Grant et al

Question 1

Environmental context-dependency effects

Answer 1

suggests some aspects of the environment during learning are stored or ‘encoded’ with the to-be-remembered item and become part of the ‘memory trace’.

Question 2

cue dependency

Answer 2

the idea that when a to-be-remembered item is stored, other pieces of info present at the time are stored with it. These extra pieces of info from the environment (context) or even persons state can later act as cues to aid recall.

Question 3

recall

Answer 3

accessing memories with very few prompts such as when writing an essay you have a lot to remember with only a short title to help.

Question 4

recognition

Answer 4

when we have to decide which of 2 or more items we have seen before such as when you answer a multiple choice question.

Question 5

meaningful items

Answer 5

understandable and we relate to them

Question 6

what is the aim of this study?

Answer 6

• To investigate whether environmental context (EC) cues are important when remembering newly learned info.
• To see whether info is remembered better in a matching or mis matching environment.

Question 7

what research method was used?

Answer 7

lab experiment

Question 8

what experimental deisgn was used?

Answer 8

independent measures design

Question 9

what is the sample?

Answer 9

8 experimenters recruited 5 ps through opportunity sampling. 40 ps provided. Aged 17-56,
17 males, 22 females
(1 excluded= 39 as scores were v different)

Question 10

what was the IV?

Answer 10

whether the study and test conditions were matching or mismatching.

Question 11

what was the DV?

Answer 11

the ps performance on a short answer and multiple choice test.

Question 12

what made the noisy background?

Answer 12

it was created by people talking at lunchtime in a uni cafeteria. (ps wore headphones provided by experimenter)

Question 13

what was the material to be studied on?

Answer 13

2 page article on psychoimmunology.

Question 14

how long did ps get to break between reading the article and recall?

Answer 14

2 minute break (to minimise info recalled from short-term memory)

Question 15

how many short answer questions were the ps given?

Answer 15

10 short answer questions (given first)
required single word or phrase as answer.

Question 16

how many multiple choice questions were ps given?

Answer 16

16 multiple choice questions- each consisting of a stem & 4 alternative answers.

Question 17

Reading the article

Answer 17

Ps asked to read once as if they were for an assignment, highlighting and/or underlining not allowed.
Experimenter noted time taken for ps to read.
When finished reading, 2 min break minimising recall from short term memory.

Question 18

tests of recall

Answer 18

designed to be similar to class tests, they assessed comprehension of new material rather than exact recall of facts.

Question 19

which test was always given first and why?

Answer 19

Short answers test, this ensures recall of info from article was tested and not just recall of info from multiple choice test.

Question 20

were ps debriefed?

Answer 20

yes- told the purpose of the experiment.

Question 21

how long did entire procedure last?

Answer 21

30 mins

Question 22

Reading time

Answer 22

analysis of time taken to read article across all 4 conditions did not show any significant difference. Results suggest ps spent roughly equal amounts of time reading.

Question 23

what 2 conclusions did grant draw from this study?

Answer 23

1) there was NO independent effect of noise on performance, the claim made by many students that noise does NOT affect their capacity to study is supported.

2) results showed there ARE environmental context dependency (EC) effects for meaningful to-be-remembered info regardless of whether short answer test/multiple choice test used to asses recall.
For BOTH test types MATCHING conditions was more beneficial.

Question 24

which test did ps perform better on?

Answer 24

multiple choice (better on a test of recognition than recall)

Question 25

which conditions did ps get higher test scores?

Answer 25

2 matching conditions, i.e noisy study & noisy test, silent study & silent test

Question 26

did noise have an affect on performance?

Answer 26

NO overall effect of noise on performance.