IB SL Psych

Quinn and McConnel aim

to investigate the different parts of the Working Memory Model

Quinn and McConnel procedure

1. participants were asked to learn a list of words using imagery or rehearsal
2. task was done on its own or performed with concurrent visual noise

Quinn and McConnel results

1. learning words by imagery was not affected by verbal noise but was disrupted by visual noise
2. rehearsal group was not affected by visual noise but was affected by verbal noise

Quinn and McConnel implications

1. implies the existence of the visuo-spatial sketchpad (imagery processing) and phonological loop (verbal processing)
2. two or more tasks that require the same component affects performance
3. suggests that visuo-spatial sketchpad and phonological loop are separate sections

Barlett aim

to see how memory is affected by cultural schemas

Barlett procedure

1. british private school boys were told a Native American legend (War of the Ghosts)
2. divided into two groups, one group used repeated reproduction, second used serial reproduction

Barlett results

1. both groups changed the original story when they tried to recall it
2. assimilation, levelling, sharpening

Barlett implications

memory is reconstructive

Baddeley aim

to test the effect of word length on memory span

Baddeley procedure

1. lists of four to eight words were prepared, half had short words, other half had long words
2. words are presented with increasing length, 1.5 second delay between each word
3. participants were given 15 seconds to recall words in the order presented
4. continued until participants failed on all eight sequences

Baddeley results

1. participants were able to recall shorter words and shorter lists

Baddeley implications

1. word length appears to have an effect of memory span
2. phonological loop has limits

Glanzer and Cunitz aim

to investigate the effect of recency in free recall

Glanzer and Cunitz procedure

1. 46 american men enlisted in the military were present with 15 monosyllabic nouns
2. words were read out loud when presented
3. participants were told to recall immediately, after 10 seconds, or 30 seconds
4. the participants with the delay were told to count backwards in 3 which prevent rehearsal

Glanzer and Cunitz results

1. recall at the beginning and end were the greatest
2. words at the beginning had more time to be rehearsed while words near the end were still in the STM and were not displaced by other words

Glanzer and Cunitz implications

1. shows implications for the serial position curve
2. a delay in the rehearsal allowed displacement
3. STM and LTM are independent of each other

Brewer and Treyens aim

to investigate the role of schema in encoding and retrieval of episodic memory

Brewer and Treyens procedure

1. 86 university psychology students were individually seated in a room that resembled an office
2. participants were not told that the experiment had begun, sat in the room for a minute
3. after participants sat in the room, the researcher asked them to recall objects in the room
4. 93% of participants did not expect the researcher to ask them to recall objects
5. participants were either told to write/draw what they remember or point out objects from a list

Brewer and Treyens results

1. objects that were congruent with an office schema were more likely to be remembered when participants were told to write or draw
2. participants assimilated objects that fit into an office schema (trapezoidal desk to a rectangular desk)
3. objects incongruent with an office schema were more likely to be remembered when participants were told to point objects out from a list

Brewer and Treyens implications

1. schema play a role in the encoding and retrieval of memory
2. memory is reconstructive

Loftus and Palmer aim

to investigate whether leading questions asked of eyewitnesses can alter the memory of an event

Loftus and Palmer procedure

1. 45 american university students, 5 groups
2. seven clips of traffic accidents were shown
3. participants were asked “about how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?”, the verb hit was changed to replaced, collided in other groups

Loftus and Palmer results

1. participants with smashed estimated about 40.5mph
2. participants with contacted estimated about 31.8mph

Loftus and Palmer implications

1. external information that is given to someone can change how the memory is retrieved
2. eyewitness testimony is not a reliable source of information, interrogation techniques should change
3. schema theory plays a role in retrieval of memory

Loftus and Pickrell aim

to investigate if it is possible to implant a false memory in someone’s mind

Loftus and Pickrell procedure

1. 24 participants, 18-54 were asked to recall childhood events
2. 3 stories were condensed into one paragraph and another false story made up by the researchers was included
3. participants were asked to recall three of their childhood memories followed by the question “do you remember being lost in a mall?”
4. participants received questionnaire, were asked to to write about the four events, and were instructed to write “I do not remember this” if they did not recall the event
5. interviewed twice over four weeks and were asked to recall as much information as possible

Loftus and Pickrell results

1. 25% of participants “recalled” the false memory

Loftus and Pickrell implications

1. some people may be more susceptible to having their memories altered after an event
2. false memories can be implanted in someone’s mind

Kahneman and Tversky aim

to investigate how the availability heuristic affects judgement

Kahneman and Tversky procedure

1. 152 American College Participants were taken
2. asked “if a random word is taken from the English language, is it more likely that the word starts with the letter K, or that K is the third letter?”

