classic study - Baddeley 1966b Flashcards
aim - P1, A01
the aim of Baddeley’s study was to investigate the influence of acoustically and semantically similar words om learning and recall from the short term memory and the long term memory
sample - P1, A01
75 participants
all participants were young service men from places such as the Army
a hearing test was given to the 75 participants before the procedure and three were excluded from the study
strength of sample - P1, A03
one strength of Baddeley’s study is that he used a large sample size
Baddeley used a sample of 75 males who came from service places such as the army
this large sample would allow any anomalies to be average out within the large sample so the results would not be affected
therefore, this means that Baddeley’s use of a large sample size will allow for any anomalies in the results to be evened out meaning that the results are reliable
procedure - P2, A01
a laboratory experiment using an independent groups design was used with 4 conditions of the independent variable used
the materials were four lists of ten words each:
list A - acoustically similar words (they all sounded similar e.g., man can mad map)
list B - acoustically dissimilar words (all sounded different, a control list e.g., pit few cow pen)
list C - semantically similar words (all had similar meanings e.g., great huge big large)
list D - semantically dissimilar words (all different meanings, another control list e.g., good safe thin deep)
the number of participants in each condition was - 18 in list A, 17 in list B, 20 for list C and 20 for list D
each list was presented aloud on a tape, one word every three seconds
participants had 40 seconds to write down as many of the ten words that they could recall, in the order which they had heard them in
this procedure was carried out four times (learning trials)
each participant then had to spend 20 minutes on a unrealted task - recalling sequences of 8 digits
after this, the participants again had to recall the ten words in the cirrect order
this was an unexpected test - the participants were not told about in advance
strength of procedure, high internal validity - P2, A03
one strength of Baddeley’s experiment is that he used well controlled procedures
for example, lists A and B and lists C and D were matched with each other in terms of how frequently the words appear in English (i.e. Baddeley only used words of equal frequency)
this meant that the results could no be explained by participants being able to remember more familied words
therefore, this degree of control is a strength of the study because it avoids potential confounding variables that would lower the internal validity
this makes the relationship of cause-and-effect between the IV and DV much clearer
COUNTER ARGUMENT TO strength of procedure, high internal validity - P2, A03
however, the experimental procedures were so tightly controlled that they were artificial and unlike real life
for example, in real life short term memory and long term memory probably do interact in the way that occurred in experiment 1
but Baddeley saw this as a confounding variable that needed to be eliminated
when Baddeley increased control over the procedure semantic encoding in long term memory became obvious
therefore, encoding in the study may not resemble encoding in real life
this suggests that the study may exaggerate the role of semantic encoding in long term memory
findings - P3, A01
each participants performance was measured by the number of words they recalled in the correct positions in the list
differences in performance on the four lists were compared using the Mann-Whitney U test
on the learning trials, recall of the acoustically similar list (A) was consistently lower than the acoustically dissimilar control list (B)
but on the recall test 20 mins after there was no significant forgetting of the words in the acoustically similar list but there was in the acoustically dissimilar control list
there were no significant difference in recall of the two semantic lists (C and D) on the learning trial
this was the same on the recall tests - there was a significant amount of forgetting, but of both the semantically similar and dissimilar lists
conclusions - P3, A01
the conclusions are not what would be expected given the aims
this is because the findings were ‘puzzling’
performance on the acoustically similar list (List A) was the only list to show no forgetting in long term memory suggesting that encoding in long term memory is acoustic rather than semantic which contradicted several of earlier studies
due to the results being so unexpected, this was not the end of the study
Baddeley reasoned that some aspect of the procedure meant that the procedure used in his experiment was not a true test pf long term memory which was being influenced by material stored in short term memory
this led him to carry out two more experiments to clarify the precise nature of long term memory
application of Baddeley’s study - P4, A03
one strength of Baddeley’s study is that it can be applied to improve long term recall of information
this is useful for students when revising for exam
rather than just repeating material (rehearsal), students are better advised to think about the information, to reorganise it (e.g., use mind maps / spider diagrams) and try to relate it to things they already know about it
these strategies allow you to process the meaning of the material, which matches the form of encoding in long term memory
therefore, this is a strength because it shows that Baddeley’s study has validity in terms of being applicable to real-life situations
