Psychology Report
Contents Page2 Abstract Page3 Introduction, Experimental Hypothesis and Null hypothesis Page 4 Method: Design Page 5 Ethical considerations, Participants, Materials and Procedure Page 6 Results Page 7 Discussion and references Page 8 Appendix 1, Appendix 2 and Appendix 3 Page 9 Appendix 4 and Appendix 5 Page 10 Appendix 6 Page 11 Appendix 7 Page 12 Appendix 8 Abstract Glanzer and Cunitz concluded that the existence of a distracter task, affects the accurate recall of words on the Short-term memory from the end of the list of words. The aim of the study is to investigate the effect of a distracter task from the recall of a list of words on the STM, of a selection of students. A repeated measures design was used and counterbalancing was carried out to control for any order effects. The participants were a sample of 14-15 year old students at a grammar school in Birmingham. Without a distracter task, participants recalled 0.8 more words on average than participants with a distracter task. I conclude that a distracter task affects the recall of a list of words on the STM. It is easier to recall when a distracter task is not present because rehearsal is not prevented. This study lacks ecological validity due to the fact that remembering of word lists are not true to everyday situations. Introduction Memory is the normal function of retaining data. It is a
Introduction to Memory Techniques.
Introduction to Memory Techniques Mnemonics are methods for remembering information that is otherwise quite difficult to recall. A very simple example of a mnemonic is the '30 days hath September' rhyme. The basic principle of mnemonics, is to use as many of the best functions of the human brain as possible to code information. The human brain evolved to code and interpret complex stimuli - images, colour, structure, sounds, smells, tastes, touch, spatial awareness, emotion, and language - using them to make sophisticated interpretations of the environment. Human memory is made up of all these features. Typically, however, information presented to be remembered is from one source - normally words on a page. While language, words on a page, reflects one of the most important aspects of human evolution, it is only one of the many skills and resources available to the human mind. Using Your Whole Mind To Remember Mnemonics seek to use all of these resources. By coding language and numbers in sophisticated, striking images which flow into other strong images, we can accurately and reliably code both information and the structure of information to be easily recalled later. This section of Mind Tools seeks to show you the techniques that enable you to use all of your mind to remember information. Layout of the Memory Techniques Section The initial articles explain the
The Effect Of Conceptual Hierarchies On Memory Recall
The Effect Of Conceptual Hierarchies On Memory Recall Abstract The aim of this experiment was to try to establish whether participants would show better memory recall when asked to remember words presented in either a hierarchical or random format. This is called a two-tailed hypothesis. The null hypothesis will be that there would be no significant difference in the number of words recalled between the two conditions. Any difference would be due to chance. There were 24 participants, 12 female and 12 male. They were from varied backgrounds, with ages ranging between 16 and 75 years old. An independent measures design was used. One control group was exposed to a list of hierarchical words, the other exposed to a list of random words. All participants were allowed the same exposure time to learn and then recall the words. The results were analysed using the Mann - Whitney Chi-Square analysis test and showed no significant difference in memory recall therefore we rejected the two-tailed hypothesis. Introduction Memory can be thought of as the ability to retain information and demonstrate retention through behaviour. People have the capability to store vast amounts of information. This information has to be accessed quickly and easily. To this end the information must be highly organised allowing retrieval of the appropriate information when required. When investigating
An experiment to see if interference affects recall in short-term memory.
Tom Clarke An experiment to see if interference affects recall in short-term memory Introduction One of the most influential models of memory was the two-process model by Atkinson and Schiffrin (1968); incoming information enters the short-term memory (STM) as a result of applying attention to a stimulus. The brain makes sense of the incoming sensory information by perception, and then in the rehearsal loop, the information is rehearsed before it is stored in the long-term memory (LTM). The rehearsal loop is an important part of this model as it is what enables information to be remembered more easily and stored in the LTM. Peterson and Peterson (1959) made an experiment where they researched the capacity of the STM. The experiment was called 'The Brown-Peterson technique', which involved participants hearing various trigrams (such as XPJ). Only one trigram is presented on each trial. Immediately afterwards, the participants are instructed to recall what they heard or to count backwards, in threes, out loud, from some specified number for 3,6,9,12,15 or 18 seconds (the retention interval). The function of this interference task is to prevent rehearsal. At the end of the time period, the participants try to recall the trigram. Peterson found that nearly 70 per cent was forgotten after only a nine-second delay, and 90 per cent after 18 seconds. The STM is believed to hold
An experiment to investigate the effect of interference on memory recall
TITLE: An experiment to investigate the effect interference has on Memory Recall. Alice Foster Coursework Aim: To determine the effect that interference will have on Memory recall. Hypothesis: Interference will cause an effect on memory recall. IV: Interference DV: Successful Memory Recall Introduction What is memory? Cara Flanagan (97) gives the following definitions of memory, * The mental function of retaining data i.e. learning. * The storage system which holds the data. * The data that is retained. We use our memory all the time without even realising it. We remember how to read, write, open doors, shut doors etc, for normal every day things. In order for us to remember information, memory goes through 3 stages: * Encoding * Storage * Retrieval Encoding is how we store information into our memories and can be done in 3 forms: - * Visual - You see the image you are trying to recall * Acoustic - You hear the information in your mind * Semantic - You understand and remember the meaning of information stored Storage is the information that we have encoded, in our minds, until we need it. Retrieval is when we use the information that we have encoded and stored. There are 3 main theories to explain Memory. Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin (1968) proposed the Multi-Store Model. They suggested that memory was a series of processes.
