Digital tech cognitive extension studies

Aim of Schaefer et al

• to see if the use of digital videos and images influence the way flashback memories are created.

Participants of Schaefer et al

38 university students

Procedure of Schaefer et al

The researchers asked the participants individually, how they heard about the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Was it from a television or did someone tell you the participants randomly allocated to conditions. The participants responded to the question and then asked to describe the scene and moment giving many details.

Results of Schaefer et al

• the researcher found that the participants who heard about the terrorist attack by looking at the TV and visual images were more detailed and precise about the situation they kept the conversation going for longer than the participant who heard it from another individual.

Link of Schaefer et al

• This suggests that the use of television and digital videos/images allowed the participants much more detailed flashbulb memories using their memories of videos and photos to create photographic memories, increasing personal relevance.

Sample of newhagen and reeves

A pilot group, of 56 Stanford undergrads

Procedure of newhagen and reeves

A pilot group, of 56 Stanford undergrads, was used to measure the intensity of each story. There were 8 stories, 4 of which contained compelling imagesThe stories with the greatest difference between the two versions were chosen for the study. Each story was a 2.5 - 3.5 minute video. Each video was altered to have 20 - 30 seconds of compelling (emotion-provoking) or non-compelling (non-emotive) images. 6-7 weeks later, 20 follow-ups, were asked to recall.

Results of newhagen and reeves

factual better for non-emotional but images themselves and concept very well remembered. Information shown AFTER images.

Strengths of newhagen and reeves

These included using a repeated measures design to control for participant variability, the use of counter-balancing to control for order effects, and a pilot group in order to standardized the materials that were being used - that is, to make sure that one pairing of videos was not more emotional or less emotional than the others. This increases the internal validity of the study.

Limitations of newhagen and reeves

The construct validity

Evaluation of newhagen and reeves

SUpported by mcgaugh and cahill study. Controlled study with repeated measures and counterbalancing, as well as the use of a pilot study. However, lacking ecological validity as told they would be tested, and also questionable personal significance as there would be with a live news event. Assumes images are emotional, may lack internal validity.

Aim of small et al

To find out whether internet searching can stimulate brain activity in middle age and older adults

Sample of small et al

24 healthy middle age/elders allocated into two conditions; NNG (minimal experience with internet), NSG (good experience with internet)

Procedure of small et al

fMRI scan while carrying out two tasks; reading text from internet screen and carrying out internet search.

Findings of small et al

No significant difference between two groups in reading task. Significant brain activity in regions responsible for complex reasoning, decision making and vision in NSG in internet search task.

Conclusion of small et al

Findings suggest that middle aged and older adults prior internet experience may alter brain's responsiveness in neural circuits controlling decision making and complex reasoning

Evaluation of small et al

• Quasi-experiment, participants could not be randomly allocated, open to researcher bias- Lacks ecological validity - Low construct validity, assumptions made based on past experience- Small sample

Aim of Muller and Oppenheimer

to investigate whether taking notes on a laptop versus writing longhand affects academic performance

Participants of Muller and Oppenheimer

109 UCLA undergraduate students, 27 of whom were male

Procedure of Muller and Oppenheimer

Participants were given either a laptop or pen and paper and were instructed to take notes on a series of four lectures. - The lectures were films of a graduate student reading from a teleprompter. The lectures had the following themes: bats, bread, vaccines, and respiration.- Participants were told that they would be tested in 1 week on the content of the lectures - and they would not be allowed to take their notes home with them. - Each participant watched the lecture on a private monitor with headphones in order to avoid any distractions.- The 2 conditions - handwriting and laptop note-taking - were then randomly divided into 2 more conditions. - In the "study" condition, the participants were given 10 minutes to study their notes before being tested. In the "no-study" condition, the participants were immediately tested without a chance to review their notes. - There were 40 questions - 10 for each lecture. The questions were categorized by the researchers into "factual" questions and "conceptual" questions.

Results of Muller and Oppenheimer

• in both the longhand and the laptop conditions if the participants did not get a chance to study, they did poorly on factual knowledge and did fairly well on conceptual knowledge, although there was no significant difference in performance.

• A significant difference was found when the participants did get the chance to study. Participants who took notes by hand did significantly better than those that took notes on the computer.