Psych ERQ Review

Sparrow et al (2011) AIM

To investigate whether the availability of information on the internet affects memory — specifically, whether people are less likely to remember information if they believe they can access it later (transactive memory).

Sparrow et al (2011) METHOD

• Participants: College students.

• Procedure:

  • Participants were asked to type trivia statements into a computer (e.g., “The eye of an ostrich is bigger than its brain”).

  • In one condition, they were told the information would be saved on the computer.

  • In another condition, they were told the information would be erased.

  • Later, participants were tested on recall of the trivia statements.

  • Additional tests looked at whether people remembered where the information was stored (which folder), not just the content.

Sparrow et al (2011) FINDINGS

• Participants remembered fewer facts when they believed the information would be stored.

• However, they were more likely to remember where the information was stored.

• This suggests that people outsource memory to external sources (computers, search engines), a phenomenon called transactive memory.

Sparrow et al (2011) VALUES

Controlled, Reliable

Sparrow et al (2011) LIMITATIONS

Low ecological validity, Sample bias, Focuses more on short-term memory.

Storm et al (2016) AIM

To investigate whether using search engines like Google reduces an individual’s ability (or willingness) to recall information from memory without digital help.

Storm et al (2016) METHOD

• Participants: College students.

• Procedure:

  1. Participants were randomly assigned to two groups:

     • Internet group: Used Google to answer a series of difficult general-knowledge questions.

     • No-Internet group: Had to answer the same questions from memory.

  2. In a second phase, all participants were asked to answer a new set of easier questions without using Google.

• DV: The number of questions answered from memory.

Storm et al (2016) FINDINGS

• Participants in the Internet group were significantly less likely to attempt to recall answers from memory in the second phase.

• Instead, they tended to default to thinking about using Google.

• This suggests that reliance on search engines reduces independent recall, as people form a habit of “outsourcing” memory to technology.

Storm et al (2016) VALUES

Highly controlled, and is a good reflection of real world concern.

Storm etc al (2016) LIMITATIONS

Low eco. validity, sample bias

Rosser et al (2007) AIM

To investigate whether playing video games is associated with improved surgical performance, specifically laparoscopic (“keyhole”) surgery that requires visuospatial skills, attention, and hand–eye coordination.

Rosser et al (2007) METHOD

• Participants: Surgeons of varying experience levels.

• Procedure:

  1. Surgeons completed a questionnaire about their past and current video game use.

  2. They were then tested on surgical skills using a standardized laparoscopic simulator.

  3. Performance was measured by completion time and error rates.

• Design: Correlational study, comparing video game experience with surgical performance.

Rosser et al (2007) FINDINGS

• Surgeons who reported more hours of video game play performed better on the simulator tasks.

• They completed tasks faster and with fewer errors.

• Even moderate gaming experience predicted improved performance compared to non-gamers.

Rosser et al (2007) VALUES

Reliable, benefit real world technology and skills.

Rosser et al (2007) LIMITATIONS

Self reported data, Correlational design (Cannot prove causation), Sample bias.

Wason (1968) AIM

To investigate the extent to which people use logical reasoning versus intuitive heuristics (Mental shortcuts) when making decisions.

Wason (1968)

Wason (1968) FINDINGS

• Most participants chose A and 4.

• This reflects a matching bias: people tend to select cards mentioned in the rule, rather than using logical falsification.

• Very few participants selected the logically correct cards (A and 7).

Wason (1968) VALUES

Replicable

Wason (1968) LIMITATIONS

Artificial, Sample bias, Training effect (Performance improves after being taught in a real world scenario).

Khaneman and Tversky (1974) AIM

To investigate how people rely on mental shortcuts (heuristics) rather than logic when making judgments under conditions of uncertainty.

The Google Effect

The belief that people are using the internet as a personal memory bank.

Flashbulb Memory

Emotionally charged, vivid and detailed memory, personal relevance, highly accurate, possible biological mechanism.

Reception Context

The context in which you receive information about an event can impact how you remember it.

Overt Rehearsal

Hearing about an event over and over again has an impact on how you remember the event.

Verbal Protocols

Used for documenting thought processes (Unstructured interviews).

Thinking

The process of using knowledge and information to make plans, interpret the world, and made predictions about the world in general.

Decision Making

The process of identifying and choosing alternatives based on the values and preferences of the decision maker.

Problem Solving

Thinking that is directed toward solving specific problems by means of a set of mental strategies (System 1 & 2).

