2.3 studies (cognitive) Flashcards
1
Q
what was the aim of baddeley’s study?
A
to investigate if LTM is encoded acoustucally (based on sound) or semantically (based on meaning)
2
Q
what was the procedure of baddeley’s study?
A
- 72 men and women (students) from cambridge university
- participants were assigned to one of four word lists
- shown 10 words on a slideshow with each word appearing for 3 seconds
- given 8 random words to write down three times in order
- step 2-4 repeated 4 times
- given a 15-20 min break doing other tasks
- participants had to recall word order after 15 min task
- participants had words infront of them throughout the study but wasn’t in order
3
Q
what were the findings of baddeley’s study?
A
similar meaning words:
- strain LTM as meanings are same
- LTM cant sort them as there are no differences
- leads to poor performance in semantically similar list
similar sounding words:
- doesn’t strain LTM as the words have different meanings
- LTM sorts them based on those differences
- good performance on acoustically similar list
4
Q
what is the conclusion of baddeleys study?
A
because participants struggled the most with the semantically similar list, it shows the LTM is coded semantically
5
Q
what is a strength of baddeleys study?
A
- internal validity is high
- words were presented for 3 seconds and each in order
- words that participants had to learn were based on the frequency those words occur in the english language
- therefore, the level of control avoids extraneous variables of the participants
- researchers can be more sure that differences between groups is solely based on semantics or acoustics of the word
6
Q
what is the weakness of baddeleys study?
A
- mundane realism is low
- real life long term memories do not only consist of remembering word lists that sound or mean similar things in order
- therefore, the encoding in the study may not reflect real life
- the role of semantic memory in LTM may have been exaggerated
