The aim of this investigation is to investigate the short-term memory, and how it long it can store an information

CONTENT PAGE

CONTENT PAGE

Abstract page 3

Introduction page 4 - 5

Method page 6 - 11

Results page 12 - 13

Discussion page 14 - 16

References page 17

Appendices page 18- 24

Appendix 1 - Average calculations for group 1 page 18

Appendix 2 - Average calculations for group 2 page 19

Appendix 3 - Briefing/Consent form page 20 - 21

Appendix 4 - Word list page 22

Appendix 5 - Scoring sheets page 23

Appendix 6 - Debriefing sheet page 24

ABSTRACT

Short-term memory was investigated and how information was encoded or placed into our memories.

The Atkinson & Shiffrin 1968 multi-store model proposed the idea which compared mental processes of humans to that of computer operations. It was described that there were many stages, one of which was the short-term memory. The processes of attention and rehearsal controlled the flow of information between these stages.

Atkinson & Shiffrin said that a distraction here would cause forgetting or prevent rehearsal.

The Independent Variable (IV) in the experiment was the distraction added in the form of music for 1 minute.

The Dependant Variable (DV) in the experiment was the number of words recalled.

Target population was students of 17 years of age from Brinsworth Sixth Form.

A field experiment was conducted.

The mean average recorded for group 1 (with no distraction) was 8.5 which when compared to the mean of group 2 (with and added distraction in form of music) being 7 shows that group performed better in the recall test. Here it was found they recalled more words on average than group 2.

It was concluded that the music distraction did have an effect on group 2's recall results as it was found they performed worse when compared to group 1's results where the distraction was absent.

The results of the investigation support the predictive hypothesis as it was predicted the distraction being music for the period of a minute would prevent the rehearsal of the word list therefore causing some to be forgotten.

INTRODUCTION

Memory consists of two areas; short-term memory and long-term memory.

The short-term memory will be investigated for this theory, and all research carried out will relate to short-term memory. For this study, the experimenter will look at how information is encoded and placed in our memories. Memory is defined as the storage of information over a certain period of time. So the experimenter will examine how information is recalled from short-term memory.

A distraction will be added giving the possibility of recall being affected by the distraction. This will investigate the process of displacement, which is retrieval failure in the short-term memory.

Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968) proposed the idea of a multi-store model. This compares the mental procedures of humans to that of computer operations. In their research, they suggested that there was a series of information processing stages one after another. The stores were the sensory memory, short-term memory and long-term memory. Atkinson & Shiffrin agreed that the processes of attention and rehearsal were responsible for controlling the flow of information between the stages or stores. Atkinson & Shiffrin also found the measurements of human short term memory capacity to have a 7±2 limit. The short-term memory is capable of holding around 2 seconds of sound therefore a person can remember around 5 or 9 words from the word list given to them.

As the investigated memory is the short-term memory, it was said that the information passing the sensory memory to the short-term memory had to be given attention. Atkinson & Shiffrin said that there are two main characteristics of the short-term memory which was that it had very limited capacity and that applying a distraction would cause the information to be forgotten... This is due to us paying some or more attention to the distraction and therefore not paying the required attention to the information we are meant to remember, therefore causing us to lose & forget the information.

Brown & Peterson (1956) also proposed this idea. In their research, participants heard various tri grams. Immediately after, they were instructed to recall what they just heard, and to count backwards in 3 straight afterwards. The obtained result showed that after 18seconds the idea that without rehearsal, the duration of the short-term memory is shorter, therefore causing us to forget.

Alan Baddeley (1966) investigated short-term memory. In his study, he investigated the coding of words. This word included the ones that sounded the same, and the ones with the same meaning. The participants were asked to recall these words immediately after and the obtained result showed that errors had occurred with the similar sounding words but not the similar meaning words. Baddeley came up with the idea that coding in the short-term memory was based on the sound of the word or Acoustic memory. The study made by Atkinson & Shiffrin can be linked to Baddeley study. The investigation being carried out by the experimenter will include some sort of distraction from Atkinson & Shiffrin study to test if it has an effect on the overall recall. And the words being recalled will relate to the words sounding and meaning the same as in Baddeley's study.

