cognitive studies

studies needed for the cognitive erqs/saqs

models of memory study one

models of memory study one

• glanzer and cunitz (1966)

• aim: to see whether the position of words impacts memory recall

• method:

  • 240 army enlisted males

  • iv presence or absence of a 30 second distraction task

  • dv: number of words correctly recalled from different positions in the list

  • half asked to recall words immediately after and half asked to count down from 30 before recall

• results:

  • delaying recall destroyed recency effect, didn’t impact primacy effect, made recall of end words like middle

  • more likely to remember words at start or end of list - primacy and recency effect

• conclusion:

  • primacy effect make first words remembered, recency effect make last words remembered

  • primacy occur as items have been encoded into long term memory

  • recency as items are still in short term memory

glanzer and cunitz eval (erq only)

strengths:

• high control

• supports msm

weaknesses:

• low eco validity (memorising lists of words)

• participants not randomly allocated

second model of mem study

• bower and clark (1969)

• aim: to see the impact of narratives as mediators for serial learning

• method

  • learnt twelve lists of ten words

  • one group studied them normally

  • other group made meaningful stories woven around the words

• results

  • immediate recall performed similarly

  • recall after period of time story performed significantly better remembering 6-7 more items

• conclusion

  • story creates meaning to relate successive words

bower and clark eval (erq only)

strengths:

• supports the msm

• high control

weaknesses:

• low ecological validity

• independent measures, independent difference impact results

schema study one

• brewer and treyens (1981)

• aim: to see the impact of schemas in the encoding and retrieval of episodic memory

• method

  • 86 uni psych students

  • told to wait in an office for 35 secs, all sat in the same chair for same vantage point

  • typical office objects and some non-typical office objects

  • called into another room and asked what they remembered

• results:

  • unexpected items were not often recalled in writing recall

  • 93% didn’t think they’d be asked to remember the objects in the room

schema 2/reconstructive 1

• loftus and palmer (1974)

• aim: to see whether leading questions impacted estimation of speed

• method

  • 45 volunteers from a uni

  • watched a film of a car crashed

  • were asked “how fast were the cards going when they___each other?“

  • word in blank was either: smashed, collided, hit, bumped or contacted

• results

  • difference in speech estimates were statistically significant

  • smashed: 40.5 mph

  • collided: 39.3 mph

  • bumped: 38.1 mph

  • hit: 34.0 mph

  • contacted: 31.8mph

• conclusion: form of a question can affect a witnesses answer to that question

loftus and palmer eval (erq only)

thinking and decision making 1

tay, ryan and ryan

aim: to evaluate and compare the levels of system 1 and 2 thinking among medical students in pre-clinical and clinical programs

method:

- use the cognitive reflection test (CRT)

- the CRT is a three question test designed to measure the ability of respondents to activate metacognitive processes and switch to system 2 thinking where system 1 would leave them astray

- each question has a correct system 2 answer and an incorrect system 1 answer

results:

- 10% had all system one answers

- 44% had all three correct

- only 3-13% had wrong answers (neither system 1 or 2 answer)

- non-english speakers had a lower mean average of correct answers than english speakers

- as progressed through questions the % of system 2 answers increased in both lots of students

bias in thinking and decision making 1

- anchoring bias

- tversky and kahneman (1974)

aim: to investigate the impact of cognitive biases and heuristics on decision making where system one is employed

method:

- high school students

- ascending or descending condition

- asked to estimate the value of a maths problem where the numbers were either in descending or ascending order (1x2x3x4x5x6x7x8 or 8x7x6x5x4x3x2x1)

results:

- ascending condition guessed higher value with a median of 2250

- descending condition guessed lower value with a median of 512

conlusion:

- cognitive biases result from people's fast but fallible cognitive processes known as heuristics

tversky and kahneman eval (erq only)

strengths:

- simple, easy to recreate allowing to establish the reliability of results

- highly controlled and high internal validity

weaknesses:

- low ecological validity, artificial situation

- median used, diminished influence of outliers

- independent study design, individual difference

- high school students hard to generalise

anchoring bias 2

- strack and mussweiler (1997)

aim: to test the influence of anchoring bias on decision making

methos:

- 69 german undergraduates

- group 1 asked if gandhi died before or after the age of nine then asked to report when they thought he died

- group 2 asled if gandhi died before or after the age of 140 then asked to report when they thought he died

results:

- high anchor mean of 66.7

- low anchor mean of 50.1

- actually died at 78

conclusion:

- anchoring bias influenced the estimation of age

strack and mussweiler eval (erq only)

strengths:

- internal validity

weaknesses

- convenience sampling

- independent difference

emotion on one cognitive process

- brown and kulik (1977)

aim: to investigate the existence of flashbulb memories and whether shocking events are recalled more vividly and accurately than other events

method*:

- 40 black and 40 white americans

- interviews for data collection

results:

- people tended to have a very clear memory of their location, actions and feelings surrounding the event

- 90% of all participants had a fbm of jfk assassination

- 75% of black population had fbm of mlk assassination

- 91% has fbm with personal shock

conclusion:

- relevance and the emotional significance of an event to a person's life would seek to increase the likelihood of being stores as a flashbulb memory

brown and kulik eval (erq only)

strengths:

- qualitative data could be transferred into quantitative to report results

- interviews allow for clarifying questions

- more in-depth data through interview

weaknesses:

- no way to verify personal mems

- don't know age of participants

- dont know significance of events to participants

flashbulb mem study 2

talarico and rubin (2003)

aim: to see the properties of flashbulb memories and their influence of emotion on the person and to see whether or not flashbulb memories are more consistent over time than everyday memories

method:

- day after 9/11

- duke uni students

- given open-ended questionnaires

- one group tested after 7 days

- second group tested after 42 days

- third group tested after 224 days

results:

- recall consistency of flashbulb memories not different than everyday memories

conclusion:

- not immune to forgetting

- aren't more accurate than other memories

talarico and rubin eval (erq only)

strengths

- longitudinal study, follow subjects in real time

-

weaknesses:

- opportunity sampling, more women

- independent measures, individual difference

- can't be replicated