Bower and Clark (1969)

Multi Store Model of Memory

Aim

To investigate whether organizing information into a structured narrative improves memory recall.

Participants

24 undergraduate students, likely selected through opportunity sampling.

Method

Participants were asked to learn 12 lists of 10 unrelated words. One group organized them into stories; the other group recalled freely without structure.

Experimental Design

Independent groups design.

Type of Experiment

Laboratory experiment.

Results

Participants who created stories recalled around 90% of the words; those who didn’t only recalled about 15%.

Conclusion

Organizing information meaningfully (e.g., in a story) significantly improves memory recall.

Demand Characteristics

Participants may have guessed the aim and tried harder to recall words, showing participant expectancy effect.

Generalizability

Low generalizability due to small, unrepresentative sample and artificial task.

Strengths

High internal control, replicable procedure, clear cause-effect relationship.

Limitations

Low ecological validity, small sample size, possible demand characteristics.