Cognitive⚙️ • Sebastian & Hernandez-Gil's Study (2012) Flashcards
What was the Aim of the study?
To investigate the devlopment of the Phonological Loop (Working Memory) through using verbal digit span as a measure of the loop’s capacity
Additionally,
* Wanted to confirm findings of studies with Anglo-Saxon (English) participants who’s didgit span increased with age
* Wanted to comapre teh spanish school children with the Anglo-saxon results and with results from the 2010 study on dementia-ridden individuals
What was the type of sample for the study?
Volunteer Sample
Describe the sample of the study
- 570 Children
- All Schools in Madrid
- Native Spanish participants
- Left out people with hearing or reading/writing imparements (Removal of confounding variables)
- Participants were divided into 5 age groups
List the age range of the 5 set groups of the study
- 5 Yrs
- 6-8 Yrs
- 9-11Yrs
- 12-14 Yrs
- 15-17 Yrs
(5 DISTINCT GROUPS)
What was the type of experiment conducted within the study?
Field Experiment
* set in a natural school environment
What was the Procedure of the sudy?
Participants from each group were individually tested (Standardised, replicable)
- They were read sequences of digits which they were required to recall in the correct order, each time they got the entire sequences correct it would inrease by one additional digit
- Each participants digit span was determined by the maximum amount of digits recalled in the correct order without error
What were the Results for the study?
- Was found that digit span increased with age, rising steadily until around 11 years old, then it slows down
- 5 Yr Olds had the lowest digit span with an average score of 3.76 digits recalled in the correct order
- 17 Yr Olds had the highest digit span with an average score of 5.91 digits recalled in the correct order
————-COMPARING WITH 2010 RESEARCH ——————————–
- Individuals that were old and had Alzheimers dementia had an average digit span of 4.20
- Individuals that were old and healthy (controls) had an average digit span of** 4.44**
NO DIFFERENCE BETWEN HEALTHY OLD PEOPLE & THOSE WITH DEMENTIA
What conclusion can be made on accords of the comparison between the results of this study (2012) and the 2010 variation on older individuals who suffered from dementia.
The capacity of the phonological loop in working memory is affected more by age than dementia
In terms of the comparsion to the Anglo-Saxon data, what conclusions can be made on cultural differences and its impact on digit span?
THE AVERAGE SPANISH DIGIT SPAN IS LOWER THAN THAT OF THE ENGLISH
* In terms of the testing, longer words are harder to remember, hence are commonly forgotten more frequently
* Spanish words for numbers are commonly longer than English equivalents e.g. Spanish = 2 syllables, whereas English only = 1 syllable e.g. ‘uno’ vs ‘one’
* Therefore a Spanish persons digit span is worse that an English persons are they have longer words to rehearse, meaning they are more likely to forget them, subsequently giving them a shorter digit span
What was the conclusion of the study?
- That digit span increases from 5-17 years old
- That digit span is affecte dmore by age than conditions such as dementia
- The average Spanish digit span is lower than that of the average English one
What is the Generalisability of the study?
- Representativity - 570 children included within the sample, this included a wide range of ages (5-17Yrs), the breadth of the sample allows for the results to be generalised to the wider population as they are indeed representative of a wide range of age groups’ digit spans and phonological loop capacity
- Ethnocentrism - whilt results were compared to Anglo-Saxon study, this study in particular used exclusively Spanish participants, deeming the results incapable of being generalised to the wider population as they fail to be representative of cultures that are not Spanish.
What is the Reliability of the study?
- Standardised Procedure - study can be deemed as reliable as the procedure was standardised meaning it could be easily replicated e.g. all participants would have been interviewed in similar environments (their school) and were all asked to do the same thing only with the actual digits differing per participant
- Field Experiment - the type of experiment being a field experiment lowers the reliability of the study as due to this there was little to no control over extraneous variables that could have heavily impacted the results (e.g. schoo environment leads to loud noises etc…)
What is the Application of the study?
Understanding Cognitive Abilities - the testing of digit spans and therefore the capacity of the phonological loop can be applied to understanding cognitive abilities; people with longer digit spans are also better readers and have higher general intelligence + people with shorter spans frequently suffering from disorders such as dyslexia - according to other studies
What is the Validity of the study?
- Ecological Validity - study was a field experiment, consequently inferring that it had high ecological vailidity as the setting was representative of real-world environments, they were natural and uncontrolled (a School)
- Population Validity - due to the large sample of 570 children, the study most certainly is representative of the wider spanish population and their digit spans
- Task Validity - the task the participants were ordered to complete was not mundane, instead it was quite unusual; recalling a list of digits in the exact order listed repeatedly is not a ‘normal’ way of learning - perhaps compromising results as artificial tasks can lead to artificial behaviours
What were the Ethics of the study?
The study has little to no ethical violations assuming all the participants underage were bestowed presumptuive consent. Informed consent could actually be given by those eligable as knowing the aim of the study would not impact the results and lead to demand characteristics
