grant et al

context dependant memory

the idea that recall of information is enhanced if we are recalling the information in a similar context to how we learnt it

what is recall

retrieving information with no prompts e.g. question and answer

what is recognition

recalling information that comes with promots e.g. multiple choice questions

aim of grant

test the effect of context dependent memory by the presence or absence of noise during learning and retrieval of meaningful material

research method

lab experiment

ecological validity of grant ?

high ecological validity - used to reading something knowing they’ll be tested on it later in noise or in silence

strength of lab experiment

high control over EVs - the article (making sure it probably won’t be familiar) noise, questions

weakness of a lab experiment

demand characteristics - know they are taking part in a study, may try really hard or not at all

memory trace

characteristics of an environment are encoded with a memory - like a specific song reminding you of christmas because you listened to it around christmas

research design

independant measures

strength of independent measures

no order effects from remembering about psychoimmunology or fatigue from reading information over and over

weakness of independent measures

individual differences - natural memory ability, sleep, speed of processing, adhd/dyslexia can all affect someone’s ability to do the task

what are the four conditions of grant

learn with noise and recall with noise, learn in silence and recall in silence (matching) learn with noise and recall in silence, learn in silence and recall in noise (mis-matching)

sampling method

opportunity sampling 8 psychology students who served as experimenters, then snowball sampling as they recruited 5 acquainted for their participants

sample

39 participants (40 but 1 was excluded) aquainteses of the experimenter, 17-56 mean age 23.4 years old

weakness of the sample

all aquainteses of the experimenter, therefore likely to be similar to each other and unrepresetative. also, as they are aquainteses to the psychology student, they are likely to also be psychology students which could mean they crack the study and show demand characteristics

procedure of grant

each experimenter was in charge of 5 participants, one in each condition and the 5th randomly assigned. participants were asked to read a two page article on psychoimmunology once. they wore headphones connected to a cassette player, if they were in one or both of the noisy conditions, cafeteria noises would play through it moderately loud. participants were told to ignore the noise. after they read the article, they took a 2 minute break and answered 10 SAQ and 16 MCQ. debriefed at the end

strength of the procedure

standardised so replicable and internally reliable. OR high ecological validity - reading a text and getting tested on it

weakness of the procedure

low ecological validity as the text was not always relevant to the person (doesn’t study psychology or medicine) so may not take it seriously as it is not a proper exam

standardised procedure ?

yes - all participants had the same tape, same experience, same article, same questions etc

what was there no significant difference in between conditions

reading speed

results 1 for grant

learning and recalling in the same environment, regardless of whether it was silent or noisy, lead to better results in MCQ than mismatching learning and recalling environments (14.3 vs 12.7)

conclusion 1 for grant

studying and testing in the same environment leads to enhanced performance

result 2 for grant

in the short answer test, performance was better in the matching contexts of silent-silent (6.7/10) than the mis-matching contexts of noisy-silent (5.4/10)

conclusion 2 for grant

students are likely to perform better in exams if they study with a minimum amount of noise because noise won’t be present during actual testing

strength of the data collected

quantitative data allows for easy comparisons between particiatnts to see if mismatched or matched conditions yielded better results in MCQ or SAQ

weaknesses of the data collected

lack of insight into how students prefer to work, why background noise may help during reivison, studying for longer periods maybe the background music helps them concentrate

practical application

students should study in silence as their exams will be in silence and matching conditions of learning and recalling improves test scores. also bringing victims back to crime scenes to remember details