sebastian and hernandez-gil

Question 1

what were the aims

Answer 1

to study the developmental pattern of working memory over time, including changes due to dementia or ageing

to see if Anglo-Saxon data was going to be different from Spanish data

Question 2

what part of working memory were they studying

Answer 2

the phonological loop

Question 3

what types of dementia were in the study

Answer 3

Alzheimer’s and fronto-temporal dementia

Question 4

what was the sample

Answer 4

570 students aged 5-17 from various schools over Madrid

no participants had repeated a school year or had any hearing, reading or writing difficulties

Question 5

what type of data was used

Answer 5

primary data

Question 6

what were the ages in each group

Answer 6

5

6-8

9-11

12-14

15-17

Question 7

what was the procedure in part 1

Answer 7

participants were put into 5 groups

they were tested individually at break time

participants were asked to recall 3 sequences of 3 digits and each time they remembered the digits, another one was added

Question 8

what was the IV

Answer 8

age of participants

Question 9

what was the DV

Answer 9

digit span

Question 10

what was the procedure in part 2

Answer 10

25 healthy older people were compared against 25 people with alzhiemers and 9 people with fronto-temporal dementia

digit span task was the same in part 1

Question 11

what were the results of part 1

Answer 11

digit span increased with age

the 5yr olds had a low digit span and showed a significant difference from the others

Question 12

what was the mean digit span from each group

Answer 12

5yrs= 3.76

6-8yrs= 4.34

9-11yrs= 5.13

12-14yrs= 5.46

15-17yrs= 5.83

Question 13

what was the standard deviation score for each group

Answer 13

5yrs= 0.52

6-8yrs= 0.58

9-11yrs= 0.81

12-14yrs= 0.85

15-17yrs= 0.84

Question 14

what were the mean digit spans from part 2

Answer 14

alzhiemers dementia- 4.20

fronto-temporal dementia- 4.22

healthy older people- 4.44

Question 15

compare the results of part 1 and 2

Answer 15

performance of elderly participants was compared with the 5yr olds and they showed a higher digit span than 5yr olds and 6yr olds

the performance of elderly participants didn’t differ from other year groups

digit span does decrease with age irrespective of if you have dementia or not

Question 16

what is subvocal rehearsal

Answer 16

rehearsing things mentally - not out load

Question 17

evaluate the internal validity

Answer 17

good control over extraneous variables

participants were all tested individually which stopped them from becoming distracted so they were more likely to measure the effects of age on digit span

Question 18

evaluate the objective

Answer 18

memory operationalised the verbal digit span sequences of random digits meaning that measurement isn’t prone to bias and it can be measured objectively

Question 19

evaluate the generalisability

Answer 19

it has good generalisability as the sample was so varied which increases external validity

Question 20

how many groups were participants put in

Answer 20

5

Question 21

what was the experimental design

Answer 21

field experiment

Question 22

evaluate the applications

Answer 22

does have real life applications

digit span can be used to explain real life cognitive skills as people with higher digit spans are better readers and have a higher intelligence

Question 23

evaluate the scientific credibility

Answer 23

it has scientific credibility

tight controls establish cause and effect(nobody had repeated a school year or had any difficulties)

it was a field experiment , other extraneous variables could effect the results like differences of sub vocalisation in Spanish but this was addressed by researches after the study

meaning that there could be other reasons for the difference in digit span score that aren’t age

Question 24

what type of data was used in part 2

Answer 24

secondary

Question 25

what was the conclusion

Answer 25

digit span increases with age from 5-17 which contrasts with Anglo-Saxon data which says that digit span increases until 15yrs old

subvocal rehearsal starts at 7

digit span for Spanish people is lower because their words are longer than English words

digit span declines with age but dementia didn’t impact this

capacity of the phonological loop is affected by age and not dementia