Sebastian and Hernandez - Gil

Question 1

what memory models does this experiment focus on ?

Answer 1

multi store
working memory

Question 2

what part of the working memory model does the study specifically focus on ?

Answer 2

phonological loop

Question 3

what is the phonological loop ?

Answer 3

consists of phonological store and subvocal rehearsal

Question 4

what is the phonological store ?

Answer 4

where we retain verbal information

Question 5

what is subvocal rehearsal ?

Answer 5

the process of silently repeating information like words or numbers to help remember it

Question 6

what are the aims of the study ?

Answer 6

• 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

Question 7

for aim 1, what was the sample ?

Answer 7

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

Question 8

what are the strengths and weaknesses of the sample ?

Answer 8

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

Question 9

why was it important that none of the participants repeated a school year or had difficulty reading writing or hearing ?

Answer 9

it eliminates some participant variables

Question 10

what was the procedure (aim 1)

Answer 10

• 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

Question 11

what was the digit span memory test ?

Answer 11

• 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

Question 12

what were the results of aim 1

Answer 12

as the participants got older their digit span increased

Question 13

what was the similar study which involved spanish children called ?

Answer 13

WISC-IV - Welchsler intelligencecsrle from children IV

Question 14

what test did the WISC - IV do ?

Answer 14

an intelligence test which also tested participants digit spans

Question 15

why do the results of WISC - IV make digit span results more reliable ?

Answer 15

because they were similar = improves reliability

Question 16

what can we conclude about aim 1 about how she affects capacity of our phonological store ?

Answer 16

the capacity of our phonological store increases and develops as we get older

Question 17

how is the conclusion of the study aim 1 supported by the findings of the WISC IV study ?

Answer 17

the results of the study are similar and support the same conclusion

Question 18

what was the sample
in aim 2 of the experiment ?

Answer 18

older people split into 3 groups -
- healthy older people
- older people with alzheimer’s dementia
- older people with fronto temporal dementia

Question 19

which age range from aim 1 did the aim 2 results most similar to ?

Answer 19

7-8 year olds

Question 20

what does aim 2 tell us about our phonological loop when we become elderly ?

Answer 20

as we get older our phonological loop capacity decreases

Question 21

how do healthy older people compare to the participants with dementia ?

Answer 21

there isn’t a big difference = stm doesn’t affect people with dementia

Question 22

what is aim 3 of the experiment sample ?

Answer 22

• spanish participants

Question 23

what did aim 3
show about the digit span with spanish participants

Answer 23

it increases with age up to 17 years old

Question 24

what did aim 3 show when spanish and english speaking participants results were
compared?

Answer 24

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

Question 25

why did the researchers think english participants on average scored 1 digit higher on the digit span test than spanish participants ?

Answer 25

• due to language differences
• spanish words generally have more syllables in them compared to english words

Question 26

what can we conclude from aim 3 ?

Answer 26

the longer the word the easier it is to forget even when saying the word to yourself in your head

Question 27

why might there be digit span differences between english and spanish from age 7 ?

Answer 27

children begin their subvocal rehearsal at age 7

Question 28

give positives and negatives for generalizability of this experiment ?

Answer 28

• gender diversity
• wide age range

x all volunteers - generally more confident, extroverted - not representative
x only people from madrid - ethnocentric

Question 29

how is the experiment reliable ?

Answer 29

• there WISC -IV. showed similar results
• large sample size of 570, gave clear data trends

Question 30

how can the experiment be applied to real life ?

Answer 30

• to help put things in place for older people who struggle with putting info in stm

Question 31

give strengths and weaknesses for the validity of the experiment ?

Answer 31

• 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)

Question 32

how is the study ethical ?

Answer 32

all of the ethics are followed