: A quantitative study employed to find out whether interactive learining can enchance our memory recall process?

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University Degree Biological Sciences

DZX222 EXPERIMENTAL PROJECT

TITLE: A quantitative study employed to find out whether interactive learining can enchance our memory recall process?

ABSTRACT

        Open Universitystudents conducted a qualitative study as part of a psychology course requirement.  A between-participants design was employed in order to explore the issue proposed by Craik and Lockhart, the levels of processing theory, which states that the retention of information in memory depends on how deeply it is processed when encoded.  60 participants individually carried out three conditions.  The independent variable was ґthe condition that the participant took part in`.  The dependent variable was ґthe score measured for the amount of correct placement of country names`.

INTRODUCTION

        This qualitative study was employed to find out whether interactive learning can enchance our memory recall process.  Previous studies proposed by Craik and Lockhart[1], the levels of processing theory proposed that deeper processing leads to more permanent memory,  Several studies have been conducted on methods to force deeper processing of new information and in the area of reading, it has been shown that teaching words in the context of paragraphs rather than in isolation leads to greater retention and increased fluency in the language.  The levels of processing framework was presented [2] as an alternative to theories of memory that postulated separate stages for sensory, working and long-term memory.  According to the levels of processing framework, stimulus information is processed at multiple levels simultaneously depending upon its characteristics.  Furthermore, the ˝deeper˝the processing, the more that will be remembered.  For example, information that involves strong visual images or many associations with existing knowledge will be processed at a deeper level.

        The major proposition is that learners utilize different levels of elaboration as they process information.  This is done on a continuum from perception, through attention, to labelling, and finally meaning.  The key point is that all stimuli that activate a sensory receptor cell are permanently stored in memory, but that different levels of processing contribute to an ability to access, or retrieve, that memory.  Craik and Lockhart also distinguished rehearsal, the process of cycling information through memory.  Craik and Lockhart proposed two kinds of rehearsal.  Maintenance rehearsal merely repeats the kind of analyisis has already been carried out.  In contrast, elaborate rehearsal involves deeper, more meaningful analyisis of the stimulus.  Elaboration is the process of adding more extensive information into the memory system.  This serves to make existing information and incoming information more distinctive and unique.        

        To explore the issue proposed by Craik and Lockhart, 60 participants individually carried out different tasks in a quantitative study which was employed by the Open University students.  The experiment employed a between-participants design.  The experimental hypothesis is, the method of learning would have an affect on the memory processing, where it should be shown that participants doing condition1 should score less than those doing conditions 2 and 3 as these conditions require participants to be more active in their learning.

METHOD

Design

        A between-participants design was employed in this experiment.  The independent variable was the'condition that the participant took part in, and it comprised of three conditions.  In condition1 participants had to study the map of Africa, in condition2 participants had to answer 10 questions while studying the map of Africa and in condition3 participants were asked to put a jigsaw of Africa together while studying the map of Africa.  Each participant was then asked to complete the task of putting nine country names on a blank map of Africa and were given two and a half minutes to coomplete this.

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        The dependent variable, thus measured, was the number of correct placements of country names on the blank map.

Participants

        

        Data was collected from 60 participants in total that carried out different tasks.  20 participants carried out each condition.  The participants were selected randomly and they aged 18 years and over.  None of the participants was familiar with the hypothesis being tested until the end of the experiment when they were given debriefing.  Another possible confaounding variable was whether the participants had any previous knowledge of the African continent, so the questions were asked in order to eliminate that ...

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: A quantitative study employed to find out whether interactive learining can enchance our memory recall process?
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