392 Americans ages between 17 and 74 took part in 2 tests. One was a recognition test (50 photos from yearbook) and the other was a free recall test (list names of graduating class)
What was Bahrick's findings?
Recognition: 90% accurate after 15 years, 70% accurate after 48 years. Free recall: 60% accurate after 15 years, 30% accurate after 48 years.
What is a strength of Bahrick's study?
Meaningful memories were studied, so high external validity (lab studies with meaningless pictures have lower recall rate - Shepard)
What is a limitation of Bahrick's study?
Lack of control over experiment (participants may still have contact with high school students), so therefore there may be extraneous variables = low reliability.
