Memory Improvement
To
&
Memory improvement
techniques
To
psychological
research and explain HOW
each of these techniques is
successful.
design and carry out a study
into memory improvement
Verbal Mnemonic Techniques
1. Acronyms E.g
Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain Good when
remembering the order of something.
2. An Acrostic e.g. My Easy Method Just Speeds
Up Naming Planets.
3. Rhymes e.g. 30 days Hath September…
4. Chunking (e.g. Millers research)
Visual imagery mnemonics
Some methods use visual images.
• Method of Loci – items put in locations in
a familiar place
Good for
visual
learners!
•Crovitz (1971) better performance than
trying to remember by rote.
•Yesavage and Rose (1994) the richer the
image, the better the memory
Visual imagery :Method of Loci
(Place it!)
• Use a mental image of a place you know well - such
as your home - and take a mental walk through the
rooms in a set order. Then, put the names from your
list one by one into the rooms.
• Learn to associate each item on list with one of the
locations on your route
• To recall the names later you repeat
the mental walk.
Visual Mnemonics: Peg-word system
• Technique used to
memorise lists of
words
• Learn basic
organisational
structure......
One is a bun
Two is a shoe
Three is a tree
Four is a door
Five is a hive
Six are sticks
Seven is heaven
Eight is a gate
Nine is a line
Ten is a hen
Visual Mnemonics: Peg-word system
• Learn the list of words
by forming a mental
image of each word and
then ‘hang’ it on one of
the pegs
Example: you make buns out of
eggs (one is a bun= EGGS)
1. Eggs
2. Bread
3. Biscuit
4. Tomatoes
5. Potatoes
6. Cheese
7. Jam
8. Pasta
9. Juice
10. cornflakes
Visual Mnemonics: Peg-word system
Spider diagrams and mind maps.
Making notes of information in the form of a
drawing. Small sketches and doodles might be
added as well as colours. This process, adds
visual cues.
Watch the film clip
• What Memory Improvement technique is
used by Andy and Prof Winstone?
Comparing Mnemonics
1. Revise two topics MSM and WMM
2. Produce a mind map for one topic and then
the other use the method of loci sheet.
(Method of loci-draw objects in each room of
your house eg. In the living room Peterson
and Peterson are sitting on the sofa together
etc..
3. After the holidays you will be tested…did one
technique lead to better recall?
Teaching Towers
Instructions
• 1. Role of organisation
• 2. Role of elaborative
rehearsal
• 3. Dual coding hypothesis
1.
2.
3.
Role of organisation
Key words
Summary sentence
Research evidence
4.
In groups of three use your info to
complete your tower
One person now stays with your
tower to teach other groups about
your topic
The others need to split up and visit
the other towers to learn another
topic each
Regroup and teach each other the
two new tower topics
Check what you
have learnt by
completing the
exam questions
Designing your own Study
• What type of memory improvement will you
investigate?
• Will it be a replication or something new?
• What resources will you need?
• Who will your participants be?
• How is your study an improvement on the
classic studies?
To research cognitive
psychology, experiments are
usually the main method
used. But, in order for you to
fully understand the
Experimental Method… you
must know a few important
terms first!
In pairs try to write a definition of the three main types of experiment
used in Psychology…
Lab Experiment
Field Experiment
Natural Experiment
An experiment conducted in a tightly controlled
environment where the IV is manipulated at the
researcher observes the effect of this on the DV.
An experiment carried out in an natural
environment. The IV is still manipulated but it is
done in an environment which is typical to the
behaviour being studied.
This is also carried out in a natural environment
however the IV is not directly manipulated.
Instead the IV is naturally occurring.
Now try and think of an area of psychology we might want to investigate
by using each of the experiments. You could even come up with a
research question if you wish…
Lab Experiment
Field Experiment
Natural Experiment
Study of sleep, perception and physiology
(specialised conditions required).
Social investigations. The influence of other
people on individual behaviour.
Studies that take advantage of changes in the
environment. E.g. comparing the effect of
television on children before and after the
introduction of the TV.
