Contemporary Sebastian & Hernandez-Gil 2012

Question 1

WHAT TYPE OF MEMORY DOES SEBASTIAN AND HERNANDEZ-GIL 2012 LOOK AT

Answer 1

STM

Question 2

aim of sebastian and hernandez-gil 2012

Answer 2

• analyse how phonological lopp develops in children aged 5-17
• look at decline in memory from old people with dementia
• compare anglo-saxon and spanish speaking ppts to see how language affects phonological STM

Question 3

sample sebastian and hernandez-gil 2012

Answer 3

• 570 spanish children aged 5-17, 272 male and 298 female
• volunteers from schools in Madrid
• no ppts had learning difficulties or had repeated a school year

Question 4

procedure of sebastian and hernandez-gil

Answer 4

1. ppts tested individually during school breaktimes using digit span memory test
2. heard sequence of numbers read aloud at 1 number a second
3. had to repeat back numbers they heard in correct order
4. each time they got the sequence correct another digit was added and they tried again, kept going until they could no longer recall
5. maximum digit span was recorder as their result

secondary data collected from previous 2010 study into elderly ppts and dementia patients

Question 5

results of sebastian hernandez-gil

Answer 5

developmental trend of increasing digit span with age
- rises from preschool digit span of 3.76 to high school 5.83 (slows at age 11 and stable from 15-17)

elderly with dementia had digit span of 4.20, healthy elderly had digit span of 4.44

both spanish and english 4-5 year olds had similar digit spans but from age 7+ english speakers remembered one digit more than spanish due to word-length effect

Question 6

conclusions of sebastian and hernandez-gil 2012

Answer 6

• digit span increases with age, development occurs when children can subvocalise at age 7
• increased word-length makes recall more difficult
• poor digit span can come about with ageing and/or dementia

Question 7

reliability of sebastian and hernandez-gil 2012

Answer 7

high
- standardised instructions followed (digits read at 1 number per second)
- this makes the study replicable to test for consistency in results

Question 8

generalisability of sebastian and hernandez-gil 2012

Answer 8

high - large sample size of 570 of ages 5-17 so digit spans can be generalisable to mutliple ages

low - all ppts from Madrid, study later compared with English digit span showed that it is not representative of other cultures due to language and amount of syllables in each spoken number

Question 9

ecological validity of sebastian and hernandez-gil 2012

Answer 9

low
- researchers used digit span to measure STM and the phonological loop, and used an unusual task (recalling a spoken list of numbers until you can no longer remember)
-ppts wouldn’t do this in everyday life so less representative of how memory works normally

Question 10

validity/credibility of sebastian and hernandez-gil 2012

Answer 10

high
- collected quantitative data on digit spans of different age groups (preschool 3.76, high school 5.83, elderly with dementia 4.20, healthy elderly 4.44)
- able to compare and analyse findings using statistical tests, more objective and credible