2.3.4 - Contemporary Study

Question 1

AO1

Answer 1

Aim-
- to investigate the development of the phonological loop in children aged 5-17 using digit span as a measure of phonological capacity
- to compare results with previous research on 3 other groups; aged, elderly and dementia patients

Procedure-
- pp’s were 570 children aged 5-17 from 5 schools in Madrid, all born in Spain and were Native Spanish. None had impairments in hearing, reading or writing ability
- they were tested individually in their breaktime, pps were read aloud increasing sequences of digits to recall in the correct order
- the digits were read aloud at a rate of 1 digit per second and the digit list increased 1 digit per sequence each time a pp got the sequence right, starting with 3 digits
- the digit span for pp was recorded as the maximum digits recalled in the correct order without error

Results
- primary school (age 6-8) = 4.34, dementia patients = 4.2
- impoverish digit span due to aging not dementia - elderly group to the dementia patients showed no sig difference
- Spanish words harder to recall then English due to word length effect - more syllables = takes up more capacity in PL
- digit span increases with age

Question 2

AO3 x 2

strengths

Answer 2

• G - The study is generalisable. pp’s were 570 children aged 5-17 from 5 schools in Madrid, the results were also compared with research of 3 other groups; aged, elderly and dementia patients. Therefore the study is representative of a large range of age groups and there is a large sample size so any anomalies in the sample will have little effect on the results
• R - The study is reliable as it had well controlled procedures. For example, they were tested individually in their breaktime, pp’s were read aloud increasing sequences of digits to recall in the correct order. Therefore the procedure can be replicated and has been used to investigate phonological capacity in different countries eg Germany and China

Question 3

AO3 x 2

weaknesses