After hard research on this information based on memory, it motivated me into looking further into the investigation of memory, where I applied my own experiment on memory.
My aim was to see whether participants tend to recall the words at the beginning of a list and at the end of the list more than the middle words.
H1: The number of words recalled correctly will be significantly higher for the words from the beginning of the list and the end of the list than for the ones in the middle.
H0: The number of words recalled correctly will be the same for the words from the beginning of the list and the end of the list than for the ones in the middle.
Method
Design
Repeated measures is the experimental design I have chosen. I have chosen repeated measures instead of independent measures as independent measures means that participants only had to do one condition; it would mean that I would have only received one set of results. This would make it difficult to conclude whether or not the position of the words on the list would have an effect on how well they are remembered. However with repeated measures, I was able to obtain two sets of results, which helped me conclude to my experiment.
However during my experiment I had to be aware of the ethical issues. Such as confidentiality, when collecting the results from the participants I was aware of keeping their name confidential and I promised my participants that it will remain confidential I asked them not to write their names on the answer sheet in addition I gave my participants the right to withdraw from the experiment in the debrief (see Appendix 1). I briefed my participants at the end of the experiment and I debriefed my participants at the beginning of the experiment.
My Dependent variable is the number of words correctly recalled (0-20).
The Independent variable is the position of the words on the list (beginning-end middle).
The extraneous variable is the amount of noise in the area where the experiment is taking place which can influence the participants recall also the amount of time could have influenced the results as participants may not have had enough time to recall and could have been put under pressure in finishing the recall in time.
In order to be sure that the IV was the cause of the number of words correctly recalled, controlling the extraneous variable, background noise was crucial. The amount of background research there is, leads to difficulties in concentration from the participants where they are unable to hear the words read out. Although the experiment took place in the corridors of Westminster Academy at lunch time this meant that most students were either having lunch or were outside. Of course any other students present near where the experiment was taking place were asked to keep quiet.
Participants
My target population for my experiment was 16-18 year olds. My experiment involved 10 sixth formers who attend Westminster Academy. The sampling method I used was opportunity sampling. This was the best choice for my experiment as all participants were available at the time and willing to participate.
Materials
For my experiment I used a list of twenty unassociated words (see appendix 3). All of the words included were familiar with the participants. A brief, debrief and answer sheet (see appendix 1, 2 and 5).
Procedure
The experiment was carried out at different times. It once took place at the lunch time corridor and once took place in a break out area on the second floor of Westminster Academy. The participants were firstly informed they were going to take part in a memory experiment and were debriefed with an explanation of the experiment. They were then asked to listen to a list of 20 words and after would have a minute to recall as many words remembered. The participants were reminded that this experiment was not aimed at testing their intellectual ability and were also told not to communicate with other participants whilst doing the experiment. The words were then read out with a 3 second gap between each word. After the list of words was read out, the participants were asked to recall as many words remembered within a minute. The sheets were then collected in and participants were given a full debrief about the study and my investigation (see appendix 3).
Results
The results showed that people remembered the first and last positioned words more than the middle positioned words. In total 81 words were recalled correctly in the first and last positioned words whereas the middle positioned words was only recalled 27 times. The Mean was 8.1 for first and last words and 3 for middle words. The mode was 6.5 for the first and last words and 4 for the middle words and also the range for the first and last words was 6 and for the middle words it was 4. My results supported my experimental hypothesis.
I used a graph because it shows the difference clearly and it is easier to read. It also shows the position of the words and the number of words recalled correctly clearer.
Discussion
The aim of my experiment was to see whether participants tend to recall the words at the beginning of a list and at the end of the list more than the middle words. My aim was achieved as the results showed that the words are recalled better from the beginning and end of the list than from the beginning. (See appendix 4).
The results of the study supported the experimental hypotheses, which said that more words would be remembered from the first and last five words in a list than the ten middle positioned words. All participants recalled more words from condition one than condition two. The highest score for the first and last positioned words was 10 and the lowest score for the middle positioned words was a 0 and 1 this may have been because of bad memory, lack of concentration or that the participant was tired from just having a lesson.
My findings can be used in everyday society to help deepen and support how the understanding of the primary and recency effect on memory in schools and colleges even higher education or jobs. However, they cannot be generalised to all people in our society as the experiment was carried out on 16-18 year old students. The results could have concluded to a different result of the experiment was preformed on all ages. For an example I predict that if I had done this experiment on teachers they might have remembered the middle positioned words than the first and last positioned words. If however, the experiment was done on much older people then the results would differ as older people might have bad memory. This is because psychologists have found that in their research, as you get older your ability to remember increases until you reach an elderly age where it starts to deteriorate. I still believe my results can not be generalised decisions as the sample used was a small one based one age group with a certain type of participants at a certain time and also at one school only.
The investigation did however have some faults and could have been improved in quite a few areas. Such as my experiment was carried out at lunch time in a corridor where even though my intentions where to try prevent noisy backgrounds however this was not achieved for the second part of the experiment. This may have had an effect on how the participants recalled the list of words. I am aware of this as many psychologists have quoted that background noise has the ability to influence how the participants recall these words therefore in the future I will be more aware an do the experiment in a isolated area or classroom.
Another experiment which I can carry out in is field making the participants read aloud the list of words instead of hearing the words. Yet the IV and DV will still stay the same as the existing ones. Overall I think if the experiment was done in an isolated area then this would have helped participants with concentration and then would lead to participants achieving a higher score on both first and last positioned words and possibly middle positioned words.
Conclusion
In my investigation the results clearly showed a difference in the amount of words correctly recalled from the first and last five words condition than the middle ten words condition. This is due to the primary and recency effect where the first information you receive you rehearse it and then it is sent to the long term memory (FIFO- first in first out). Furthermore to this the last information you receive is placed in the short term memory. Whereas the information in the middle that has been processed in to our memory has not been rehearsed and therefore it could not have been sent to the long term memory and therefore it has been displaced. Furthermore it could not remain in the short term memory because of the last information received which has replaced the information from the middle. The results clearly supported the experimental hypotheses of this study which states that the number of words recalled from the first and last five words would be higher than the recall of the middle words.
Appendix 1
Debrief
Hello my name is Ljaureta. The experiment I am conducting is based on memory. My aim is to see if the position of the word will impact on how you remember them. Your task is to recall as many words you remember in 1 minute, I will read out a list of 20 words and you are required to write down as many words remembered as possible in any order within a minute. I’d like to inform you that you have the right to withdraw (drop out) at any time during the experiment. I’d also like to let you know that it is normal for you not remember all 20 words so don’t stress about it.
Appendix 2
Brief
My aim was to see whether the order of the positioned word will affect the way you remember them, as you properly figured out the first and last words are easier than the middle positioned words. Your name will remain confidential (anonymous) and if you feel uncomfortable with handing in your answers then you can withdraw so don’t feel pressured. And also if you want to know your results don’t hesitate to come and find me.
Appendix 3
Word list:
- TV 16. Paper
- Sky 17. Tree
- Box 18.Form
- Shoe 19.Clock
- Eye 20.Paper
- Cat
- Hospital
- Knowledge
- Experiment
- Procedure
- Psychology
- Guidance
- Criteria
- Bag
- Door
Appendix 4
