Memory is the vital part of the brain we need to live a normal life. Without it we would wake up each morning forgetting everything we know and have learnt over our lives.
Introduction
Memory is the vital part of the brain we need to live a normal life. Without it we would wake up each morning forgetting everything we know and have learnt over our lives. Memory is the process of Encoding storing and then retrieving information in the brain, it is the central to learning and thinking. There are two parts to our memory which are known as the STM (short term memory) and the LTM (long term memory) these are the places where data we receive is placed and in most cases this will be the STM, but sometimes will then be transferred to the LTM. Things such as your birthday and other things you remember when you where a small child will be retrieved from your LTM while things like Telephone numbers you have been told which are usually placed in the STM may be forgotten. Many theory's and experiments carried out by past Psychologists have proven to a certain extent that it is possible to use other methods of processing data to enhance the ability of someone remembering it.
An example of this would be the process of chunking, which is the method of grouping a row of numbers or letters into sections (chunks).
E.g.
9 8 7 3 7 3 8 7 3 9 8 9 8 7 - 3 7 3 - 8 7 3 - 9 8 3
Unchunked Chunked
George Miller (1956) discovered this method does increase the capacity of the STM along with many other things, Brown and Peterson (1958-59) discovered prevention of rehearsal will interfere with remembering certain information such as a phone numbers. These methods and theory's created by people give us more understanding on how our brain works and why we are the way we are.
The aim of the experiment is to investigate the capacity of the short-term memory, using the process of chunking.
The experimental hypothesis is the participants in Condition 1 (chunked numbers) will recall more information than participants in Condition 2 (unchunked numbers). This is a one tailed hypothesis.
The null hypothesis is that there would be no difference between the amounts of information recalled from either Condition.
Method
Design
The experimental method was used in this investigation so that measurable, testable data could be produced ensuring reliability and validity. The independent variable was the existence of the two experimental conditions - chunked and unchunked. The dependent variable was the amount of information recalled from each condition. The experimental design used was independent groups. This was used to prevent order effects from affecting the results. An extraneous variable that might have had an effect on the results was noise levels, as participants may have been distracted or noise might have interfered with the memory processes. To stop this from happening, the experiment took place after college had finished and all students had gone home, ensuring a quite environment. Another extraneous variable could have been visual features of the room effecting the participant's concentration, all posters and objects that may be able to do this were taken from the room.
Memory is the vital part of the brain we need to live a normal life. Without it we would wake up each morning forgetting everything we know and have learnt over our lives. Memory is the process of Encoding storing and then retrieving information in the brain, it is the central to learning and thinking. There are two parts to our memory which are known as the STM (short term memory) and the LTM (long term memory) these are the places where data we receive is placed and in most cases this will be the STM, but sometimes will then be transferred to the LTM. Things such as your birthday and other things you remember when you where a small child will be retrieved from your LTM while things like Telephone numbers you have been told which are usually placed in the STM may be forgotten. Many theory's and experiments carried out by past Psychologists have proven to a certain extent that it is possible to use other methods of processing data to enhance the ability of someone remembering it.
An example of this would be the process of chunking, which is the method of grouping a row of numbers or letters into sections (chunks).
E.g.
9 8 7 3 7 3 8 7 3 9 8 9 8 7 - 3 7 3 - 8 7 3 - 9 8 3
Unchunked Chunked
George Miller (1956) discovered this method does increase the capacity of the STM along with many other things, Brown and Peterson (1958-59) discovered prevention of rehearsal will interfere with remembering certain information such as a phone numbers. These methods and theory's created by people give us more understanding on how our brain works and why we are the way we are.
The aim of the experiment is to investigate the capacity of the short-term memory, using the process of chunking.
The experimental hypothesis is the participants in Condition 1 (chunked numbers) will recall more information than participants in Condition 2 (unchunked numbers). This is a one tailed hypothesis.
The null hypothesis is that there would be no difference between the amounts of information recalled from either Condition.
Method
Design
The experimental method was used in this investigation so that measurable, testable data could be produced ensuring reliability and validity. The independent variable was the existence of the two experimental conditions - chunked and unchunked. The dependent variable was the amount of information recalled from each condition. The experimental design used was independent groups. This was used to prevent order effects from affecting the results. An extraneous variable that might have had an effect on the results was noise levels, as participants may have been distracted or noise might have interfered with the memory processes. To stop this from happening, the experiment took place after college had finished and all students had gone home, ensuring a quite environment. Another extraneous variable could have been visual features of the room effecting the participant's concentration, all posters and objects that may be able to do this were taken from the room.
