As Level Psychology Unit One: Cognitive Psychology Case Studies

Front 1

What was Peterson and Petersons (1959) investigation into the duration of STM?

Back 1

Participants were shown nonsense trigrams and asked to recall them after either 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 or 18 seconds. During the pause, they were asked to count backwards in threes from a given number - an interference task. It prevented them from repeating the letters to themselves.

Front 2

What were the results of Peterson and Petersons (1959) investigation into the duration of STM?

Back 2

After 3 seconds, participants could recall about 80% of trigrams correctly.

After 18 seconds, participants could recall only about 10% correctly.

Front 3

What are the conclusions and evaluations of Peterson and Petersons (1959) investigation into the duration of STM?

Back 3

Conclusion: When rehearsal is prevented, very little can stay in STM for longer than about 18 seconds.

Evaluation: A lab experiment - reliable results.

Artificial nonsense trigrams - lacks ecological validity.

Only one type of stimulus used - STM may depend on type of stimulus.

Many different trigrams - could have led to confusion.

Front 4

What was Bahrick et al's (1975) investigation into LTM in a natural setting?

Back 4

Free recall test: 392 people were asked to list the names of their ex - classmates.

Photo - recognition test: They were then shown photos and asked to recall the names of the people shown.

Name - recognition test: Alternatively, they were given names and asked to match them to a photo of the classmate.

Front 5

What were the results of Bahrick et al's (1975) investigation into LTM in a natural setting?

Back 5

Within 15 years of leaving school, participants could recognise about 90% of names and faces, and were 60% accurate on the free - recall test.

After 30 years, free recall declined to about 30% accuracy.

After 48 years, name - recognition was about 80% accurate and photo - recognition was about 40% accurate.

Front 6

What are the conclusions and evaluations of Bahrick et al's (1975) investigation into LTM in a natural setting?

Back 6

Conclusion: Shows evidence of VLTMs in a 'real - life' setting. Recognition is better than recall.

Evaluation: Field experiment - high eco validity.

Less control of variables - less reliable results.

Results can't be generalised to other types of information held in LTM, because this is meaningful information and could be rehearsed.

Front 7

What was Jacobs' (1887) study into the capacity of STM?

Back 7

Participants were presented with a string of letters of digits, and had to repeat them back in the same order. The number of letters of digits increased each time until the participant failed to recall correctly.

Front 8

What were the results of Jacobs' (1887) study into the capacity of STM?

Back 8

The majority of the time, participants recalled about 9 digits and 7 letters.

This capacity incresed with age during childhood.

Front 9

What are the conclusions and evaluations of Jacobs' (1887) study into the capacity of STM?

Back 9

Conclusion: STM has a limited capacity or 5 - 9 items. STM increased with age, and digits may have been easier to recall as there were only ten, opposed to 26 letters.

Evaluation: Artificial - lacks ecological validity.

More meaningful information may be recalled better.

Previous sequences may have confused participants.

Front 10

What was Baddeley' (1966) study into encoding in STM and LTM?

Back 10

Participants were given four sets of words that were either acoustically similar, acoustically dissimilar, semantically similar, or semantically dissimilar. The experiment used an independent groups design and participants were asked to recall the words either immediately or after a 20 - minute task.

Front 11

What were the results of Baddeley' (1966) study into encoding in STM and LTM?

Back 11

Participants had problems recalling acoustically similar words when recalling the word list immediately.

If recalling after an interval, they had problems with semantically similar words.

Front 12

What are the conclusions and evaluations of Baddeley' (1966) study into encoding in STM and LTM?

Back 12

Conclusion: The patterns of confusion between similar words suggest that LTM is more likely to rely on semantic encoding and STM on acoustic encoding.

Evaluation: Artificial - lacks eco validity.

There are other types of LTM and encoding that the experiment doesn't consider.

Independent groups - no control of participant variables.

Front 13

What was Loftus and Palmer's (1974) study into EWT? (Method 1)

Back 13

Participants were showm a film of a multiple car crash, and then asked a series of questions including 'how fast do you think the cars hit?' but in different conditions, the word 'hit' was replaced with either 'smashed', 'collided', 'bumped' or 'contacted'.

Front 14

What were the results of Loftus and Palmer's (1974) study into EWT? (Method 1)

Back 14

The participants given the word 'smashed' estimated the highest speed (average of 41mph) and thpse given the word 'contacted' gave the lowest estimate (average of 32mph).

