sebastian and hernandez gill contemporary study

Question 1

aim

Answer 1

to see how the phonological loop develops overtime

Question 2

sample

Answer 2

• 570 primary and secondary school children
• all from the Spanish population, recruited from schools in Madrid
• none had any difficulties reading, writing or hearing

Question 3

method

Answer 3

• independent measures design
• field experiment
• IV = years of schooling
• DV = verbal digit span

Question 4

procedure 6 marker

Answer 4

1. A verbal digit span test was administered
2. ppts were divided into 5 age groups and the average verbal digit span was found
3. ppts were read a sequence of digits increasing by 1 each time and had to recall them in the correct order
4. 1 digit was read per second
5. there were 3 digits per trial
6. they had to recall 2 of the 3 sequences correctly in the right order
7. digit span was recorded as the maximum digits recalled in the correct order without error
8. Performance was compared to that of healthy elderly, Alzheimer disease patients and frontotemporal dementia patients
9. independent measures design + field experiment
10. sample was 570 schools kids from 13 schools in madrid, all spanish, did not repeat a year, no difficulties reading, writing hearing
11. were allowed to practice digits
    12.they were given an example before the study

Question 5

results

Answer 5

1. digit span increased with age (from age 5-17)
2. 5 year olds had the lowest digit span of 3.76
3. the increase in 1 digit started at 9 and rose smoothly until age 11

Question 6

conclusions

Answer 6

1. digit span in Spanish children increases until 17 but only 15 in English children due to the world length effect, english numbers are most monosyllabic whereas spanish words take longer to rehearse.
2. the comparison of dementia groups, healthy groups, and school children suggested the capacity of the phonological loop is more affected by age then dementia

Question 7

give 2 strengths of the study

Answer 7

One strength is that the study is high in validity. They used a large sample size of 570 primary and secondary school children all from the Spanish population, recruited from schools in Madrid to test their verbal digit span. Therefore, any anomalies with high or low digit spans will be averaged out and will not skew the data, so the results on how the phonological loop develops overtime is not affected.

Another strength is that the study is high in reliability as it has a standardised procedure, for example, 1 digit was read per second, each time a ppt got a sequence right another digit was added, there were 3 digits per trial, ppts had to read out the sequences in the correct order. Therefore, the study can be repeated to test for a consistency of findings of how age affects digit span so you can see how the phonological loop develops overtime.

Question 8

Give 2 weaknesses of the study.

Answer 8

One weakness is that the study lacks mundane realism. For example, the task is to recall a sequence of digits in the correct order after they have been read out loud to you so they can test for verbal digit span, each time they recalled the sequence correctly another digit was added. This may not be how working memory works in real life. The task is very artificial and unrealistic. Therefore, the results are not representative of how the phonological loop develops overtime in reality and how age affects verbal digit span.

Another weakness is that extraneous variables such as the differences of sub-vocalisation in spanish and english and the world length effect may have affected the results. English numbers are most monosyllabic whereas spanish words take longer to rehearse. Therefore, reducing the validity of the experiment as the age of the ppts may not have had an effect on the digit span, it could have been how long the words were so you cannot infer cause and effect.

Question 9

application

Answer 9

High application. The main conclusion is that digit span increases with age from 5 to 17. Comparisons with Anglo-saxons found that digit span increased to 15 years old. Digit span has been linked to cognitive abilities. People with longer digit spans are better readers and have higher general intelligence. Short digit span is associated with learning disorders like dyslexia. Therefore, digit span can be used to explain people’s crucial real life cognitive abilities.