contemporary study: Sebastian and Hernandez-Gil’s (2012) study of the developmental pattern of digit span

Question 1

what did they want to examine?

Answer 1

• working at University of Madrid, s + hg wanted to examine the developmental pattern of digit span in spanish population* to test the phonological loop component (deals with auditory info) of wmm (Baddeley and hitch)

Question 2

what did they want to investigate?

Answer 2

• the capacity of phonological loop (ie how much it could hold) and to understand whether it would differ in a Spanish population across different ages
• knew that anglo-saxon research (ie British) concluded that digit span increased with age (from age 5-17) so they wanted to investigate whether the same developmental trend occurred in different culture

Question 3

what was the aim of the study?

Answer 3

• investigate the development of phonological loop in children between ages 5-17 using digit span as a measure of phonological capacity
• to look at decline of digit span in older people (normal healthy older people and dementia patients)
• to compare digit span in spanish population with Anglo-Saxon population

Question 4

how many parts are there to this study?

Answer 4

• 2

Question 5

what did the first part of study gather?

Answer 5

• primary data
• data gathered by researchers in an actual study at the time

Question 6

how many ppts did they use in first part of study?

Answer 6

• 570 volunteer ppts
• 5-17
• from various schools in Madrid
• all ppts born in Spain
• impairments in hearing, reading and writing ability were controlled

Question 7

how were ppts divided in groups for first part of study?

Answer 7

• ppts were divided into five different age groups