methods in the cognitive area

Answer 46

self-report methods | Lab experiments

Question 47

what are the strengths for the whole cognitive area

Answer 47

- This is the scientific approach - it doesn't focus on feelings and emotions, so it's able to take a more objective approach and create theories that can be tested, falsified and modified - Has many practical applications - If we learn how the brain processes information, then we can learn how to input or retrieve it in a more useful way (education, eyewitness testimony)

Question 48

what are the weaknesses for the whole cognitive area

Answer 48

- Relies heavily on self-report methods as there are no DIRECT ways to study peoples thought and memories etc. This creates problems of accuracy and honesty etc. - A lot of cognitive research takes place in labs, so results tend to be low in ecological validity. We may just be finding out how people respond to an experimental procedure rather than how they would respond in everyday situations