Grant

Grant

1. Background

   • Godden and Badeley 1975- Studied the effects of Context-Dependent Memory on deep sea divers
   • 2 Types of Memory; Recall and Recognition
   • Environmental cues prompt memory
     • In Recognition the environment cues are 'outshined' by themseleves

2. Key Terms

   • Context Dependent Memory(CDM)
     • People remember better if they are remembering information in the same context where and when they learned the information
   • Recall
     • Short-answer questions where there are no cues given
   • Recognition
     • Remembering some information when cues are given (eg multiple choice questions)

3. Aim

   • Investigate CDM effects on both recall and recognition
   • Students may be using study habits that do not work in their favour under test conditions

4. Research Method

   • Lab Experiment
     • IV
       • Study Context: Silent or Noisy
       • Test Context: Silent or Noisy
     • DV
       • Recall test: 10 Short-answer questions
       • Recognition test: 16 Multiple choice questions (each had 4 choices)
   • Independent Measures

5. Sample

   • 8 Psychology Students each chose 5 P's that were aquaintances
     • Opertunity
       • Students had to have known the P's and have been in there when asked to take part in a study about CDM
   • 40 Particpants
     • 17 Females, 23 males
     • 17-56 yrs, Mean age=23.4
   • 39 P's had recorded data (1 male was omitted score too low)

6. Procedure

   • Materials
     • Each experimenter used their own cassette player and headphones
     • The 'Noisy' Condition was a recording of noise at lunchtime in a University cafeteria
     • Information learnt- 2 page article with 3 columns about psychoimmunology
   • Tests
     • The Recognition test; 16 Multiple choice questions each with 4 choices
     • The Recall test; 10 Short answer questions each required a one-word/ short phrase answer
     • The info in the text was in the same order as in the test
     • P's did the Recall test first, then the recognition test(avoid cues from the recognition test giving them answers for the recall test)
   • Lasted 30 mins in total
   • Were read aloud the instructions, can read and highlight at same time

7. Controls

   • Same Background noise
   • Order of tests
   • Always wearing headphones apart from a 2 minute break
   • Tested individually
   • Highlight/underline while reading the article
   • Debriefed at the end (told what the study was about)

8. Data&Results

   • Quantitive

9. Conclusions

   • Students are likely to perform better in exams if they study for them with minimum background noise
   • Students get a better score if they learn information in the same environment as the test

10. Evaluation

    • Ethics
      • Upheld
        • Informed consent obtained, Debriefed, No harm
    • Reliability
      • Internal
        • Replicable due to many controls, Standardised procedure using a controlled environment
      • External
        • There was a consistent effect between matching and mismatching conditions
    • Validity
      • Internal
        • High deisgn validity
      • External (Ecological Validity EV)
        • Low- Don't have a 2 minute break between learning the info to being tested on it in an exam
        • High- Tested in a normal environment
    • Ethnocentrism
      • Not Ethnocentric- Investigates a species-specific behaviour.
      • Ethnocentric- Conducted in America, results may be different if conducted on others who don't have a western education
    • Debates
      • Psychology as a Science
        • Lab Experiment; Scientific criteria fulfilled, Supports that Psychology is a scientific descipline
      • Usefulness
        • Useful to a student to an extent as long as not everyone uses it otherwise it would cancel out it's usefulness
      • Individual-Situational
        • The Situation determines their performance
      • Freewill -Determinism
        • Results are pre-determined by basis of study

11. Relates to...

    • Cognitive Area
      • Studies memory, CDM of meaningful prose in students
    • Key Theme Memory
      • Effects of CDM on recall and recognition of info, changed our understanding by investigating another aspect of Memory