Coding - Baddeley (1966) Flashcards
1
Q
Aim
A
To examine how information is coded in memory.
2
Q
Procedure
A
- Sample of 72 participants.
- Different lists of words given to 4 groups of participants:
1) Acoustically similar - cat, cap, cab
2) Acoustically dissimilar - pit, few, cow
3) Semantically similar - great, large, big
4) Semantically dissimilar - good, huge, hot - Participants were then asked to either recall the words straight away (STM) or 20 min later (LTM)
3
Q
Findings
A
- Acoustically similar words were harder to recall than acoustically dissimilar words.
- Semantically similar words were harder to recall than semantically dissimilar words.
4
Q
Conclusion
A
- STM is encoded acoustically.
- LTM is encoded semantically.
5
Q
Strength
A
- Sample of 72 participants.
- Anomalies can be averaged out in a sample of this size.
- Large sample means that findings can be generalised to a wider population.
6
Q
Strength
A
- Reliable study because it has a standardised procedure.
- Study can be therefore replicated.
- No need for special equipment and you can use the same words that Baddeley used.
- Reliability was further improved by the elimination of read-aloud word lists as some participants had hearing difficulties and replaced them with slides.
- Participants also saw the same word for the same amount of time (3 seconds).
7
Q
Weakness
A
- 4 groups of 15-20 participants per group, which isn’t a lot.
- An anomaly could impact scores.
- Volunteer sample so people who volunteered may enjoy doing memory tests or are good at them. Findings are not representative of the general population.
- These factors lower the population validity of the study.
8
Q
Weakness
A
- Artificial stimuli involved.
- People do tend to memorise words from a list but the order is not really a factor, like it is in Baddeley’s study.
- Doesn’t resemble real-life activities.
- Therefore lacks ecological validity.
