Seb + Hernandez Gil

Question 1

What was the aim?

Answer 1

To analyse the pattern of development of the phonological loop

Question 2

What is the phonological loop?

Answer 2

A temporary storage system for verbal and speech information

Question 3

What did previous research suggest?

Answer 3

That the phonological loop is fully developed by age 15

Question 4

What were the results compared to?

Answer 4

The digit span of Alzheimer’s and dementia patients

Question 5

What was the sample?

Answer 5

• 570 - 272 males and 298 women
• all volunteered
• aged 5-17
• pupils from public and private schools in Madrid
• all same learning ability - either repeated a school year or struggled to read and write

Question 6

What was the sample of the comparison Alzheimer’s study?

Answer 6

• 25 healthy older adults
• 25 older adults with Alzheimer’s
• 9 older adults with dementia

Question 7

What was the procedure?

Answer 7

• ppts asked to recall a list of digits in the same order that they were spoken
• it began with 3 digits and increased by 1 for every correct recall
• the ppts digit span was determined by the maximum length of the digit sequence the ppt could correctly recall 2 out of 3 times

Question 8

What was the digit span of a 5 year old?

Answer 8

3.76

Question 9

What was the digit span of a 9-11 year old?

Answer 9

5.13

Question 10

What was the digit span of a 15-17 year old?

Answer 10

5.83

Question 11

What was the digit span of the Alzheimer and dementia patients?

Answer 11

4.2

Question 12

What was the digit span of the control group of healthy older adults?

Answer 12

4.4

Question 13

What were the conclusions?

Answer 13

• digit span increases with age
• phonological loop still develops past age 15
• because of similar digit spans in the older adults, dementia doesn’t have much of an impact on the phonological loop and is more impacted by age

Question 14

Strengths?

Answer 14

Generalisability - large sample - representative of all children in Madrid schools - teachers can support students with learning challenges

Reliability - standardised procedure was used - all children given same instructions and an example of the digit span task to ensure they understood - can be repeated to check for consistency of results - e.g in another country

Question 15

Weakness?

Answer 15

Ethnocentrism - sample all from Madrid - digit span may be different in different countries - e.g in China they are in school for more hours than Spanish children - usefulness is questioned as a result