Front 15

What was Loftus and Palmer's (1974) study into EWT? (Method 2)

Back 15

The participants were split into three groups. One group was given the verb 'smashed', another 'hit' and the third, control group wasn't given any indication of the cars' speed. A week later, the participants were asked 'did you see any broken glass?'

Front 16

What were the results of Loftus and Palmer's (1974) study into EWT? (Method 2)

Back 16

Although there was no broken glass in the film, participants were more likely to say they had seen broken glass in the 'smashed' condition than any other.

Front 17

What were the conclusions and evaluations of Loftus and Palmer's (1974) study into EWT?

Back 17

Conclusion: Leading question can affect the accuracy of people's memories of an event.

Evaluation: Artificial - not as emotionally arousing.

Experimental design - demand characteristics, the leading questions might have hinted to the participants the nature of the experiment.

Reduced reliability and validity.

Front 18

What was Valentine and Coxon's (1997) study into the effect of age on EWT?

Back 18

Three groups of participants (children, young people and elderly people) watched a video of a kidnapping. They were then asked a series of leading and non - leading questions about what they had seen.

Front 19

What were the results of Valentine and Coxon's (1997) study into the effect of age on EWT?

Back 19

Both the elderly people and the children gave more incorrect answers to non - leading questions. Children were misled more by leading qustions than adults or the elderly.

Front 20

What are the conclusions and evaluations of Valentine and Coxon's (1997) study into the effect of age on EWT?

Back 20

Conclusion: Age has an effect on the accuracy of EWT.

Evaluation: The study lacks external validity - could have seemed like an experiment into how well people remember things from TV, which isn't the same as real life.

Front 21

What was Loftus's (1979) study into the effect of weapon focus in EWT?

Back 21

Independent groups design, participants heard a discussion in a room nearby. In one condition, a man came out of the room with a pen and grease on his hands. In the second condition, the man came out carrying a knife covered in blood. Participants were asked to identify the man from 50 photographs.

Front 22

What were the results of Loftus's (1979) study into the effect of weapon focus in EWT?

Back 22

Participants in condition 1 were 49% accurate, whereas only 33% of the participants in condition 2 were correct.

Front 23

What are the conclusions and evaluations of Loftus's (1979) study into the effect of weapon focus in EWT?

Back 23

Conclusion: When anxious and aroused, witnesses focus on a weapon at the expense of other details.

Evaluation:The study has high ecological validity, as the participants weren't aware that it was staged.

Ethical conditions - participants could have been stressed at the sight of a man with a knife.

Front 24

What was Geiselman et al's (1986) study into the effect of the Cognitive Interview?

Back 24

A staged situatin - an intruder carrying a blue rucksack entered a classroom and stole a slide projector. Two days later, participants were questioned, using standard interview technique of the cognitive interview. Early in questioning, the participants were asked 'was the guy with the green backpack nervous?'. Later in the interview, participants were asked what colour the man's rucksack was.

Front 25

What were the results of Geiselman et al's (1986) study into the effect of the Cognitive Interview?

Back 25

Participants in the cognitive interview condition were less likely to recall the rucksack as being green than those in the standard interview.

Front 26

What are the conclusions and evaluations of Geiselman et al's (1986) study into the effect of the Cognitive Interview?

Back 26

Conclusion: The cognitive interview enhances memory recall and reduces the effect of leading questions.

Evaluation: The experiment was conducted as though a real crime had taken place - high ecological validity.

Independent groups design - the participants in the cognitive interview could have naturally been less susceptible to leading questions than the other group.

Front 27

What was Bower and Clark's (1969) study into narrative stories?

Back 27

Independent groups design. Participants were split into two conditions. Each group was given 12 lists, each containing ten words. In one condition, the participants were advised to come up with stories to link the ten words together. The second group was a control group, they were simply asked to learn the words.

Front 28

What were the results of Bower and Clark's (1969) study into narrative stories?

Back 28

Both groups recalled the lists equally well immediately after learning each one. However, when it came to recalling all 12 lists at the end of the session, recall was much better in Group 1.

Front 29

What are the conclusions and evaluations of Bower and Clark's (1969) study into narrative stories?

Back 29

Conclusion: Creating narratie stories aids long term memory recall.

Evaluation: Links to the MSM - words are moving through to LTM because of rehearsal.

Control group meant the effect of the independent variable could be measured.

Lacks ecological validity - learning word lists isn't something that you'd normally do in real life.