Cognitive (CONTEMPORARY) - memory - GRANT Flashcards
Context dependent memory
Recall of information is enhanced if we are recalling the information in a similar context to how we learn it
Recall
Retrieving information with very few prompts
Recognition
Comes with prompts
Background
Grant was interested in applying the theory of context dependent memory to students
Aim
Test for context dependency effects caused by the presence or absence of noise during learning and retrieval of meaningful material
Research method
Lab experiment
Experimental design
Independent measures
IVs
- condition of reading the article (noise/silent condition)
- testing condition (matching or mismatching to reading condition
4 conditions
- Learn with noise present and recall with noise present
- Learn in silence and recall in silence
- Learn with noise present and recall in silence
- Learn in silence and recall with noise present
Dv
Performance on a short answer recall test and a multiple choice test
Sample
Conducted by 8 psychology students who served as experimenters
Each experimenter recruited 5 acquaintances who served as the participants. 39 participants. 17 females and 23 males aged between 17-56 with mean age 23.4
how participants were assigned to conditions
each experimenter responsible for 5 participants, one participant per condition and then the 5th was randomly assigned to any 1 of the 4 conditions
standardized instructions
during verbal standardized instructions it was outlined to the participants that this research was part of a class project and that their participation was voluntary. They were informed that short answer and MCQ would follow the reading of the article
procedure
participants were asked to read an article once as if reading for a class assignment being allowed to highlight and underline
all experimenters had there own casette players and headphones and made participants wear headphones while they read the article
reading time was recorded by the experimenter and there was a 2 minute break between finishing the reading and being tested
in the test all participants were tested with the short answer questions first to ensure that it was recall of the article not prompted by the options in the MCQ
participants again all wore the headphones for the testing phase but again half were hearing nothing while the other half had the cafeteria noise
some were in matching conditions (learn and recall in the same environment and some were were in mismatching conditions (learning and recalling in different environments
at the end of the testing participants were debriefed about the true nature of the study and the entire procedure lasted 30 minutes
describe the article
2 pages with 3 columns of text to a page on psychoimmunology
describe the two conditions
In the silent condition nothing was played through the headphones an were told they would not hear anything but still had to wear them
In the noise condition noise was played at moderately loud level and participants were told to ignore the noise
explain why there was a 2minute gap in between reading the article and answering the questions
to prevent short term memory effects
describe the short answer questions
10 questions tested in order as the information appeared in the article
describe the MCQs
16 questions each with aa correct option and 4 alternatives
findings - reading speed
no significant difference in reading speed between the silent group and the noisy group
findings - performance
performance was better when the participants were in matching conditions
findings - matching conditions
there was no difference between the two matching conditions
conclusions
- memory in context dependent, memories are formed with traces of the environment which can then improve recall of said memory for example on the short answer questions out of 10 on the matched condition the mean was 6.7 compared to 4.6 on the mismatched environment
- studying and testing in the same environment leads to enhanced performance thus students are likely to perform better in exams if they study for them with a minimum background noise as there are no overall effects of noise on performance
strength of research method
lots of controls to remove extraneous variables For example the standardized verbal instructions and same cafeteria sound in the headphones means we can determine a cause and effect that any difference in test performance was down to the match/mismatch of the learning and recall conditions
high ecological validity
the study had the student participants read a text not to dissimalar to other style they would read for their courses so it is a more realistic of memory than unelated word tests so raising the ecological validity. Able to generalise and apply the results to real life behaviour such as learning for an exam which makes the results for useful
low ecological validity
the textbeing read was not meaningful to the participants as it was not relavant to their own courses, had the participants been recalling information that already existed in their existing framework of knowledge the results may have been different
high internal reliability
materials used, headphones and texts and standardized instructions. Procedure of the study should have been easy to replicate to test for consistency in how context plays a role in our ability’s to recall previously learned information (testing for external reliability)
not standardized in the procedure
time to read article
strength of data collected
quantitiative data allows for comparisons to be made between conditions. In this case we can objectively see that participants performed better on both tests when they learned and recalled in the matching condition compared to the mismatching condition. This means we can form valid conclusions about the effect of the different learning environment contexts
weakness of data collected
we lack insight into how students might usually prefer to work or why they feel having background noise helps them when studying for real exams it ay be that when studying for longer periods the background music served to stimulate concentration
population validity
participants made up of people who were acquaintances of the experimenters therefore they would be from similar social groups and likely to be unrepresentative. It also is possible that given their ties to the researchers and being aware that the researchers were psychology students that the participants would be more prone to demand characteristics
ethnocentrism
study doesn’t suggest that one particular culture that has a way of learning or recalling information is better than others or that we process information differently. The tools used to measure learning could be used in a variety of different cultures where their context will be different but applicable to their own
ethics
the study is ethical - the participants were not deceived, they were given enough information within the instructions to give informed consent (in the way they knew exactly what they were going to be experiencing in terms of reading task, headphones and recall tests) They were given the right to withdraw and were debriefed immediately after testing
practical applications
the study highlights the importance in context when understanding memory and considering what factors can reduce a person’s ability to recall information
Police could take witnesses back to the scene of the crime in the context and environment they saw the incident
