Classic Study : Baddeley

Question 1

Aim

Answer 1

• To find if LTM is encoded acoustically or semantically
• Independent variable :
  Acoustically similar word list/Acoustically dissimilar word list
  Semantically similar word list/Semantically dissimilar
  Performance before 15 minutes ‘forgetting’ delay and performance after
• Dependent variable :
  Score on a recall test of 10 words, words must be recalled in the correct order

Question 2

Sample

Answer 2

• Men and woman from Cambridge University, subject panel (mostly students) they were volunteers

Question 3

Procedure

Answer 3

• Participants were assigned to one of the four-word lists
• Participants are shown 10 words on a slideshow each word on the board for 3 seconds
• After seeing the words they were given 8 randoms number to write down 3 times and then the participants then practiced writing the word in order
• Steps 2 and 4 are repeated four times (Learning Phase)
• Participants were given a 15-20min break to do another interference task, which was unexpected
• The participants then have to recall the order after 15-minute task, this recall was also unexpected

Question 4

Findings

Answer 4

• Acoustic similarity - Most people could recall the control list at the start byt in the retest more people recalled the similar list better
• Semantic similarity - Control list was overall better recalled

Question 5

Conclusion

Answer 5

• Because the participants struggled the most with the semantically similar list it showed that LTM is coded semantically

Question 6

Strengths of Baddeley study

Answer 6

Strength :
- Internal validity is high in this study (has much control so fewer method errors)
- The words participants had to learn were matched based on how common the frequency those words occur in the English language. Meaning that the words were more familiar to the participants
- This is a strength as this level of control avoids the extraneous variable of the participants being better able to recall words based on familiarity meaning that the researchers can be more sure that the difference between groups is based on semantics or acoustics of the words and not other factors

Question 7

Weakness of Baddeley study

Answer 7

Weakness :
- Mundane realism is low (memory tasks in this study do not represent real-life memory tasks well)
- Real-life long-term memories do not only consist of remembering word lists that sound of mean similar things in order
- Therefore this may suggest the encoding in the study may not reflect real life and that the tole of semantic encoding may have in the LTM is exaggerated