Glanzer & Cunitz (1966): Study Guide

Question 1

What was the aim of Glanzer and Cunitz’s (1966) study?

Answer 1

To investigate the existence of separate short-term and long-term memory stores, as proposed by the multi-store model of memory.

Question 2

What was the procedure of Glanzer and Cunitz’s (1966) study?

Answer 2

Participants were presented with a list of 15 words, read aloud one at a time. They were then asked to recall the words under two conditions:

1. Immediate recall condition: Participants wrote down as many words as they could remember immediately after hearing the list.
2. Delayed recall condition: Participants performed a distractor task (counting backwards from a number for 30 seconds) before recalling the words, which prevented rehearsal and disrupted short-term memory.

Question 3

What were the key findings of Glanzer and Cunitz (1966)?

Answer 3

1.The primacy effect: Words at the beginning of the list were better recalled, indicating storage in long-term memory (LTM).

2. The recency effect: Words at the end of the list were better recalled when there was no delay, indicating they were still in short-term memory (STM).
3. The recency effect disappeared with the distractor task, showing STM disruption.

Question 4

Which memory model does Glanzer and Cunitz (1966) support?

Answer 4

The multi-store model of memory, as it provides evidence for the distinction between short-term memory (STM) and long-term memory (LTM).