Grant et al (context dependency memory) Flashcards
How does Grants study relate to the cognitive area?
A study which shows another way in which memory can be affected- in the case, by whether information is recalled in a similar context to that which it was first encountered.
FACT CARD
grant’s study is all to with memory enhancement
What does context-dependent memory refer to?
It refers to improved recall of episodes or information when the encoding and retrieval context are the same
FACT CARD
Context dependency effects typically interpreted as showing that the characteristics of the environment are encoded of part of the memory and can be traced to retrieve the information you have learned in the same environment or enhance memory retrieval.
What was the Aim of the study?
The study aimed to show that environment context can have a positive effect on performance in a memory test in the same environment.
How many groups where there and what where there conditions and how many participants where in each group?
There was 4 groups and each consisted of 10 people.
Group 1- Studied in silence and tested in silence
Group 2- studied in silence and tested I noisy conditions
Group 3- studied in noisy conditions and tested in silence
Group 4- studied in noisy conditions and tested in noisy conditions
What research method did they use?
Lab experiment
What measures design did they use?
Independent measures design
What were the 2 independent variables?
- The testing conditions
2. The reading conditions
What were the three dependent variables?
- Reading time
- Performance on multiple-choice test
- Performance on short answer test
Describe the sample used?
There were 39 participants but one was excluded due to their results. 8 psychology students had to recruit 5 acquaintances each to serve as participants the sample consisted of 17 female and 23 male with a mean of 23.4.
FACT CARD
Participants only participated in only one of the four conditions.
Stimuli
What did each exoerimenter provide?
They provided his/her own cassette player and their own headphones to the participants
How where the cassettes controlled?
All eight were the exact same copies made from the master tape of background noise at lunchtime in a university café
What did the background noises on the cassettes consist of?
occasional distant words or phrases embedded with general conversations, inter mixed with the sound of chair movement and dishes and it was played to them at a moderately loud level.
Why were participants that had silent reading conditions wear headphones?
This is a control measure as the researchers can be sure that the wearing off headphones didn’t effect the results and the IV (cause and effect)
FACT CARD
The time was recorded but not controlled
How long did the participants get before they had to do the first test?
2 minute break this is also a control
Describe the 1st test
They used 10 short answer questions that could be used to get answers using a single word or phrase
Why was the sort answer questions done first?
To ensure information was recalled from the article and not information from the multiple choice test
Describe the second test?
16 Multiple choice questions with four possible answers
Draw two conclusions from the findings in this study
- Studying and then testing in the same environment leads to enhanced performance
- Students are more likely to preform better with minimum background noise because, although there was no overall effect on performance on background noise, the fact that there was evidence for context dependency that they are better of studying without background noise as this is not what they will be actually tested in.
