Baddeley and Hitch (1974) proposed an alternative to the multi store model proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin. This model consists of a central executive, at the top of a hierarchy, which controls the activities of the other components of the memory. The central executive can operate on data in any sensory modality whether it is visual, acoustic or sensory. The other components are the articulatory loop, which corresponds to the rehearsal loop of the multi-store model. The primary acoustic store is referred to as the inner ear. Visual information is translated into sound for it to be received by the primary acoustic store. Finally, the visuospatial scratchpad (VSSP) or the inner-eye is also used for rehearsal. This time it deals with visual and spatial information. For example, visualising the streets to give someone directions. In this experiment it is expected that the concrete words are easier to recall than the abstract. The VSSP may be responsible for this high recall rate as the participants are able to visualise, with the inner-eye, the items on the concrete list of words. A visual image of abstract or concept words is expected to be more difficult and therefore a lower recall rate is expected.
According to Paivio (1969) the most powerful influence on recall of words is how easily they can invoke a mental image. He proposed a dual-coding theory to account for the effects of images on verbal learning. This consists of a non-verbal system that processes information about objects and events and a verbal system that processes speech and reading. Within the verbal system words are represented by a logogen and images are represented an imagens. The two systems are connected which allows a word to be associated with its related image. Richardson (1974) tested free recall of a series of concrete and abstract words. He concluded that concrete words were recalled significantly more efficiently than abstract words from the LTM. This can be explained by Paivio’s theory of duel coding. Concrete words are easier to learn as they activate both the verbal and non-verbal codes, while abstract words only activate a verbal code.
Taking all these theories into account it could be expected that recall of the concrete words would be significantly higher than the recall of the abstract words.
Method
Design:
Independent measures design.
The independent variable in this experiment is the different types of words.
The dependant variable is the amount of words recalled from the written list.
Operational definitions:
An independent measures design was used to minimise fatigue and order effects. In addition, this design was chosen to ensure the participant would not become bored or anxious about having to remember a long list of words.
The controlled variables:
- One list of fourteen abstract words.
- One list of fourteen concrete words.
- Whether the words presented to each participant was the abstract or the concrete list
- The time allowed for the participant to look at the list.
- The equal allocation of female and male participants to each list of words.
- Each participant was ensured a quiet place to look at the list of words.
Participants:
An opportunity sample was selected of equal numbers of female and male participants. The total number of participants was twenty. None of the participants left the experiment. None of the participants refused to allow their results to be used. Counterbalancing was used in that equal numbers of male and female participant was used on each list of words. Participant’s age ranged from twenty to fifty five.
Apparatus:
Word lists. Concrete and Abstract (appendix i)
Record sheet one (appendix ii)
Record sheet two (appendix iii)
Stop Watch
Procedure: The participant was taken to a quiet area of the library. The experimenter explained that the participant would be given a list of words to remember. After sixty seconds they would be asked to recall as many words as they could. They were told they were entitled to leave the experiment at any time.
Brief: The participants were approached in the library of the Isle of Wight College. The nature of the experimenter’s course was explained. They were then asked if they could spare a few minutes to take part in an experiment into memory. The following was explained to the participant. “I’m currently studying psychology here at the college. As part of my course work I have to do an investigation into memory. Would you please take time to participate?” In addition, the following was explained “you are under no obligation and you may stop the experiment at any time”
Standardised instructions: If the volunteer agreed I said, “ I will show you a list of words that you have to remember. After 60 seconds I will ask you to repeat as many words as you can from the list. You don’t have to take part and you can stop at any time you like”
De-brief: The participant was thanked and told their score. It was carefully explained that their results were normal and to be expected. It was explained that if they wished to withdraw their result they might do so at any time. It was also made clear that the results would be kept anonymous.
Results
The table clearly shows that participants typically recalled a higher amount of concrete words compare to the abstract words. The total number of concrete words recalled was 74 out of a possible 140 words, compared to only 45 out of 140 of the abstract words. Standard deviation was calculated at 1.35 to two decimal places and the t-test was calculated at 15.10 to two decimal places.
The formula used to calculate the standard deviation was:
The statistical test used was a paired samples t-test because the experimental design used was an independent measures design. From the following result we can conclude that the
IV had a significant effect on the DV as the observed t numerical value of 15.108 exceeds the critical numerical value of 1.812.
By the conventional criteria, this difference is extremely significant, therefore the alternative hypothesis was accepted and the null hypothesis was rejected.
The formula for the independent t-test was:
This graphical data clearly shows the concrete word list dominated recall above the abstract word list.
Discussion and Conclusion
The alternative hypothesis proposed, “High imagery words facilitate recall from both LTM and STM”. The results showed a significant difference between the amount of concrete and abstract words recalled. This supports Paivio’s theory of dual coding, which states that concrete words facilitate learning and therefore recall, as they activate both the verbal and non-verbal codes.
In addition, the results revealed that none of the participants successfully recalled more than nine words from either list. This supports Miller’s theory that states the capacity of the STM is limited to seven (plus or minus two) chunks of information. However, as the participants were given 60 seconds to learn the words it is reasonable to assume that acoustic rehearsal occurred and some of the word were transferred into the LTM. This supports Atkinson and Shiffrin’s theory of two distinct and separate memory stores and the existence of the rehearsal loop.
The results also show some evidence of what Glanzer and Cunitz called primacy and recency effect. The results show that those items at the beginning and the end of the list were recalled more frequently. Those items in the middle of the list had the poorest recall. This is further evidence of the existence of separate memory stores.
Although a wide range of age groups was used, the sample of participants was not representative of the population as a whole. The sample size of twenty participants is inadequate for the results to be deemed reliable. The experiment would need to be repeated with a larger sample size with participants from varying backgrounds and of varying intellectual capacities. This would increase the accuracy and therefore produce more reliable results.
Another limitation occurs in the word lists. Different words may be more memorable to some people than others. For example, the word ‘revenge’ may be a memorable word to a jilted person who is planning revenge. Or the word ‘diamond’ may be more memorable to a person who has recently become engaged or been given a diamond. Suggestions to improve on the word list may be to introduce a variety of words. In addition, other participant variables may have had an effect on the results. For example, the participants may have been tired or in an emotional state. Furthermore, as the word list was presented as a written list, no consideration was taken to the participant’s intellectual capacity. It may have affected the independent variable if the participant had an intellectual deficiency in literacy or the visualisation of concept ideas.
To reduce the effects of extraneous and participant variables good sampling and good control measures are needed.
Suggestions for further research on this subject may include an experiment based on Paivo’s original experiment. According to Paivio & Csapo, (1973) free verbal recall is generally higher for items presented as pictures than for items presented as words. Possible interpretations of this effect include a duel-memory store that favors pictures.
Paivio’s original experiments required participants to encode words and pictures verbally. The results of these experiments yielded a higher recall of pictures than words. This supports the theory that image and verbal codes are independent. The superiority of pictures in free recall can be explained by the duel-coding theory.
The scope and applications of the results of this experiment is that it may be used in language acquisition. For example, the results suggest that we learn concrete words before we learn abstract words. Therefore, for language beginners, it suggests that learning those words that invoke a mental picture will provide concrete associations and improve memory. In addition, language teachers are made aware of the importance of visual aids. Visual aids could provide meaningful context and therefore aid learning. The results of this experiment may also explain why nouns and verbs are usually learned before adjectives, nouns and verbs are more concrete in nature.
In conclusion, it seems that the results of this experiment supports Paivio’s theory of dual coding. This indicates that there are separate memory stores for pictorial and verbal information and the visual memory store takes precedence over the verbal store.
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