The Baddeley study consists of many weaknesses as well as strengths.

Weaknesses of this study are the view that different factors affect the recall, such as whom the information is learnt from.

Where the information was learnt was also said to affect the recall which was later discovered by Godden & Baddeley (1975). It was also found that the information was recalled if it had personal importance or specific meaning to the participant.

The study also lacks mundane realism as people rarely learn lists of words therefore it is unable to be generalised to real life situation.

Acoustic and semantic coding are not the only types of coding, other coding may have been used and therefore ignored thus being unreliable.

Strengths of this study are that the investigation supports the view of Baddeley that short-term memory uses an acoustic code. This means that it stores information on how things sound. It also supports the theory that long term memory uses a semantic code which means information is stored due to its meaning.

One other strength of the Baddeley study is that it also leads to other investigations being carried out to support this theory or ones that gives criticisms.

Finally it can also explain how people remember information and the code used in the process.

As the study is being based on the Baddeley study, the two groups will be given a list of 10 words in which they will be given a minute to look at them. The word selection will include words that sound alike and ones that mean the same also. As group 1 will be given the words only their recall results will be recorded straight away.

The distraction will be music and given to group 2. The participants will be given music to listen to for a period of a minute immediately after looking at the words. This group of people will then be asked for the recall of the words remembered. These will also be recorded.

This investigation will add to the ones conducted already as this should give evidence for Baddeley's research. This showed that short-term memory used acoustic memory, which meant that the recall of the word was due to its sound. This should also add to evidence supporting the Atkinson & Shiffrin theory which included the idea that in order to recall information in the short term memory the information has to be first given attention in order to be passed on to short term. The recall result therefore depends on the amount of time rehearsed. This study may also prove to be conflicting evidence to one of the study's mentioned or discussed above.

AIM

The aim of this investigation is to investigate the short-term memory, and how it long it can store an information

In this study the experimenter will look at how information is encoded in our short-term memory.

PREDICTIVE HYPOTHESIS

When a distraction is added, less word will be recalled. This is due to the information not being directly rehearsed and therefore slightly forgotten.

NULL HYPOTHESIS

There will be no difference in the amount of words recalled between groups 1 and 2. Any difference in recall will be due to chance factors.

This means that any difference in the dependant variable, this being the recall amount is not due to the independent variable and that it is due to chance factors. Therefore the distraction of music has not affected the results.

The predictive hypothesis is one tailed as a clear prediction has been made and it has been stated the direction the results are likely to turn - the distracted participants will remember less.

It is also clear that a link has been made by saying the distraction will affect the recall.

This hypothesis was decided on because it will be interesting to see how effective the short-term memory is, because the short-term memory is useful and essential in most of our everyday life - it's inevitable.

This aim was chosen because it is interesting to see whether a distraction will affect the short term memory and prove that if the information is not rehearsed then it can't be stored in the short-term memory therefore causing the participant to forget the information.

METHOD

DESIGN

An experiment was conducted for this investigation. The type of experiment used was a lab experiment, as it was conducted in controlling and manipulating the independent variable. A field experiment is better for the investigation, as a laboratory experiment is more controlled, which could lead to a change in behaviour of the participants, and this could affect the end results of the investigation. To get the needed result for this investigation, the independent variable needs to be manipulated.

The design used was the independent groups design, as 2 groups of participants were needed for each condition.

This investigation consisted of two groups of 10 (with 5 males and females), in each group.

Participants were randomly picked, and 10 of each sex were randomly chosen so as to ensure a fair testing. This would also avoid experimenter bias within the sampling, as there will be an equal number of males and females.

The independent variable (IV) (manipulated in the experiment by the experimenter, was the distraction added in the form of music to test) whether the participants were subjected to distraction or not.
Join now!


The dependent variable (DV) (which was measured in this experiment was) the number of words recalled from the list of 10 words.

The extraneous variable (EV) which could have caused a change in the DV in this experiment could be;

Any background noise that is occurring while the experiment is taking place can provide possibility of a distraction in the rehearsal. To control this, an empty classroom was used, with all doors and windows closed, providing an absolute silent. The participants themselves were asked to keep silent through the testing period.

Another EV that ...

This is a preview of the whole essay