Classic Study: Baddeley (1966b) Flashcards
What were the aims of Baddeley’s study?
- To find out if LTM encodes acoustically or semantically (done by giving P’s word lists that are similar in the way they sound or their meaning);
- If P’s struggle to recall word order, it suggests LTM is confused by similiarity which means that this is how LTM tends to encode.
What were the IV’s?
- Acoustically similar or dissimilar word list (independent groups design).
- Semantically similiar or dissimilar word list (independent groups design).
- Performance before 15 mins “forgetting” delay and performance after (repeated measures).
What was the DV?
Score on a recall test of 10 words; words must be recalled in the correct order.
What was the sample of the study?
- Men and women from Cambridge University subject panel (mostly students); volunteers.
- 72 P’s.
- 15-20 P’s in each condition (15 in Acoustically Similar, 16 in Semantically Similar).
What was List A?
Acoustically Similar condition (P’s get a list of words that share a similar sound, e.g. man, cab, can, max, etc).
What was List B?
Acoustically Dissimilar condition (Control group get words that sound dissimilar, e.g. pit, few, cow, pen, etc).
What was List C?
Semantically Similar condition (P’s get a list of words that share a similar meaning, e.g. huge, great, big, large, etc).
What was List D?
Semantically Dissimilar condition (Control group get words that are unconnected, e.g. good, huge, hote, safe, etc).
What was the Procedure of the study?
Experiment 3:
- List A involved 10 acoustically similar words (e.g. man, can). List B involved 10 acoustically dissimilar words (e.g. pit, few). List C involved 10 semantically similar words (e.g. large, big). List D involved 10 semantically dissimilar words (e.g. good, hot).
- Each list of 10 words were presented on a projector in a set order, one word every 3 seconds.
- Afterwards the 72 P’s from the ‘Applied Psychology Research Unit’ at Cambridge were asked to complete 6 tasks involving memory for digits to prevent rehearsal.
- They were then given 1 min to recall the words in order.
- This was repeated over 4 trials.
- After the 4 trials the groups were given a 15 minute interference task involving copying 8 digit sequences.
- P’s were then given a surprise retest on the word sequence of their condition
Why was the procedure repeated over 4 trials?
To make sure the P’s had learned the words, so the experiment was about recall of order and testing the LTM.
What were the results of Baddeley’s study?
- Acoustically similar words - experimental group score better than control group so LTM not confused by acoustic similarities.
- Semantically similar words seem to be confusing (experimental groups score less than control group).
What was concluded from the study?
- LTM encodes semantically.
- Explains why LTM gets confused when it has to retrieve the order words which are semantically similar:
- it gets distracted by semantic similarities and muddles them up. No problem retrieving acoustically similar words because LTM pay no attention to how words sound.
- Explains why LTM gets confused when it has to retrieve the order words which are semantically similar:
What was the GRAVE for Baddeley?
- Generalisability: Large sample (72)✅, but only 15-20 in each group so low sample in conditions❌.
- Reliability: Standardised procedure✅. Uses quantitative sata (objective)✅.
- Validity: Good internal validity✅, not good ecological❌.
- Application: Help develop revision techniques for students✅.
- Ethics: P’s unaware of trial at the end, no informed consent given❌.
Evaluate Generalisability
- Large sample of 72 P’s.
- Large sample is good as it reduces the effects of individual outliers effecting/skewing the results of recall.
- Means the results (LTM encodes semantically) of thestudy can be applied to the general population. ✅
- Large sample is good as it reduces the effects of individual outliers effecting/skewing the results of recall.
However:
- Small sample in each of the conditions (15-20 P’s in each condition).
- This means individual outliers may skew the results as small sample makes it harder to average out.
- Means the results are not very applicable to the gen popn. ❌
- This means individual outliers may skew the results as small sample makes it harder to average out.
Evaluate Reliability
- Used a standardised procedure that is easily replicable.
- Used slides of words which would apear for 3 seconds rather than read-aloud words (which would’ve made it harder for his P’s with hearing difficulties).
- This increases the reliability of his results as it followed a standardised procedure that could be replicated. ✅
- Used slides of words which would apear for 3 seconds rather than read-aloud words (which would’ve made it harder for his P’s with hearing difficulties).
