PSY294 - Lab Report Memory Span Data Assignment

Assignment Task

Many theories of cognition propose that there is a short-term or working memory system that is able to hold a limited amount of information for a short period of time. The memory span experiment is one measure of working memory capacity. In this experiment, participants are given a list of items and asked to recall the list. The list length is varied to see at what list length participants will make make few errors. That list length is the memory span for that person on that task. Individuals with larger memory spans can better keep in mind different stimuli, and this seems to give them an advantage for a wide variety of cognitive tasks. Memory span has been linked to performance on intelligence tests, standardised tests, reading skills, problem solving, and a variety of other cognitive tasks.

The very existence of short-term memory is largely based on memory span types of experiments, as it was noted that memory span was approximately seven items (plus or minus two) for a wide variety of stimuli. This suggested a simple storage system that held approximately seven items. Later studies demonstrated that memory span could be systematically influenced by a variety of stimulus characteristics, including the type of item. These findings have suggested that the capacity of short-term memory is controlled by verbal processes. This experiment allows you to measure your memory span for three different stimulus types.

Methods

On each trial, you saw a list of items presented one at a time in random order and were asked to recall the items in the same order in which they were presented. If you got a list correct, the list length increased by 1 for that type of material. If you got a list incorrect, the list length decreased by 1.

The independent variable is the type of material you were asked to recall: digits, letters, or words. Memory span can be measured in lots of different ways. In this lab, the dependent variable is the length of the last list you correctly recalled.

The first list of each type of item was 3 items long. The longest list that was shown was 10, so the maximum score possible is 10.

Independent Variable

Our Independent Variable (IV) is Type of List or List Type or Stimulus Type digits, letters, or words. Dependent Variable Our dependent variable (DV) is the length of the last list that was correctly recalled.

Data

The data were not screened for outliers. Demographic data were not recorded. The raw data are available on LMS under Lab 02, should you want it.

Analyses

A repeated-measures ANOVA was conducted with an alpha level of 0.05

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