Practical

Question 1

Describe the background of this practical with research that supports and refutes the aim.

Answer 1

• The rationale for this research is to investigate the role of rehearsal in the STM and its aid in forming LTM
• Peterson and Peterson (1959) told ppts to remember nonsense trigrams (e.g. BNV) and found that after 3 seconds 80% of trigrams were recalled but after 18 seconds less than 10% were recalled, which shows rehearsal aids memory however it can decay after an extended period
• Glanzer and Cunitz (1966) found that ppts recalled more words from the start of a list and the end due to words at the start getting rehearsed more and so transferring to the LTM and words at the end staying in the STM with words in the middle being displaced.

Question 2

What was the aim of our practical?

Answer 2

To investigate whether the prevention of rehearsal affects recall
- More specifically, to investigate whether more words are recalled from a word list when rehearsal is allowed compared to when it is prevented

Question 3

What are the variables of our practical?

Answer 3

IV = Rehearsal vs no rehearsal 
DV = Number of words recalled 
Controls = The same word list, same order, same amount of time each word was displayed for

Question 4

State the fully operationalised alternative hypothesis.

Answer 4

There will be a significantly higher number of words recalled when there is a a 60 second pause for rehearsal compared to when rehearsal is prevented with an interference task of counting backwards in 3s for 60 seconds.

Question 5

State the fully operationalised null hypothesis.

Answer 5

There will be no significant difference between the number of words recalled after a 60 second pause for rehearsal compared to when rehearsal is prevented with an interference task of counting backwards in 3s for 60 seconds.
Any difference will be due to chance.

Question 6

What sample did we use in our practical?

Answer 6

• 20 ppts
• King Edward VI College in Stourbridge
• Take Psychology A level

Question 7

What sampling method did we use in our practical?

Answer 7

Opportunity

Question 8

What was the method used in our practical?

Answer 8

Lab

Question 9

Briefly describe the procedure of our practical.

Answer 9

• 20 ppts from King Edward VI College, Stourbridge taking A level psychology
• Were given a debrief of the aim of the experiment and what it would entail allowing ppts the right to withdraw whilst gaining informed consent
• All ppts were shown a list of 15 words, projected individually on a screen for 3 secs each
• Ppts then paused for 60 secs to allow for rehearsal of the words
• After the 60 secs they were given time to write down all the words they could recall
• This was repeated with a second list of 15 different words, projected individually on a screen for 3 secs each
• Ppts would then carry out an interference task in which they had to count backwards in 3s for 60 secs
• After the 60 secs they were given time to write down all the words they could recall
• After the experiment ppts were given another debrief explaining that they still had the right to withdraw

Question 10

What were the results of our practical?

Answer 10

• With rehearsal a mean of 8 words recalled correctly
• Without rehearsal a mean of 7 words were recalled correctly
• The mode for both conditions was 7
• We therefore accepted our null hypothesis with any differences being due to chance

Question 11

How did we analyse our results and what was the outcome of this?

Answer 11

• Using a Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test
• Our results were found to be not significant
• Used a level of 95% confidence that our results were not due to chance
• The critical value on the table read 35, anything below was considered critical
• Our T value was 56.5 which was higher and so not significant
• We therefore accepted our null hypothesis with any differences being due to chance

Question 12

What can we conclude from our results?

Answer 12

We found no significant difference in the number of words recalled after 60 secs of rehearsal compared to no rehearsal due to an interference task of counting backwards in 3s for 60 secs.
This shows that rehearsal does not aid our short term memory.

Question 13

How do our findings compare with background research?

Answer 13

• Our research found that a mode of 7 words were recalled in both conditions which rejects Peterson and Peterson’s (1959) research that 80% of trigrams were recalled after 3 secs
• Out of the average 7 words recalled, the majority were words at the start and end of the list which supports Glanzer and Cunitz’s (1966) research

Question 14

Evaluate the generalisablity using a high and low point.

Answer 14

P - High
E - Memory is considered to be universal
E - Therefore results from this experiment can be applied to everyone with normal memory functioning
P - Low
E - Only used a small sample of 20 ppts who study Psychology A level
E - Results cannot be generalised to a wider population of people who don’t take Psychology

Question 15

Evaluate reliability using 2 high points.

Answer 15

P - High
E - Used a standardised procedure of each word appearing for 3 secs each out of a list of 15
E - Easy to replicate and so test for consistency
P - High
E - Quantitative data was obtained from the number of words accurately recalled from each list of 15
E - Therefore research is scientific and free from bias making it more credible

Question 16

Are there any applications?

Answer 16

P - Yes
E - Demonstrates that rehearsal is not the best way of transferring information to the LTM
E - Students may not need rehearsal to improve memory and instead can use other methods

Question 17

Evaluate validity using 2 low points.

Answer 17

P - Low task
E - Used 2 lists of 15 words that appeared for 3 secs each to assess memory recall
E - This therefore lacks mundane realism as this is not how memory works in real life due to people not reciting lists of words often
P - Low ecological
E - It was carried out in a controlled, artificial environment of having lists of 15 words projected on a screen for 3 seconds each
E - The environment was therefore unnatural to ppts which may not reflect how their memory would have performed in situations familiar to them

Question 18

Evaluate an ethical advantage during our practical.

Answer 18

P - Ethical
E - Ppts received a briefing at the start and end which explained the aim of the experiment and what it entailed
E - Therefore ppts gave informed consent and had the right to withdraw at the start and end

Question 19

Give 3 examples of how we can improve our practical for future research?

Answer 19

1) A more diverse sample
2) Improve memory task by changing it to reading a passage and answering questions about it
3) Improving ecological validity by carrying it out in a more natural environment