HL Extension: Technology and Cognition (Mueller & Oppenheimer and Gandolphe)

Question 1

Introduction (Technology has played a significant role in…)

Answer 1

Technology has played a significant role in changing the way we gain, process or generate information through search engines, social media or online gaming platforms.

Festinger’s social comparison theory states that our own attitudes to ourselves are a result of comparing ourselves to others, which becomes increasingly hassle-free with the introduction of technology and social media. Whilst this may have positive and negative effects…

Positive and healthy effects of technology on cognition:

• Faster and more efficient communication with others
• Having higher goals and achievements after seeing others

Negative and unhealthy effects of technology on cognition:

• Depression and anxiety with over-comparison
• Availability heuristic- tendency to rely on inaccurate posts to form judgements (media coverage)
• Over-reliance on external memory

24-hour news coverage - technology and emotional reaction to what we see creating FBM

Question 2

Mueller and Oppenheimer aim

Answer 2

Investigate whether taking notes on a laptop instead of using pen-paper notes would hinder learning → does technology have a negative effect on our ability to learn new information?

Question 3

Mueller and Oppenheimer procedure

Answer 3

• 109 UCLA undergraduate students
• Participants were given either laptop/pen-paper and instructed to take notes on 4 lectures of four different themes
• Participants were told that 1 week later, they would be tested on the lectures and were not able to take notes home
  
  • 2 conditions were randomly split into 2 more conditions
    
    • “Study” condition - 10 min to study notes before testing
    • “No-study” condition - immediate test

Question 4

Mueller and Oppenheimer findings

Answer 4

Pen-paper study performed better (no difference in no study, but study pen-paper condition performed slightly better)

Question 5

Mueller and Oppenheimer link to Technology

Answer 5

This supports the idea that active processing of information is carried out during pen-paper (eg. paraphrasing the lecture, creating diagrams), which otherwise could not be able to be carried out when typing on laptops (fast note-taking would allow the students to write lecture word for word, showing that they had not really processed the information and understood it)

Question 6

Mueller and Oppenheimer strengths

Answer 6

Internal validity - controlled variables

Question 7

Mueller and Oppenheimer limitations

Answer 7

Only undergrad students - not generalisable

Question 8

Gandolphe et al aim

Answer 8

Whether international support and a sense of solidarity that gives importance to a national tragedy plays a role in creating flashbulb memories

Question 9

Gandolphe et al procedure

Answer 9

• 235 participants of French nationality to answer a web-based questionnaire about a terrorist attack - instigated 2 million people to rally for natinal unity
• The phrase “Je suis Charlie” became a common slogan of support on social media - replaced pfp
• Questionnaire asked participants memory of event, vividness, and predictors of flashbulb memory

Question 10

Gandolphe et al findings

Answer 10

Researchers found that

• Vividness was most strong for people who saw visual imagery (spread around the internet, etc.)
• International importance = more detailed and vivid
• Correlation between importance and rehearsal

Question 11

Gandolphe et al link to Technology

Answer 11

In the case of the Charlie Hebdo attack, international importance seems to play an important role as the attacks led to an international debate about freedom of expression and speech, not to mention international condemnation of terrorism and solidarity with the victims - all of which was facilitated by television and social media (rehearsal was encouraged)

Question 12

Gandolphe et al Strengths

Answer 12

STRENGTHS: High ecological validity as it has an observable reaction as it was a real event - the posts are still there

Question 13

Gandolphe et al Limitations

Answer 13

LIMITATIONS: Questionnaire - demand characteristics, small sample size, based upon people’s recollection

Question 14

Conclusion (Tech and Cognition.. Conclusion:

(We are surrounded by various forms of digital technology…)

Answer 14

→ We are surrounded by various forms of digital technology so, to approximate the reality of
our everyday life, research studies should be conducted in real-life settings - much of it is self reported, thus it is hard to verify accuracy → method triangulation

→ Technology and our emotional reaction to what we see leads to a higher rate of flashbulb memories

→ Media’s reminder of this emotional event results in overt rehearsal leads to a flashbulb memory — matters which images we are seeing