Studies Flashcards
(15 cards)
Who was Henry Molaison
Underwent surgery to treat severe epilepsy to treat severe epilepsy at age 27, resulting in the removal of his hippocampus on both sides.
Developed severe anterograde amnesia- he could not form new long term memories but retained past memories
STM remained intact, he could retain memory for 15secs without rehearsal
He could still learn procedural skills such as minor drawing tasks indicating a distinction between procedural and declarative memory
what was the aim of baddelys study
to investigate how acoustic and semantic word similarity influence learning and recall in short term and long term memory
to determine whether LTM primarily encodes semantically by analysing ppts recall of word lists with similar sounds (Acoustic) or meanings (semantic)
what was Baddeleys study design?
Lab experiment using a sequential recall task
describe baddelys sample
72 male and female volenteers from the applied psychology research unit at baddeleys university
Describe word lists he uses
List A: acoustically similar words
List B: accoustically disimilar words
List C: semantically similar
List D: Semantically disimilar
explain the procedure of Baddeleys study
independent group design: each participant was assigned to one of the four conditions. Words were displayed via projector at a rate of 1 word every 3 seconds.
Interference Task: after learning each list participents completed a disraction task (writing down 8 numbers in a sequence) to prevent rehearsal and block STM
Recall: ppts wrote words in correct order within one minute, process was repeated over four learning trials
After learning trials participents completed a 15 min interference task (copying digit sequences at their own pace)
Final surprise recall test to assess LTM
What were the results of Baddeleys Study
Acoustically similar (List A& B)
- recall for acoustically similar words (List A) was initially lower than for acoustically dissimilar words (List B), indicating STM relies on acoustic encoding.
At the LTM retest, there was no significant difference between the two lists, showing that LTM is not affected by acoustic similarity.
Semantic Similarity (Lists C & D):
Participants struggled more to recall semantically similar words (List C) compared to semantically dissimilar words (List D) in the LTM retest.
This suggests that LTM is affected by semantic similarity, meaning it primarily encodes information based on meaning.
What did Baddely conclude
STM relies on acoustic encoding, as indicated by the initial difficulty in recalling acoustically similar words.
LTM encodes information semantically, demonstrated by poor recall of semantically similar words in the final test.
However, LTM is not exclusively semantic, as some information may still be encoded in other ways.
Baddeley’s findings support the multi-store model of memory, suggesting that STM and LTM use different encoding processes.
Sebastián and Hernández-Gil (2012)
To examine how digit span (capacity to remember numbers in STM without rehearsal) develops from childhood to adolescence
To investigate the phonological loop in children aged 5-17 years using digit span as a measure
To assess whether digit span declines in elderly ppl with dementia.Compare digit span in Spanish vs English speakers as prior studies suggested digital span stops increasing at age 15 for English speakers
Explain the first stage of Seb Hernandez Gil’s procedure: Primary data- children
-570 spanish children- Madrid-tested in schools
-Controlled: ppts screened for hearing, reading, writing issues
-Design: cross sectional- 5 groups [5yo, 6-8, 9-11,12-14,15-17]
DIGIT SPAN TASK:
-tested individually
- sequence of spoken digits incr by 1 digit each round
-digits read 1 per second, task ended when ppts couldn’t correctly recall digits in correct order
ex. 5yo- 3.76
15-17yo- 5.83
What was the digit span of 5yo and 15-17yo
5yo- 3.76
15-17yo- 5.83
explain part two-secondary data from Older adults of SHG study
compared 3 groups
-25 healthy elderly
-25 with alzhiermers
-9 with frontotemporal dementia
findings of Seb Hern Gill
- Digit span incr in age up to 17 yo, contrasts with anglo saxon research which suggested it stops at 15
- Digit span lower for spanish children than english- spanish words longer, harder to rehearse in phonological loop
- Elderly w/o dementia similar DP to 6-7yo
- Dementia ppts no significant difference from healthy ppl, implies its due to age not dementia
results of SHG digit span in elderly 3 groups
healthy: 4.44
Alzh: 4.20
FTL dementia: 4.22
(little difference)
conclusions of SBH
-supports working memory model, specifically development of phonological loop from 5-17 years
-word length affects STM capacity: longer words –> harder to recall
-suggests cultural/linguistic influence on memory span
-ageing affects digit span but dementia may not