Cue dependent Forgetting. This experiment investigates Tulvings theory of cue dependent forgetting, with a directional hypothesis stating that context of the encoding setting would act as a cue to participants accessibility to memory, and allow the
Foundation Psychology Coursework Cue Dependent Forgetting Contents Page Abstract ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Page 3 Introduction --------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 4-5 Method and Design ---------------------------------------------------------- Page 6-7 Results --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 8-9 Discussion ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 10-11 Reference------------------------------------------------------------------------ Page 12 Appendices List --------------------------------------------------------------- Page 13 Abstract This experiment investigates Tulving's theory of cue dependent forgetting, with a directional hypothesis stating that context of the encoding setting would act as a cue to participants' accessibility to memory, and allow them to recall more words. This study emulated a previous study done by Abernathy (1940), which used an experimental method to test whether the recall accuracy is higher in the same environment of encoding and retrieval. In this study, the sample size included 8 mixed gender participants, between the age of 18 and 24, with a difference of 7% higher recall rate in the different context as information was learnt, the null
What experimental evidence is there for the existence of multiple memory systems?
What experimental evidence is there for the existence of multiple memory systems? Memory forms an important part of cognitive psychology and has been of interest to numerous psychologists. This essay is going to refer specifically to the information-processing model of memory and will discuss the experimental evidence that exists for multiple memory systems. The multi-store model of memory was first developed by Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) and Waugh and Norman (1965).1 It comprises sensory stores, short term-store and long-term store to form a model of memory and information processing. One component of the system is the sensory register, where our feature detection and pattern recognition processes produce a cognitive code that can be stored for a brief period. The sensory storage does not depend on resource allocation, so the person does not need to pay attention to the stimuli, and the coding happens automatically. The sensory register is thought to be modality specific, that is, part of the storage is auditory, part of the storage is devoted to visual stimuli, and other parts devoted to the other senses. Sperling (1960) conducted many studies in the area of memory, specifically sensory storage.2 Sperling's main contribution has been to find a technique which has been called the partial report procedure. In one experiment he presented a matrix of 3 lines of four
An experiment to test the existence of the rehearsal loop using interference with numbers.
Contents Title Introduction Rationale Aim Hypotheses Design Independent Variable Dependent Variable Sampling and Participants Apparatus Procedure Summary table and commentary Conclusion Bar Chart Implications of Study Generalisation of findings Validity Reliability Application of study to everyday life References Appendices Title An experiment to test the existence of the rehearsal loop using interference with numbers. Introduction This study is based on the area of cognitive psychology, in particular, theories of memory. William James (1890) argued that one must distinguish between two types of memory - primary and secondary. We now refer to these as short-term memory (STM) and long-term memory (LTM) respectively. This leads onto the Atkinson and Shiffrin model of memory which was one of the earliest information processing models to be based on James's distinction. Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968,71) claimed that memory consisted of three memory stores which were the sensory store, the short-term store and long-term storm. A stimulus received by our senses (such as reading words) passes through the stores in that order with some information being lost en route. Any new information retained will always pass through in this way. According to the Atkinson and Shiffrin model, whether or not information passes into the LTM from STM depends on whether it is
effects of chunking and unchunking on short term memory
Introduction Memory is the ability to store and recall information which has either been experienced or learnt. There are two components, short-term and long-term memory. The nature of memory consists of duration (length of time), encoding (means of remembering) and capacity (amount of information stored). The nature of short-term memory is different from the nature of long-term memory. Short-term memory is the information which is immediately accessible or active. However, it has a limited duration time. Peterson and Peterson (1959) did a study using trigrams and found that duration lasted 18 seconds when recall was prohibited. Encoding in short-term memory is predominantly done acoustically, by sound, rather than visually, sight or semantically, meaning. Conrad (1964) conducted a study with acoustically similar and acoustically different letters; he concluded that similar letters such as 'B' and 'P' caused confusion in recall due to acoustic similarity. The capacity of information in short-term memory is also limited. The first systematic experiment on the short-term memory span was done by Jacobs (1887). The aim of the experiment was to see how much information could be stored in the short-term memory or active memory. The study consisted of using the serial digit span technique, using both letters and numbers; however, excluding 'w' and '7' because they contain two
Forgetting is a common process that occurs near enough every day. The general definition of forgetting is the inability to recall
Assignment 2. a) Forgetting is a common process that occurs near enough every day. The general definition of forgetting is the inability to recall or recognise something that has been previously learned. Forgetting occurs in both short and long term memory, and several explanations have been put forward as to why forgetting occurs. There are two main theories concerning forgetting in long term memory. The first explanation was the decay theory, this suggests that information stored in memory can eventually fade away. There is an assumption that a memory trace in our brain disintegrates over time and so is lost. This idea of gradual deterioration comes with it's criticisms. There is much research evidence surrounding this explanation of forgetting in long term memory. Lashley (1931) conducted some famous experiments, with training rats and removing certain sections of their brains; his research supports the view that long term memory may be related to physical decay. Another classic and well known study was conducted by Jenkins and Dallenbach (1924). They found that recall was better if participants slept through the retention interval, this way little information was entering their memory, and therefore displacement could not have occurred. At night there was no displacement and little forgetting - this illustrates that forgetting during the day must be due to
