IB/AP Psych Sem 1 Research Studies

Maguire et al (2000)

single blind, correlation study involving London taxi drivers to see if their brains would be different due to their knowledge of the city and the number of hours they spend behind the wheel

Maguire et al (2000) Implications

Posterior hippocampus is involved when spatial info is used.
Anterior hippocampus is involved during encoding of new environmental layouts

Milner (1966) - the case of HM

longitudinal case study about HM, who lost his hippocampus

Milner (1966) Implications

showed that the hippocampus is important for the transfer of info from short-term memory to long-term memory and that memory storage in the brain is highly specialized

Antonova et al (2011)

Double-blind experiment of male adults to see if scopolamine (AcH inhibitor) affected hippocampal activity in the creation of spatial memory

Antonova et al (2011) Implications

Since scopolamine reduced the encoding of spatial memories, acetylcholine could play a key role in the encoding of spatial memory in humans

Newcomer et al. (1999)

Double-blind experiment that studied employees or students at Washington University Medical Center to investigate whether high levels of cortisol (stress hormone) interfere with declarative memory

Newcomer et al. (1999) Implications

High levels of cortisol interfere with memory tasks but performance will return to normal once levels lower.
Low levels have little to no affect.

Glanzer and Cunitz (1966)

Independent samples experiment that used army enlisted men to see if the interval of time between words on a list would increase the number of words recalled at the start of the list

Concepts in Glanzer and Cunitz (1966)

Serial positioning effect and primacy effect

Glanzer and Cunitz (1966) Implications

Primacy effect if the result of rehearsal as increased time interval allowed for more rehearsal, leading to a greater overall recall of the list of words

Loftus and Palmer (1974)

experiment that used car crashes and differing verbs to investigate whether the use of leading questions would affect the estimation of speed

Loftus and Palmer (1974) Implications

When different verbs are used, they activate different schemas that have a different sense of meaning

Brown and Kulik (1977)

The use of American males with a questionnaire to investigate whether surprising and personally significant events can cause flashbulb memories

Brown and Kulik (1977) Implications

Flashbulb memories occur more when there is a link between personal importance and the event is important

Neisser and Harsch (1992)

Questionnaire using Emory University students to determine whether flashbulb memories are more susceptible to distortion

Neisser and Harsch (1992) Implications

memories are subject to change and distortion

Loftus and Pickrell (1995)

Lost in the mall study to determine is false memories of autobiographical events can be created through the power of suggestion

Loftus and Pickrell (1995) Implications

Memories can be implemented through the power of suggestion

Brewer and Treyens (1981)

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

Brewer and Treyens (1981) Implications

Schema plays a role in both encoding and recall

Tversky and Kahneman (1974)

Experiment using high school students to investigate the role of schema in the encoding and retrieval of episodic memory through anchors in a math problem (1x2x3x4x5x6x7x8 vs 8x7x6x5x4x3x2x1)

Tversky and Kahneman (1974) implications

Anchors play a role in the estimation - we rely on the first piece of information given to make judgements

Englich and Mussweiler (2001)

The use of young judges in a study of anchoring bias to investigate if the request for a certain length of a prison sentence would unduly influence the decision made

Englich and Mussweiler (2001) Implications

The difference in the mean sentences lead to the conclusion that the anchor made a difference