Classic Study (BADDELEY)

• Aim of Baddeley’s study was to investigate the influence of acoustic and semantic word similarity on learning and recall in short term and long term memory.
• The main limitation of Baddeleys research is that he only used verbal material meaning his findings cannot be generalised to other forms of stimuli
• baddeley’s procedure included four word list groups which were acoustically similar , acoustically dissimilar , semantically similar , semantically dissimilar
• Our classic study in cognitive psychology is Baddeley
• Baddeley suggested that the central executive controls the flow of information through the system by selecting what information goes into short term memory from long term memory and then deciding where to send it next
• Strength of baddey’s study?

  Demand characteristics will be lower as participants only took part in either similar or dissimilar word lists so wouldn’t have guessed what was expected. Therefore validity should be higher as participants recall of similar and dissimilar words will be more accurate of their actual STM and LTM.
• Strength 2 of baddeleys study ?

  it is high in controls such as all words being presented on a slide projector with words changing every 3 seconds. This is a strength because it reduced effect of extraneous variables such ad participants having a different experience while being tested, increasing the validity of the findings about acoustic and semantic word similarity.
• Weakness 1 of baddeleys study ?

  Restricted sample used as only a certain type of person may have applied to research panel in Cambridge. Weakness as results may not be representative of people who didn’t apply to research panel in Cambridge and the general population.
• Weakness 2 of baddeleys study?

  Used an artificial task and setting such as university lab to measure impact of acoustic and semantic similarity of word learning. This is a weakness because it is low in ecological validity which means behaviour may not be representative of how people process semantically and acoustically similar information in the real world.
• Baddeleys study found that in LTM semantically similar words are harder to remember than words which are semantically dissimilar and that in STM acoustically dissimilar words are easier to remember than acoustically similar words.
• Baddeley’s study involved 72 men and women from the applied psychology research panel of Cambridge taking part in an experiment investigating the impact of acoustic and semantic word similarity on learning and recall
• Baddeley’s procedure

  Four word lists which were acoustically similar and dissimilar words and semantically similar and dissimilar words.
• Procedure

  • 4 trials for the same list
  • Words were presented on a slide projector with one word every three seconds and a two second changeover
  • Distraction task of six 8 digit recalls presenting one digit per second
  • Then participant had to recall words from the list in the order they learned them
  • Followed by 15 minute self paced digit copying task before seeing words in correct order
• Strength 3 of baddeley’s study?

  Standardised as for every trial the words were presented on a slide projector with a word every three seconds and a two second change over along with all participants completing the same distraction task. This is a strength as means his study can be repeated to check for consistencies in the recall of similar and dissimilar words increasing the reliability of Baddeley’s study.
• Weakness 3 of Baddeley’s study

  His study overemphasised the role of the phonological loop since he looked at acoustically similar and dissimilar words but not other components of the working memory such as the visuospatial sketchpad. This decreases the accuracy of his study as it means it’s not a complete explanation of memory and learning, lowering validity.
• Baddeley's study could be improved by altering the sample to be directed at the general public rather than university students. This could be by using random sampling in public areas which would improve the generalisability of the study making it more representative of the entire population
• Results

  Semantically similar are harder to remember than semantically dissimilar. Acoustically dissimilar easier to remember than acoustically similar
• Conclusion

  Long term memory is impaired by semantic similarity. Although encoded acoustically for acoustic memory to be retained there needs to be semantic meaning linked to it.
• Applicability

  Baddeley's study could be considered useful as could be applied in schools to help children retain information. However could be less useful as it ignores other components of memory such as the visuospatial sketchpad.
• Each participant was assigned to one of four word list groups
• Baddeley's study can be improved by altering the sample to be directed at the general public rather than university students. This could be by using random sampling in public areas which would improve the generalisability of the study as the findings on memory would be more representative of the entire population