Cox and Griggs (1982) AIM

To determine that peoples performance on the Wason Selection Task improves when the rule presented is familiar and personally relevant, supporting their memory cueing hypothesis.

Cox and Griggs (1982) METHOD

• Sample of 144 undergraduate psychology students at the University of Florida.

• Random allocation into one of 6 groups in order to counterbalance the experiment.

• Each group was given a workbook with three problems.

• Each group had a different order of the questions. For each question they were asked which cards would need to be turned over to prove is the statement is true.

Cox and Griggs (1982) FINDINGS

• Abstract task: 5/144 solved correctly.

• Intermediate task: 62/144 solved correctly.

• Memory cueing: 87/144 solved correctly.

Matching Bias

Using what is said in the instructions to solve a problem rather than initiating system 2 thinking and logic.

Cox and Griggs (1982) VALUES

Viable, replicable, repeated measures, biological evidence.

Cox and Griggs (1982) LIMITATIONS

Artificial, low ecological validity, sampling bias.

Heuristics

A “Mental shortcut”, it usually is a simple rule that is applies with little or no thought and quickly generates a ‘probable’ answer.

Anchoring Bias

The tendency to rely too heavily on the first piece of information offered when making decisions.

Peak-End Rule

A heuristic (Mental shortcut) in which people judge an experience largely based on how they felt at its end, rather than based on the total sum or average of every moment of the experience.

Prospect Theory

The way people choose between alternatives that involve risk, where the probabilities of outcomes are known. The theory states that people evaluate these losses and gains using heuristics.

Framing Effect

People react to choices depending on how they are presented or “framed”.

Herst et al (2008) AIM

Studied if there was a correlation between the amount of media coverage and the accuracy of people memories of the challenger disaster and 9/11.

Herst et al (2008) METHOD

• The 9/11 memories were more accurate, however there was also more media coverage of the attacks over the three years following the event.

• Emotion plays a key role in the formation of the memory and medias annual reminder of this emotional event results in overt rehearsal that leads to the flashbulb memory.

• It is not possible for researchers to say that the initial exposure to the media alone was responsible for the accuracy or vividness of the memories.

Herst et al (2008)

The rate of forgetting slowed down after the first year.

Gandolphe et El Haj (2016) AIM

Researchers looked at wide exposure of tragic events on social media and the impacts on others.

Gandolphe et El Haj (2016) METHOD

• 235 participants of French Nationality and loving in France answer a web-based questionnaire.

• Also looked at participants memory of the event, vividness, and the predictors of flashbulb memory.

Gandolphe et El Haj (2016) FINDINGS

• The vividness of flashbulb recall was stronger for those who had seen more visual imagery of the event.

• Those who felt that the event was of international importance had more detailed and vivid memories.

• There was a correlation between the rating of international importance of the event and the number of people with whom discussions were held about the attack.

Gandolphe et El Haj (2016) VALUES

Emotional connection to event assisted in memory recall.

Gandolphe et El Haj (2016) LIMITATIONS

Limited control and validity, difficult to confirm accuracy of memories.

Muller and Oppenheimer (2014) AIM

Effects of using laptops to take notes on learning abilities.

Muller and Oppenheimer (2014) METHOD

• Volunteer sample of 109 UCLA undergraduate students, 27 of whom were males.

• Participants were given either a laptop or pen and paper and instructed to take notes on a series of 4 lectures.

• The lectures were films of an undergraduate students reading from a teleprompter (Bats, bread, vaccines, and respiration).

• Participants were told they would be tested in one week on the lecture context, and were not allowed to take their notes home with them.

• The lectures were watched on a private monitor with headphones to avoid distractions (Controlling/containing variable).

• Condition 1: Handwriting notes

• Condition 2: Laptop notes

• Participants were then divided into two more conditions, the first gave them 10 minutes to study their notes before being tested, the other did not.

• The test consisted of 40 questions (10 for each lecture) and the questions were categorized into factual and conceptual questions.

Muller and Oppenheimer (2014) FINDINGS

People who wrote notes (Long-hand) and hot to review notes did better than those who typed.

Muller and Oppenheimer (2014) VALUES

High ecological validity, replicable (Test reliability).

Muller and Oppenheimer (2014) LIMITATIONS

Low internal validity, no control, not highly reliable.

Encoding Hypothesis

States that retrieval is most successful when retrieval cues match the conditions at the time of encoding.

External Storage Hypothesis

Suggests that people take notes to store information for later recall, functioning as a "second brain" or an external memory aid.