Theories
Hypotheses
Research
Observation
Define
the Problem
Propose
a hypothesis
Gather
Evidence
Keep
Hypothesis
Build a theory
Reject
Hypothesis
Publish results
Research has shown that drinking coffee can improve your memory, especially
first thing in the morning.
Aim: To investigate whether eating chocolate will improve memory.
What could our hypothesis
be? Write a suitable
hypothesis to test out during
this experiment?
Experimental Hypothesis
Statement about a predicted
outcome of a study, usually
based on theory.
Null Hypothesis
This is another hypothesis that also
needs to be stated. It states that the
results will occur do to chance – i.e.
are the results significant enough not
to have occurred due to chance. It
always states there will be no
difference!
“Students who drink coffee
before a memory test will
remember more words from
a list than students who did
not.”
“There will be no
difference on scores on a
memory test between
those who drank coffee
before, and those who
didn’t drink coffee.”
Two types: One Tailed or Two Tailed?
One Tailed = ‘directional’
The direction of the results is predicted.
‘Students who drink coffee before a memory test will recall
more words than students who didn’t drink coffee
Two Tailed = ‘non directional’
A change or difference is predicted but a direction is not
specified.
‘There will be a difference in the number of words correctly
recalled between those students who drank coffee and those
who don’t’
CAR
FRAME
APPLE
LIGHT
FLOWER
RING
CLOCK
BOWL
FIRE
WATCH
CAR
FRAME
APPLE
LIGHT
FLOWER
RING
CLOCK
BOWL
FIRE
WATCH
What was the Independent
Variable in our experiment? (What
did we manipulate)
What was the Dependent Variable
in our experiment? (What did we
measure?)
How did we measure our variables?
We must define how we intend to
measure the IV and DV =
operationalisation.
How might we operationalise the variable
of ‘time’?
How many groups of participants did we use?
Participant design refers to how your participants
are distributed.
Repeated Groups
Condition A
Condition B
There is only one group of participants. This group takes
part in both conditions.
Independent Groups
Condition A
Condition B
There are two separate groups of participants. One
group takes part in condition A, the other takes part in
condition B.
Matched Pairs
Condition A
Condition B
There are two separate groups, but this time they are
matched into pairs for certain qualities, such as age or
intelligence. One of each pair takes part in condition A,
the other takes part in condition B.
Which participant
design did we use?
Why?
Can you think of any
problems with the
participant designs?
Order effects occur in repeated groups design, when all participants take place in all
the experimental conditions.
- Practice effects might occur. After they have done the first condition they may be
well practised to complete the second condition.
- They also may become tired after the first condition and fatigue may affect their
performance on the second condition.
The solution = counterbalancing and randomisation.
Counterbalancing.
E.g. half of the participants participate in condition A before condition B and vice
versa. This means that the first and second condition is not the same for every
participant.
Randomisation.
Participants are assigned to condition A or B first by tossing a coin or picking out a
name.
We are now going to repeat the
experiment just as before in order to
test how reliable it is.
VAN
PEN
PHOTO
BULB
ROSE
EAR
MUSIC
SPOON
RAIN
SOCK
VAN
PEN
PHOTO
BULB
ROSE
EAR
MUSIC
SPOON
RAIN
SOCK
Did we get about the same results as last time?
Can we establish a cause-effect relationship?
Why do you think this is?
Do you think we’d get the same results if we repeated it
in a field or natural setting?
Which we can’t control!
What other factors might have affected our
results?
What about things we can’t control?
Anything about the situation which may have
affected our results?
Anything about the participants which may have
affected our results?
Which we can’t control!
Extraneous Variables
Anything other than the IV that can influence
your results. Otherwise known as a confounding
variable that can’t be controlled.
Situational Variables
A type of extraneous variable found in the
environment. Noise, light, time, location,
temperature or weather.
Participant Variables
A type of extraneous variable found in
participants. Motivation levels, moods, skills,
experience, fatigue, eyesight etc.
These could all affect the VALIDITY of the findings. What’s validity again?
How far do you agree that experiments
are the best method to use to study
cognitive psychology?