PS200 Unit 4 Discussion Board Post: Working Memory Experiment

Working Memory Experiment

I had a limited number of individuals to work with to test their working memory. I used my coworkers who weren’t actively engaged in a complicated task. I began by simply asking if they would partake in my 30 second experiment. If they asked what it was or why, I told them I would explain more when they were finished. At the start of the test, I asked if they were ready, and gave no further instructions. No one I tested had seen the test done on someone else.

I read to them 4 random words, and then asked them to count aloud in sequential order starting with 001 for 20 seconds. I compiled 4 sets of 4 words that I believed wouldn’t be associated with one another in an individual set. I used words that typically wouldn’t have any significant value, and that we see or use quite frequently on this deployment. I had them count starting with 00 to add a little more difficulty to the task in hopes that no one could rehearse the 4 words I had read to them first.

My first victim, Roger, was given the words wrench, van, cat, moose. He nodded and started counting after instructed too. He counted quickly, and with ease. When I asked him what the 4 words were he was able to recall all, accurately and in order. He was even multi-tasking when doing the test, as he was flipping around a water bottle trying to get it to land up-right.

Adriel Is the second person I found to take my test. I explained it would take 30 seconds, and asked if she was ready. I read to her the words screw, chip, tooth, boot. I told her to count for 20 in sequential order starting at 001, 002… She was confused by the instructions, and kept repeating 001, 002, 001, 002, I corrected her, and she counted for the remaining seconds. When I asked her what the 4 words I had said were, it took her a little while to recall the words and she was only able to recall the first 3. Showing the primacy effect, enhanced recall for items at the beginning of the list (Matlin & Farmer, 2016)

My next subject was Tommy, the head honcho. I read to him the words apple, bolt, green, and fan. He started his count after instructed. After 20 seconds, I asked him what the 4 words I had said were. He first recalled bolt, paused, and then recalled green and apple. He couldn’t remember the 4th word I had read. He made a correlation for all the words he was able to recall. Bolt because we had just had an issue with getting a bolt we needed, and then the obvious green-apple; that combination an error on my part.

My next participants were all given the control group of words: bear, sink, phone, and coke. Betty counted, and when finished I asked if she could recall the 4 words. She was only able to recall the first word and the last word in the list, showing the serial-position effect (Matlin & Farmer, 2016). Hunter was quite confused the whole 30 seconds, and counted slowly and continued pausing throughout his count. He only made it to 008 in the 20 seconds when everyone one else averaged 18 counts. He was able to recall all 4 words. When asked, he confirmed he had been rehearsing the words, and that was the reason to his slow count.

Lemontez, my final subject was read the control group of words. He completed his count, and when asked to recall the 4 words, he was able to recall 3 of 4 correct and in random order. He recalled coke first, phone, bear and then said creek, instead of sink. His recall shows the recency effect, as the last work I had read to him, was the easiest for him to recall (Matlin & Farmer, 2016)

From my experiment, a few different effects from this units reading were shown. My aim wasn’t to test the “Magical Number Seven” theory, but to test the capacity of our working memory. As our reading said, working memory is time-limited; being that my test took less than 30 seconds, I’d agree that information is stored in our working memory typically around 30 seconds.

References

Matlin, M.W. & Farmer, T.A. (2016). Cognition, 9th Edition [VitalSouce bookshelf version]. Retrieved from https://kaplan.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781119177678/

Place an Order

Plagiarism Free!

Scroll to Top