Sebastian and Hernandez - Gil Flashcards
what memory models does this experiment focus on ?
multi store
working memory
what part of the working memory model does the study specifically focus on ?
phonological loop
what is the phonological loop ?
consists of phonological store and subvocal rehearsal
what is the phonological store ?
where we retain verbal information
what is subvocal rehearsal ?
the process of silently repeating information like words or numbers to help remember it
what are the aims of the study ?
- analyze how the phonological loop develops in children from 5-17 years old
- look at the decline in memory from older people with dementia
- compare anglo saxon to spanish speaking participants go see who has better short term memory
for aim 1, what was the sample ?
570 spanish children between ages 5-17
volunteers from various schools in madrid
none of the participants repeated a school year and had difficulties reading writing or hearing
what are the strengths and weaknesses of the sample ?
good mixture of male and female participants - well balanced
wide age range
all volunteers do more extroverted = less generalizable
no one who struggled in reading participated, not representative of whole society
only in madrid = ethnocentric - not generalizable
why was it important that none of the participants repeated a school year or had difficulty reading writing or hearing ?
it eliminates some participant variables
what was the procedure (aim 1)
- participants were tested individually during break times at school
- each participant was given a digit span memory test
- maximum number of digits they could correctly recall in the right order was their result
what was the digit span memory test ?
- participants heard a sequence of numbers read out loud at 1 numbers per second
- after hearing sequence participants had to repeat back the numbers they had heard in the right order
- each time a participant correctly repeated the sequence
- another digit was added and the participant tried again
- participants kept going until they could no longer recall the digits they heard
- the participants maximum digit span was their result
what were the results of aim 1
as the participants got older their digit span increased
what was the similar study which involved spanish children called ?
WISC-IV - Welchsler intelligencecsrle from children IV
what test did the WISC - IV do ?
an intelligence test which also tested participants digit spans
why do the results of WISC - IV make digit span results more reliable ?
because they were similar = improves reliability
what can we conclude about aim 1 about how she affects capacity of our phonological store ?
the capacity of our phonological store increases and develops as we get older
how is the conclusion of the study aim 1 supported by the findings of the WISC IV study ?
the results of the study are similar and support the same conclusion
what was the sample
in aim 2 of the experiment ?
older people split into 3 groups -
- healthy older people
- older people with alzheimer’s dementia
- older people with fronto temporal dementia
which age range from aim 1 did the aim 2 results most similar to ?
7-8 year olds
what does aim 2 tell us about our phonological loop when we become elderly ?
as we get older our phonological loop capacity decreases
how do healthy older people compare to the participants with dementia ?
there isn’t a big difference = stm doesn’t affect people with dementia
what is aim 3 of the experiment sample ?
- spanish participants
what did aim 3
show about the digit span with spanish participants
it increases with age up to 17 years old
what did aim 3 show when spanish and english speaking participants results were
compared?
both spanish and english speaking participants aged 4-5 showed similar digit spans
differences appeared at age 7+ english speakers could remember 1 digit more than spanish speakers
why did the researchers think english participants on average scored 1 digit higher on the digit span test than spanish participants ?
- due to language differences
- spanish words generally have more syllables in them compared to english words
what can we conclude from aim 3 ?
the longer the word the easier it is to forget even when saying the word to yourself in your head
why might there be digit span differences between english and spanish from age 7 ?
children begin their subvocal rehearsal at age 7
give positives and negatives for generalizability of this experiment ?
- gender diversity
- wide age range
x all volunteers - generally more confident, extroverted - not representative
x only people from madrid - ethnocentric
how is the experiment reliable ?
- there WISC -IV. showed similar results
- large sample size of 570, gave clear data trends
how can the experiment be applied to real life ?
- to help put things in place for older people who struggle with putting info in stm
give strengths and weaknesses for the validity of the experiment ?
- well controlled lab experiment - participants each had 3 attempts - avoids extraneous variables = good internal validity
- lacks ecological validity - can’t generalize to everyday life (digit span test)
how is the study ethical ?
all of the ethics are followed
