Baddeley (1966b)

• aim?

  investigate influence of acoustic and semantic word similarity on learning and recall in STM and LTM
• sample?

  72 men and women recruited from Applied psychology Unit at Cambridge Uni
• what four word lists were used?

  • acoustically similar words (man cab can cad)
  • acoustically dissimilar words (pit few cow pen)
  • semantically similar words (great large big huge broad)
  • semantically dissimilar words (good huge hot safe)
• procedure?

  15 Ps in condition A, 20 in B, 16 in C and 21 in D.

  • 10 words presented to Ps on a projector for 3 seconds (2 second slide changeover time)
  • then task involving STM for six sequences of 8 digits, read out at 1 second rate then 8 second writing time.
  • allowed 1 minute to write 10 word list in order (memory test)
  • do above 3 bullet points four times, then 15 minutes copying 8-digit sequence at own pace (interference)
• testing LTM?

  • attempt to recall word list in order. this is a test of sequence.
• results?

  • A, tendency for similar list to be harder during early learning, no evidence of forgetting between test 4 and retest.
  • B, slower learning seen by trial 4 scores were significantly higher on list D than C, neither list showing forgetting. Retest, performance was poorer than control list (word sequence learning was impaired by semantic similarity)
  • in all groups, what was learned was retained for 15 mins
• conclusion?

  • Ps found it harder to recall list A in initial learning phase, STM is acoustic (explains why acoustically similar words harder to encode).
  • at retest, list C was impaired most so encoding LTM is semantic
  • Baddeley stated 2 stores need further research.
• strengths?

  • lab experiment= controlled so cause and effect links can be inferred. internal validity !
  • standardised procedures means procedure can be replicated and produce consistent results.
  • same equipment used (projector) and same timings.
  • highly credible
  • APPLICATIONS, finding out how we encode STM and LTM triggers further research and developed WMM, we can promote best learning strategies to improve memory
• weakness?

  • task lacks mundane realism, remembering sequence of tasks is artificial so low ecological validity.
  • study can be seen as reductionist as memory is reduced to recall order of 10 words, doesn't take into account the complex workings of memory.