cognitive test Flashcards
what are the assumptions of the cognitive approach?
- Behaviour is explained by mental processes.
- Understand the mind as an information processor
how does loftus illustrate the cognitive approach?
Cognitive investigates mental processing. One idea is that we actively organise and manipulate information we receive. Loftus showed verb used distorted memory, where smashed was the highest. Shows memory are not passively stored, and that info is actively manipulated.
what is the background theory for grant?
Study by Godden shows that recall is better when the participant is in the same environment during recall as they were when the learning occurred which is evident in the study by Grant.
what was the use of quantitative data for loftus?
Strength:
Statistics allowed easy comparison of the conditions, clearly showing that memory is affected by the wording of questions. loftus compared mean speed estimates for 5 verbs and found smashed led to higher estimate than contacted.
what was the use of quantitative data for grant?
Strength:
Statistics allowed easy comparisons of the conditions, showing that although study and learning conditions independently do not affect retrieval, their match or mismatch does
what was the reliability for loftus?
Lab procedures are highly standardized eg length of the film was specified which makes them reliable and replicable. Expt 1 and2 show that memory can be distorted therefore both studies are in agreement.
what was the reliability for grant?
Aspects of the study were standardized eg materials (headphones) and procedure (instructions to ignore the content of the tape) which ensured reliability of the procedure.
what was the conclusion for grant?
Context dependencydoes affect memory (for MCQ & SAQ) and therefore you should study in similar conditions to your exams
what was the conclusion for loftus?
Study 1:
Participants may have been affected by a response bias. The wording of the question may have indicated what the experimenter wanted, and they acted under demand characteristics.
what were the results for grant?
Performance was better in matching conditions suggesting studying in the same environment is more effective
what were the results for loftus?
Expt 2:
- Ps in the smashed condition gave higher speed estimates than those in the hit condition
- More ps who had the verb smashed reported seeing broken glass.
what was the aim for loftus?
To investigate how information provided to a witness after an event will influence their memory of that event.
what was the aim for grant?
To test the effect of noise on studying and retrieval of meaningful material in an academic context.
what was the sample for grant?
The sample was opportunity where 8 members of the class acted as experimenters and recruited 5 acquaintances to serve as participants. The sample was biased because ps were friends or acquaintances of the experimenters and so this is likely to mean that they share some characteristics and are unlikely to be representative of the general population.
Strength:
- Ps easy to obtain for the study
what was the use of independent measures design for grant?
Strength:
Participants won’t guess the hypothesis as they only experience one condition of the experiment
