The Effects of Levels of Processing on Memory
PB1: Identify the aim of the research and state the
experimental/alternative hypothesis/es.
(credited in the report mark scheme)
To show how different levels of processing affects the memory.
“People who process information deeply (i.e. semantic processing) tend
to remember more than those who process information shallowly (i.e.
visual processing).”
PB2: Explain why a directional or non-directional
experimental/alternative hypothesis/es has been
selected. (I mark)
I have used a directional experimental hypothesis because past
research, such as that by Craik and Tulving (1975) has proved this.
PB3: Identify the chosen research method (experimental, survey,
observation or correlational research) and if appropriate, the design
used. (1 mark)
I am using a lab experiment as my research method. I am using an
independent groups design.
PB4: Identify the advantages(s) and disadvantage(s) of the chosen
research method.
(2 marks)
The activity is artificial. However, the findings can be used to help
improve the memory. The study is well controlled, so it is unlikely
that there are any other factors affecting the findings. However, some
participants may guess the aim, and may either try to help the
experimenter or hinder. As I am using an independent groups design,
there will be no problem with order effects, but individual
differences may have an effect on the results.
PB5: Identify potential sources of bias in the investigation and any
possible confounding variables. (2
marks)
Individual differences may affect the findings. For example, the
individual may not understand a particular word, and therefore will
Identify the hypothesis (testable question) that the study was trying to answer and describe the methods of research used in each study.
2. a) The research design used in this study is the case study design. It is classified
Atkinson, R.C. & Shiffrin, R.M. (1968). Human memory: A proposed system and its control process.
This essay addresses the working memory model which was proposed by Baddeley and Hitch (1974 in Smith & Kosslyn, 2007) as a response to Atkinson and Shiffrins (1968 in Smith, 2007) multi-store model. According to Baddely and Hitch the multi-store model failed to explain most of the complexities of the human memory and viewed it as being too simplistic. They argued that the short term memory store must have more components rather it being a single inflexible store as suggested previously by Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968). The working memory model is therefore an enhancement of the multi store model. According to Baddeley and Hitch working memory is a limited- capacity system that stores and processes information.
In the field of cognitive neuroscience a memory study usually involves a combination of behavioral tasks and a machine that permits t...
Cognitive activities, such as reasoning and learning need a mental space to control and operate. Working memory model raised by Baddely and Hitch (1974) firstly gave the idea that a central executive in the brain coordinates the activities of two slave systems which are phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad, to manipulate cognitive information. Based on that, a huge number of researchers were then trying to explore how cognitive activities are manipulated mentally in terms of information storage and their production. Phonological loop, or in other words, verbal working memory, was intensely investigated throughout the years. In this essay, I would indicate two main functions of phonological loop in everyday lives, one is mental arithmetic
Memory is a group of related mental processes that are involved in acquiring, storing, and retrieving information (Hockenberry and Hocenberry page 232). I will be addressing two specific types of memory: short-term memory and long-term memory. Short-term memory holds temporary information transferred from sensory memory or long-term memory. Sensory memory is the first stage of memory and obtains information for a brief amount of time. Short-term memory is also called active memory and is stored in the prefrontal cortex which is the most active part of the brain during an activity. Short-term memory can hold information for roughly twenty seconds, but sensory memory holds information for a shorter amount of time. We usually store things such
There was a case of a man name KF and he had damage to the occipital
Group A consisted of two females, one eighteen years of age and the other nineteen, and two males, one eighteen years of age and the other nineteen. Group B consisted of the remaining participants. Both groups saw the entire list words for ten minutes before the screen was turned off. During this time, Group B chewed on spearmint gum while Group A was not exposed to the stimulus. Both groups were then given a 1-minute break prior to the test. When the minute was up, they wrote the words they still remembered onto a piece of paper. A total of five minutes was given to recall the words. During this time, Group B chewed on spearmint gum and Group A was not exposed the stimulus. Both groups then had their results analyzed to determine which group was able to recall more words.
It has been a time-consuming belief that women have better multi-tasking skills than men. Multi-tasking involves doing several tasks at once. Multi-tasking uses short-term memory. If women are better at multi-tasking than men, it would seem that they would have better short term memory as well. “In general, the gender-related differences include a wide range of processing skills. It has been shown that females recall the appearance of others better than males and score higher on tasks involving manipulation of phonological and semantic information, episodic and semantic memory, verbal learning, verbal analytical working memory, object location memory, fine motor skills and perceptual speed, while males tend to score higher on tasks involving visuospatial working memory fluid reasoning, and positional reconstruction, or when spatiotemporal analyses are required (González, 2013).” Memory is one the most important cognitive domains in order to have an everyday function. Memory processes storing, encoding, and retrieving information. Short-term memory is the function that temporarily retains stimuli that just have been perceived and is involved in the frontal and temporal cortices.
There were 32 (22 female and 10 male) participants in this word recall experiment. Participants were of traditional and nontraditional college-age. The participants were from various academic majors; however, all participants were currently enrolled in one of three sections of an experimental psychology course. All of the experimental psychology students taking part in this experiment had previously completed a course in general psychology and psychological statistics earning a grade of “C” or better. The participants took part in the experiment as a learning experience for the class.
Over the years, several models have been proposed to explain the nature of memory processes (e.g., Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1968; Craik & Lockhart, 1972; Estes & Maddox, 1995; Raajimakers & Shiffrin, 1981). One of those models, level of processing, proposed that the duration that information can be held in the memory depends on the depth at which it is processed, not the stage of memory in which it is held. A study by Smith, Theodore, and Franklin (1983) examined this hypothesis by investigating how depth of processing affect the amount of processing obtained in the processing of a target item in a lexical detection task (LDT) by college students. The study asked 100 college students to make lexical decisions about target after making decision about prime. The result of the unexpected post-session recall test indicated that superior recall for words was dependent on the way in which the prime was processed, with semantic decision (deep processing) resulting in greater facilitation over words whose processing focused on visual or phonemic features (shallow processing).
Tulving, E. and Craik, F. (2000) The Oxford handbook of memory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
2. List Research Questions That The Study Was Designed To Answer. If The Author Does Not Explicitly Provide The Questions, Attempt To Infer The Questions From The Answers.
Learning to tie shoes and ride a bike requires the encoding, storing, and retrieving of past observations of the procedure. With a lot of practice, children master these skills so well that they are able to remember them the rest of their lives. Memory is the storing of information over time. It is one of the most important concepts in learning; if things are not remembered, no learning can take place. As a process, memory refers to the "dynamic mechanism associated with the retention and retrieval of information about past experiences" (Sternberg 260). We use our memory about the past to help us understand the present. The study or memory in psychology is used in different ways, as well as there are many different ways to study how memory works in humans. In psychology there are many tasks used to measure memory, and different types of memory storages that human's use, such as sensory storing, or short term storing. There are also a lot of techniques that humans use to improve their memory, which they can use to learn, such as mnemonic devices. All these things can be classified as important issues in the study of human memory and ways of learning.