Baddeley - classic study

Question 1

aim

Answer 1

to test the effect of emetic and acoustic similarity on the learning and recalling of word sequences in the LTM 9using a control to prevent rehearsal).

Question 2

sample

Answer 2

• volunteer sample
• was done at cambridge
• 72 ppts split into four groups (men and women)

Question 3

the four groups

Answer 3

• group A: acoustically similar words, 15 ppts
• group B: acoustically dissimilar words (control group), 20 ppts
• group C: semantically similar words, 16 ppts
• group D: semantically dissimilar words (control group), 21 ppts

Question 4

procedure

Answer 4

• each group was given a list of ten words, each word appeared for 3 seconds
• there were four trials and the words stayed the same each time. ppts wold be given 1 minute to recall the word in the correct order.
• the words were displayed around the room so that ppts could focus n remembering the order rather then the words themselves
• fifth trial - interference task - was a surprise. ppts had a 15 minute break. were given six eight digit sequences read out at a rate of 1 second per digit and then ppts were given 8 seconds to remember the entire sequence.

Question 5

results

Answer 5

• acoustically similar: in trial 1 and 2 words were in the STM so were harder to recall, but by trials 3 and 4 they were being transferred to the LTM, which isn’t affected by acoustic similarity, so the % of recall was similar to the control group. in the retest condition, the words had already been previously transferred to the LTM os there was no significant difference between trials 4 and 5.
• semantically similar: STM isn’t affected by semantic similarly but LTM is and so recall got worse after trial 3 when information was moved into the LTM.
• data: trial 5 (retest) semantically similar = 55%, semantically dissimilar = 80% recall

Question 6

conclusion

Answer 6

• Baddeley concluded that the LTM encodes semantically, at least primarily, and that his earlier experiment suggests the STM encodes acoustically. the LTM gets distracted by semantic similarities and muddles them up.

Question 7

strengths

Answer 7

• high reliability. standardised procedure, ppts all had 1 minute to recall order of 10 words. therefore, we can easily repeat this experiment to check for consistency.
• high validity. Baddeley initially read the words aloud but later changed to. slide show as there were issues with hearing. this controls for ppt variables. therefore, we can more easily establish a cause and effect which increases internal validity

Question 8

weaknesses

Answer 8

• low validity. small sample, 72 ppts with only 15-20 per group. therefore, if anomalies occur results are more likely to become skewed which will decrease the accuracy.
• low generalisability. ethnocentric sample, ppts all from cambridge. therefore, results cannot be applied to all cultures as there might be something more memorable about english words.