Kahneman and Tversky results

1. 105 participants said that a word more likely starts with “K” even though it is wrong

Kahneman and Tversky implications

1. words that start with K are easier to think of than words with the third letter as K
2. availability heuristic played a role
3. participants went by intuition, over thinking about their answer carefully, supports dual-process thinking

Atler and Oppenheimer aim

to investigate how different fonts affect thinking

Atler and Oppenheimer procedure

1. 40 students received a Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT)
2. half of the students were given the CRT in an easy-to-read font and the other half a hard-to-read font

Atler and Oppenheimer results

1. 10% of participants that were given the easy-to-read font answered all questions correctly
2. 65% of participants that were given the hard-to-read font answered all questions correctly

Atler and Oppenheimer implications

1. hard-to-read font involves system 2 thinking, resulting in higher rates of success
2. easy-to-read font did not engage system 2 thinking, thus answering more questions wrongly

Strack and Mussweiler aim

to investigate how the anchoring effect affects the estimates of Mahatma Gandhi’s age of death

Strack and Mussweiler procedure

1. 60 students from a German university were asked if Gandhi died older or younger than 9 or if Gandhi died older or younger than 140
2. participants were asked to estimate his age

Strack and Mussweiler results

1. participants with a high anchor estimated 67
2. participants with a low anchor estimated 50

Strack and Mussweiler implications

1. numerical data given before someone makes a judgment may influence their judgment
2. the effect still occurs if numbers seem implausible
3. dual processing model

Brown and Kulik aim

to investigate whether surprising and personally significant events can cause flashbulb memories

Brown and Kulik procedure

1. 40 black and 40 white participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire regarding the deaths of public figures and someone they personally know
2. questions required participants to recall certain details over their death

Brown and Kulik results

1. 90% of participants recalled significant detail
2. 73/80 participants remembered the death of a close one in great detail
3. 75% of black participants had flashbulb memories on MLK Jr. compared to 33% of white participants on John F. Kennedy

Brown and Kulik implications

1. flashbulb memories can be remembered so well almost as if the mind had photographed it
2. flashbulb memories are cause by surprise and personal significance

Neisser and Harsch aim

to investigate if flashbulb memories are susceptible to distortion

Neisser and Harsch procedure

1. 106 Emory University students in a psychology course were given questionnaires about the event
2. they were asked to fill out the original questionnaire 2 and a half years later
3. they were also asked if they remember filling out this questionnaire, only 25% responded with yes
4. interviews were conducted a few months later to see if people would recall what they wrote a few months ago or the day after the incident
5. some participants whose answers were very off were given retrieval cues to see if they may remember their original response

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Neisser and Harsch results

1. participant accuracy after 2.5 yeras was 2.95/7
2. confidence levels was 4.17/5

Neisser and Harsch implications

1. flashbulb memories are not reliable, they can be affect by post-event information

Maguire et al aim

to investigate whether the hippocampus played a role in managing spatial memory

Maguire et al procedure

1. 16 right-handed male taxi drivers from London and 50 right-handed male non-taxi drivers
2. MRI scans of everyone was taken
3. the number of years driving for each participant was recorded

Maguire et al results

1. posterior hippocampus was significantly larger for taxi drivers
2. overall size of hippocampus was also larger than non-taxi drivers

Maguire et al implications

1. spatial memory is created in the hippocampus
2. demonstrates neuroplasticity, the brain is able to change based on environmental stimuli

Draganski et al aim

to investigate whether learning a new skill can affect brains

Draganski et al procedure

1. 24 participants were split into two groups, jugglers and non-jugglers
2. all participants received an mri scan
3. jugglers were asked to learn how to juggle then return once they have learned how to juggle, an MRi was taken
4. jugglers were asked to not juggle for three months, another MRI was taken

Draganski et al results

1. participants who learned how to juggle had an increased size in the mid-temporal area
2. reduction in grey matter for the jugglers after they stopped juggling

Draganski et al implications

1. the brain can change if a new skill is learned
2. stopping the learning of a new skill or a skill will result in loss of grey matter

Passamonti and Crockett aim

to investigate the link between serotonin and anger

Passamonti and Crockett procedure

1. participants were given a drink that contained tryptophan and were shown expressions
2. brain activity was scanned after each expression
3. a few days later participants were given a placebo drink and were shown expressions
4. brain activity was scanned again

Passamonti and Crockett results

1. lower serotonin resulted in less activity in the prefrontal cortex

Passamonti and Crockett implications

1. lower levels of serotonin resulted in lower perception of negative behaviour

Fessler et al aim

to investigate if disgust sensitivity is adjusted as a function of the immune system

Fessler et al procedure

1. 496 pregnant women who had an average age of 28
2. 155 women were in their first trimester, the rest were either in the second and third trimester
3. all women were asked to share their disgust sensitivity

Fessler et al results

1. women in the first trimester had an overall greater sensitivity to disgust compared to women in the second and third trimester

Fessler et al implications

1. pregnant women in the first trimester are more susceptible to disease because of a weakened immune system, disgust appears to be adjusted to accomodate this
2. nausea and vomiting are evolutionary behaviours

