Cole

Aim

To investigate how culture and schooling influence memory strategies in children.

Who were the participants in the study?

Children from rural Liberia (both schooled and unschooled) and American children

What did researchers first conduct?

Observation

Who did researchers work with?

Local educated experimenters to ensure cultural relevance

What were ppts tasked with completing?

A free-recall of 20 familiar items

• Shows items one at a time, then asked to recall them in any order

• Later variation: words presented within a meaningful story

Findings

What did schooled liberian and american children use?

Categorisation strategies and showed age-related improvements in memory performance

What did unschooled liberian children not do?

Use clustering strategies, showed little improvement with repeated trials but recalled more items when presented in a story format

Conclusion

Schooling (not just culture) plays an important role in developing formal memory strategies like categorisation

What is not universal?

Memory strategies, being influenced by cultural context and education

What is one strength of the study related to ecological validity?

It uses culturally adapted materials and collaborates with local experimenters.

How does the study demonstrate high generalizability?

It includes participants from two different cultural backgrounds, allowing for cross-cultural comparisons.

What is a significant limitation of the study regarding internal validity?

It is a quasi-experiment, meaning a cause and effect relationship can't be established.