Lesson ObjectivesMemory Improvement

To KNOW & UNDERSTAND Memory improvement techniquesTo Analyse 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 bunTwo is a shoeThree is a treeFour is a doorFive is a hiveSix are sticksSeven is heavenEight is a gateNine is a lineTen 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

1. Eggs2. Bread3. Biscuit4. Tomatoes5. Potatoes6. Cheese7. Jam8. Pasta9. Juice10. cornflakes

Example: you make buns out of eggs (one is a bun= EGGS)

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 WMM2. 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

• 1. Role of organisation• 2. Role of elaborative

rehearsal• 3. Dual coding hypothesis

Instructions 1. In groups of three use your info to

complete your tower2. One person now stays with your

tower to teach other groups about your topic

3. The others need to split up and visit the other towers to learn another topic each

4. Regroup and teach each other the two new tower topics

Research evidence

Summary sentence

Role of organisationKey words

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?

Experiments

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!

Experiments

Other types of experiment…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.

Experiments

Other types of experiment…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.

Experiments

The Scientific Method..

Experiments

The Scientific Method..Observation

Propose a hypothesis

Gather Evidence

Keep Hypothesis

Reject Hypothesis

Build a theory Publish results

Define the Problem

Experiments

Class Experiment

Aim: To investigate whether eating chocolate will improve memory.

What could our hypothesis be? Write a suitable

hypothesis to test out during this experiment?

Research has shown that drinking coffee can improve your memory, especially first thing in the morning.

Experiments

Hypotheses “Students who drink coffee before a memory test will remember more words from a list than students who did not.”

Experimental Hypothesis

Null HypothesisThis 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!

Statement about a predicted outcome of a study, usually based on theory.

“There will be no difference on scores on a memory test between those who drank coffee before, and those who didn’t drink coffee.”

Experiments

Experimental HypothesisTwo 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’

Experiments

Memory TestCAR FRAME

APPLE LIGHT

FLOWER RING

CLOCK BOWL

FIRE WATCH

Experiments

Answers: CAR FRAME

APPLE LIGHT

FLOWER RING

CLOCK BOWL

FIRE WATCH

Experiments

IV & DV?

What was the Independent Variable in our experiment? (What

did we manipulate)

What was the Dependent Variable in our experiment? (What did we

measure?)

Experiments

Operationalisation

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’?

Experiments

Participant Design

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.

Experiments

Independent GroupsCondition A Condition B

There are two separate groups of participants. One group takes part in condition A, the other

takes part in condition B.

Experiments

Matched PairsCondition 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.

Experiments

Experiments

Participant Design

Which participant design did we use?

Why?

Experiments

Order Effects

Can you think of any problems with the

participant designs?

Experiments

Order Effects 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.

Experiments

Reliability

We are now going to repeat the experiment just as before in order to

test how reliable it is.

Experiments Memory Test

VAN PHOTO

PEN BULB

ROSE EAR

MUSIC SPOON

RAIN SOCK

Experiments Answers

VAN PHOTO

PEN BULB

ROSE EAR

MUSIC SPOON

RAIN SOCK

Experiments

Reliability

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?

Experiments

Additional Variables 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?

Experiments

Additional Variables 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 VariablesA 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?

Experiments

To Finish

How far do you agree that experiments are the best method to use to study

cognitive psychology?