Curtis et al aim

to investigate if disgust is an adaptation to prevent disease

Curtis et al procedure

1. 40,000 people from 165 countries participated in an online survey
2. 20 photos were shown separately, participants were asked to rate the pictures for disgust on a level of 1-5
3. participants were also asked who they would share a toothbrush with

Curtis et al results

1. females rated more disease inducing images as disgusting than males
2. as age increased, level of disgust decreased
3. participants are most likely to share a toothbrush with their partner, and the least with postman

Curtis et al implication

1. greater level of disgust for women shows evolutionary behaviour in protecting the next generation
2. older people have decreased disgust because their role in reproduction is over
3. participants are more likely to share a toothbrush with someone they know because they are perceived to be more “clean”

Wedekind aim

to determine whether the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) affects mate choice

Wedekind procedure

1. 49 female students and 44 male students from the University of Berlin
2. everyone was typed for their MHC and females who took oral contraceptives were noted
3. men were instructed to not come into contact with anything scented, slept the same white t-shirt for two days
4. women in their first week after menstruation were tested, were instructed to smell 7 t-shirts, 3 with similar MHC, 3 with different MHC, one control shirt

Wedekind results

1. males with different MHC smelled more pleasant than those with similar MHC
2. opposite was found for women who took contraceptives
3. odors of MHC dissimilar men reminded women of their current or former partners

Wedekind implications

1. odors can affect mate choice for females
2. evolutionary adaptation because different MHC yields stronger offspring

Zhou et al aim

to investigate the effect of androstadienone and estratetraenol on arousal

Zhou et al procedure

1. 24 heterosexual males, 24 heterosexual females, 24 homosexual males, 24 bisexual/homosexual females
2. shown a point-light walker task and participants were asked to identify its sex
3. participants were either continuosly exposed to a clove mixture with AND, EST, or nothing (control)
4. at the same time everyday, participants smelled one of the mixture

Zhou et al results

1. participants who were sexually attracted to males identified the figure as male when exposed to AND
2. AND had no significant effect on heterosexual men or lesbian women
3. heterosexual males exposed to EST perceived the walkers as feminine
4. EST was not statistically significant for the homo/bisexual women

Zhou et al implications

1. AND and EST have some effect on sexual human behaviour

Caspi aim

to investigate the role of the 5-HTT gene in depression

Caspi procedure

1. looked at a sample of 847 New-Zealand 26 year olds
2. divided into three groups based on their 5-HTT alleles: two short alleles, one short one long allele, and two long alleles
3. participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire about stressful life events

Caspi results

1. participants who inherited one or more short alleles showed more symptoms of depression/suicidal ideation in response to stressful life events

Caspi implications

1. inheriting a gene does not lead to depression, interaction with stressful life events does

Kendler et al aim

to investigate the role that genetics play in major depressive disorder

Kendler et al procedure

1. sample of 15,493 twin pairs born between 1886 and 1958
2. carried interviews over the phone between 1998 and 2003
3. lifetime major depression was assessed using a modified DSM-IV criteria
4. twins shared information about their shared environment and individual experiences

Kendler et al results

1. 8056 twins met criteria for depression, 322 have a history of antidepressants
2. concordance rates for depression were higher in women
3. correlation was higher in monozygotic twins than dizygotic twins
4. estimated heritability is at 0.38
5. no significant difference between 1900-1958

Kendler et al implications

1. heritability is likely higher in women
2. some genetic risk factors may be specific to certain sexes

Bos et al aim

to investigate the role of increased testosterone on interpersonal trust

Bos et al procedure

1. 24 women had their saliva samples taken to measure testosterone levels
2. each participant received a 0.5 mg of testosterone or a placebo (both were administered as pills)
3. participants did two sessions, they were asked to rate the trustworthiness of faces that were shown as grey scale pictures

Bos et al results

1. no significant difference when comparing participants but when separated into low-trusting and high-trusting groups, testosterone lowered the trust levels for high-trusting groups

Bos et al implications

1. testosterone may have a role in trust between strangers
2. testosterone may have antagonistic properties along with oxytocin

Baumgertner et al aim

to investigate the role of oxytocin after having trust broken

Baumgertner et al procedure

1. 49 participants given an oxytocin or placebo nasal spray
2. players played a trust game where they decide if they should trust each other by sharing money or break trust by keeping all the money to themselves
3. sharing the money will triple its sum
4. researchers provided feedback for 50% of the participants that the trust was broken

Baumgertner et al results

1. participants with the placebo spray were more likely to have less trust in others
2. participants with oxytocin spray carried on the same level of trust
3. oxytocin group showed decreased responses in the amygdala and caudate nucleus (role in learning how to trust)
4. results only showed when participants played against a human, but not a computer

Baumgertner et al implications

1. oxytocin may have a role in decreasing the response to betrayal
2. feelings of betrayal may only occur if it is a human that is causing it