Baddeley 1966b essay plan

• Baddeley 1966b AO1


  AIM: investigate influence of semantic and acoustic word similarity on learning and recall in STM and LTM, see if the stores were different

  METHOD: equalish male and female split groups, independent groups design, lab exp, volunteer sample

  PROCEDURE: 4 groups 20 male and females in each, 4 conditions used, 1 per group - acoustically and semantically similar and dissimilar word lists of ten words.

  1) learning stage: words presented to pts at 1 word per 3 seconds, then distraction task given of recalling 6 digit numbers, then to recall the words in right order from a list on the screen in a random order, repeat x4 for each group

  2) retest stage: 15min distraction task then recall words

  . scores from each stage compared

  RESULTS: recall of AS words in learning stage worse than AD words, SS words harder to learn than SD words and had worse recall in retest phase

  CONCLUSION: STM encodes largely acoustically, LTM encodes mainly semantically
• Baddeley 1966b AO3 strength

  high validity - lab experiment so variables highly controlled = effects of confounding and extraneous variables eliminated = cause and effect established = high validity

  CA: lab exp = lack of mundane realism so memory may be different in daily occurrence = lack of ecological validity

  SW: overall though study is valid due to the control over variables so still provides support of the study
• Baddeley 1966b AO3 weakness

  generalisability - non random sampling technique used through volunteer sample from cambridge = ppts academically smarter = may have different/better memories that the average = can't generalise results to wider population

  CA: both male and female ppts used = findings not gender specific, memory assessed in both genders so could be applied to more people

  SW: despite this though the results are still not generalisable due to the differences in memory that could occur between the cambridge volunteers and the wider population