Godden and Baddeley Description

Godden and Baddeley Description

1. The aim was to see whether words would be recalled better in the same environment or in a very different environment

2. To investigate whetehr a natural environment can act as a cue for recall

3. 18 participants ( divers) were given word lists to learn which were made up of 38 unrelated 2 or 3 syllable words

4. The words were presented either on the beach or 15 ft under the sea

5. Participants then had to recall the words in one of four conditions which they were randomly allocated to

6. Condition 1: learn and recall on the beach

7. Conditiion 2: learn and recall underwater

8. Condition 3: learn on the beach and recall underwater

9. Condition 4: learn underwater and recall on the beach

10. Recall was about 50% higher when it took place in the same environment as learning

11. 40% more words were forgotten if recall was in a different environment from where learned

12. The mean number of words recalled in condition 1; 13.5, condition 2; 11.4, condition 3; 8.6 and condition 4; 8.4

13. The study demonstrates how the environment can act as a contextual cue for learning