contemporary study: sebastien & hernandez gill Flashcards
what is meant by ‘digit span’?
the amount of numbers we can hold in the STM at one time
state the 3 aims of the study
- investigate the development of the phonological loop and digit span
- investigate age affects digit span
- investigate whether language affects digit span
describe the sample
- 570 5-17 year old volunteers from a spanish school
- 25 healthy elderly
- 25 alzheimers
- 9 dementia
describe the procedure
- a list of digits read aloud, per second
- started with 3 digits
- when recalled correctly, an extra digit was added
- most digits recalled accurately indicated digit span
describe the results for the spanish children
- age 5 = 3.7
- age 17 = 5.9
- significant increase of 4.6 between 5 and 8 suggests that subvocal recall develops at 7
describe the results of the older participants
- healthy elderly = 4.4
- alzheimers = 4.2
describe the conclusions
- digit span increases with age
- digit span is not affected by dementia
what is a strength of the study (PEE)?
- generalisability
a strength of the study is that it has high generalisability. for example, a large sample of 570 participants was used, so anomalies can be averaged out. therefore, this is representative of a wider spanish population. however, the elderly/alzheimers/dementia sample(secondary data) was only 59 and was mostly female. therefore, this reduces the generalisability as we can’t suggest that all alzheimers patients will have a digit span of 4.4.
what is a strength of the study (PEE)?
- reliability
a strength of the study is that it has high reliability due to the standardised procedures. for example, all participants heard the words read aloud and all sequences started with 3 digits and a digit was only added if they recalled it correctly. therefore, this makes it easy to replicate and test for consistency in findings.
what is a strength of the study (PEE)?
- validity
a strength of the study is the use of a lab experiment. this means that any extraneous variables can be controlled for such as distraction, for example, noise. therefore, this ensures that the findings are a direct manipulation of the independent variable (adding a digit).
what is a strength of the study (PEE)?
- applications
a strength of the study is that it has practical applications. for example, it helps us to understand the development of children’s phonological loop such as the age of sub vocal recall being at 7. therefore, we can find ways to assist children who may experience difficulty associated with rehearsal of spoken or written information.
what is a weakness of the study (PEE)?
- validity
a weakness of the study is that it has low task validity. for example, the procedure involved recalling digit sequences, starting with 3 and increasing each time it was recalled correctly. therefore, this isn’t reflective of the way we use our memory in everyday life so it lacks mundane realism.
