sebastian and hernandez gil Flashcards
what are the aims of sebastiana and hernandez-gil’s study?
- Investigate development of phonological loop in children aged 5-17 yrs, using digit span as measure of phonological capacity
- To see if Anglo-Saxon data (DS increasing until 15) can be replicated and if digit span would be different for Spanish speakers
- To compare findings to their previous research of adult dementia patients
what is ‘digit span’?
measure of how many digits can be held in short-term memory at one time
describe the sample used in your cognitive contemporary study
part 1 and 2
- 570 children from pre-, primary and secondary schools (public and privates) in Madrid. All were born in Spain. They were selected from all 13 years of the Spanish education system (aged 5-17 years). No child had repeated a year and none presented with hearing disorders, reading or writing difficulties or any cognitive impairment.
- part 2 - 25 healthy elderly, 25 alzheimers, 9 dementia
describe the procedure used in your contemporary study for cognitive psychology [5]
- Verbal DS test administered to 570 Spanish speakers, 5-17 yrs (1).
- Pps divided into five age groups, average DS recorded for each group (1).
- Pps were read increasing sequences of digits, 1 digit per second (1).
- DS was recorded as max digits recalled in the correct order without error (1).
- Results were compared to the performance in the same task undertaken by other groups such as healthy elderly and Alzheimer disease patients (1).
results - part 1
sebastian and hernandez gil
- Digit span increased with age
- Digit span rises steadily until around 11 years old, then slows
- 5 year olds had the lowest digit span - average 3.76
- 17 year olds had the highest digit span - average of 5.91
conclusions - part 1
sebastian and hernandez gil
- Digit span increases with age from 5-17 years.
- However, in the Spanish population digit span continues to increase up to age 17 whereas Anglo-Saxon results suggest digit span of 7 (mean average for adult) has been reached by aged 15 years.
- Digit span in the Spanish population is significantly shorter (about 1 digit less) than Anglo-Saxon culture – probably due to the word length effect associated with digits (Spanish numbers are longer than English)
results - part 2
Results from the study on children were compared to findings in research carried out on adults in 2010.
In 2010 they had gathered data about the digit spans of healthy older people (25 pts), those with Alzheimer’s (25 pts) and those with dementia (9 pts).
- Healthy older people = mean digit span of 4.44
- Alzheimer patients = 4.20
- Dementia patients = 4.22
conclusions - part 2
sebastian and hernandez gil
- No significant difference between healthy older people and those with dementia
- Conclusion - it is AGE which affects digit span and NOT dementia
strengths of sebastian and hernandez-gil - generalisability
P - a strength of the study is that it has high generalisability.
E: the sample consisted of 570 spanish children aged 5-17, in pre-, primary and secondary schools so anomalies can be averaged out.
T - therefore, the results are representative of a wider spanish target population.
weaknesses of sebastian and hernandez-gil - generalisability
P - Low generalisability
E - The elderly/alzheimers/dementia sample (secondary data) was only 59 and was mostly female
T - Therefore, this reduces the generalisability as we can’t suggest that all alzheimers patients will have a digit span of 4.4.
strengths of sebastian and hernandez-gil - reliability
P - a strength of the study is that it has high reliability due to a standardised procedure
E - all administered were administered a verbal digit span, they were read increasing sequences of digits, 1 digit per second
T - therefore, the study can be replicated to test for consistency in findings.
strengths of sebastian and hernandez-gil - application
P - a strength of the study is that the results have application to real life
E - the findings can help us understand the development of the phonological loop in children
T - therefore the findings are beneficial in society as we can find ways to assist children who may experience difficulty associated with rehearsal of spoken or written information to improve their memory and learning
weakness of sebastian and hernandez-gil - validity
P - a weakness of the study is that it has low ecological validity
E - all administered were administered a verbal digit span, they were read increasing sequences of digits, 1 digit per second.
T - therefore, this isn’t reflective of the way we use our memory in everyday life and so it lacks mundane realism.
ethics of sebastian and hernandez-gil
upheld
consent gained - volutneer sample
no deception
