Grant et al. - 1998

Question 1

How does the environment impact memory recall?

Answer 1

recall is better when the participant is in the same environment that information was learned

Question 2

What is state-dependent retrieval?

Answer 2

you have to be in the same state during retrieval as you were in during encoding (drunk or sober)

Question 3

What is the encoding Specificity Principle?

Answer 3

memory is best when information is provided at encoding is present at time of retrieval

Question 4

What is context dependent memory?

Answer 4

improved recall of specific episodes or information when the context present at encoding and retrieval are the same

Question 5

What did Godden and Baddeley test?

Answer 5

memory of scuba divers on land vs. in water

Question 6

What did Godden and Baddeley find?

Answer 6

the environment they were introduced to the info was the one where they recalled the best

Question 7

What should be done if there is a delay in learning and recall?

Answer 7

vary the setting when revising as it aids memory by adding context cues that boost recall

Question 8

What was Grant interested in, in regards to memory?

Answer 8

whether environmental context-dependency effects would be found with the type of material and type of tests (esp. in school)

Question 9

What did Grant aim to show about context-dependency?

Answer 9

that environmental context can have a positive affect on performance when the test takes place in the same environment the material was originally studied in therefore be more meaningful

Question 10

What are the two types of memory tested in Grant’s study?

Answer 10

recall and recognition

Question 11

What type of questions relate to recall?

Answer 11

short answer

Question 12

What type of questions relate to recognition?

Answer 12

multiple choice

Question 13

How does context dependency relate to the two types of questions?

Answer 13

context-dependency effects on memory for lists of unrelated words are shown more often with recall than recognition

Question 14

What is a sentence to summarise the study?

Answer 14

39 participants all read an article in either noisy or silent conditions and reading comprehension is tested

Question 15

What is the aim?

Answer 15

to show that environmental context can have a positive effect on performance and be meaningful

Question 16

What are the 2 IVs in this study?

Answer 16

1- silent or noisy
2- matching or unmatching

Question 17

What is the DV?

Answer 17

performance on recall and recognition tests

Question 18

What is the method of the study?

Answer 18

lab experiment

Question 19

What are strengths of this method?

Answer 19

high control over EVs = more valid results

Question 20

What are the weaknesses of this method?

Answer 20

• lacks ecologically validity (artificial environment)
• lacks mundane realism
• demand characteristics are more likely

Question 21

What was the design?

Answer 21

independent measures

Question 22

What is a strength of the design?

Answer 22

• reduces order effects (fatigue, boredom, & practice)

Question 23

What is the experimenter sample?

Answer 23

8 psychology students

Question 24

What is the sample?

Answer 24

• 39 (orig. 40)
• 17-56 age range
• 17 female & 23 male

Question 25

What are the weaknesses of the sample?

Answer 25

- lack population validity - small = not representative = not generalisable

Question 26

How were the participants gathered?

Answer 26

each of the 8 experimenters were asked to gather 5 acquaintances each

Question 27

What were the 3 stimuli?

Answer 27

1- cassette tape of background noise 2- reading material 3- tests

Question 28

What was the background noise?

Answer 28

recorded noise from the university cafeteria

Question 29

What are some types of noise in the cassette tape?

Answer 29

- conversations - movement of chairs

Question 30

How was the cassette tapes standardised?

Answer 30

- exact copies were made for each experimenter

Question 31

What was the reading material?

Answer 31

an article on psychoimmunology

Question 32

What were the two types of test?

Answer 32

1- 10 short-answer (recall) 2- 16 multiple choice (recognition)

Question 33

Why is the order of the tests important?

Answer 33

the short answer has to be first to ensure information was recalled from the article was being tested and not information from the multiple choice

Question 34

How were the questions ordered?

Answer 34

the same order as they appeared in the article

Question 35

How were participants allocated to a condition of the IV?

Answer 35

randomly

Question 36

What is a strength of using allocation method?

Answer 36

reduced experimenter bias

Question 37

What was step 1 of the procedure?

Answer 37

instructions were read aloud

Question 38

What are some details of the instructions?

Answer 38

- participation was voluntary - it was a class project

Question 39

What was the first task for participants?

Answer 39

to read the article once as if for an assignment - highlighting underlining etc.,

Question 40

What did experimenter record during this period?

Answer 40

reading time

Question 41

What were participants informed of?

Answer 41

that their reading comprehension will be tested

Question 42

What was standardised about the procedure?

Answer 42

ALL participants wore headphones even if in silent condition

Question 43

What happened after the article was read?

Answer 43

a 2 minute break

Question 44

What is the significance of this break?

Answer 44

it minimises chance of recall from the short term memory

Question 45

How were the tests carried out?

Answer 45

short answer and then multiple choice

Question 46

What were the conditions of these tests?

Answer 46

- tested in either noisy or silent conditions - informed of condition before testing - regardless of condition wore headphones

Question 47

What happened at the end of the tests?

Answer 47

a debrief

Question 48

How long did the procedure last?

Answer 48

30 minutes

Question 49

What is important to note about the results?

Answer 49

1/40 participants results were not analysed due to being over the standard deviation of the group mean

Question 50

What was recorded to create results?

Answer 50

1- mean reading time (mins) 2- mean correct answers on the two tests

Question 51

What are some findings?

Answer 51

- participants in all groups spent roughly equal amounts of time studying the material - studying and testing in the same environment produced better results - no overall effect of noise on performance

Question 52

What type of data was collected?

Answer 52

quantitative data

Question 53

What are strengths of quantitative data?

Answer 53

- objective - easy to analyse and compare

Question 54

What are the weaknesses of quantitative data?

Answer 54

- no reasoning 'WHY' for behaviour

Question 55

What are the conclusions from the study?

Answer 55

- there are context dependency effects for newly learned meaningful material - studying and testing in the same environment leads to enhanced performance

Question 56

What are the practical applications for this study?

Answer 56

- students