Semester Test Study Guide

If you know this material and can answer each question thoroughly, you should do extremely well on the exam.  The materials are all either in your possession through hand-outs and notes or posted on my blog.  Be sure you re-read the infromation about Colin Turnbull's study of the Pygmies, Stroop's experiment on attentional interference, Nass's study on multitasking and Piaget's stages of development.

http://bdoughertyamschool.wikispaces.com/I.B.+Notes+%26+Other+Materials

Step 1: Internal Assessment

You may work with up to three of your classmates in the preliminary stage of the Internal Assessment: this means you may work in groups of up to four to conduct the experiment.(It may be helpful to have at least one partner to assist you.)
You need to identify which experiment you are going to replicate by Thursday December 2nd. This means you must have done some research to determine who actually conducted this experiment and what are the details of the experiment (you need to know how it was carried out, with whom and what were the original results.)
Lastly, you need to do internet research to better understand the background of your experiment: this means you need to identify the topic area under which your experiment falls and find additional information to help you explain the concept when you complete your write-up.  Your background information must be submitted to me by Thursday, December 9th.  This requires you write 400 words detailing the original experiment and background information on the topic area - post it to your blog by the due date.

When we return from winter break we will be conduting the experiments so this is an improtant first step in preparing to be ready for STEP TWO.

Upcoming due dates...

Wednesday, November 24th: Quiz - Rules of Ethics (information is found on page 22 in your textbook)

Sunday, November 28th: Reflection writing - The Placebo Effect (instructions and articles are found on this blog)

Tuesday, November 30th: Quiz - Research Vocabulary (terms 1-20 from your packet)

Week of the 29th through the 3rd: Determine the study you plan to replicate for your Internal Assessment. Research the topic surrounding your study.

Research in Psychology: Ethics (or the lack thereof)

The Milgram Experiment on Obedience - Original Footage

Top-10 Evil Human Experiments:  http://listverse.com/2008/03/14/top-10-evil-human-experiments/

APA Guide for Ethics in Using Animals:  http://www.apa.org/science/leadership/care/guidelines.aspx

The Placebo Effect - Is it real or just imagined?

After reading the two articles linked below, write a 250 word minimum response:

Include in your response:

* what is the placebo effect
* explain H.K. Beecher's study which suggested the effectiveness of placebos
* what types of problems do these studies have?
* based on what you have learned, what is your opinion regarding the effectiveness of placebos?

http://www.skepdic.com/placebo.html

http://www.chiro.org/nutrition/FULL/Debunking_the_Placebo.shtml

DUE DATE: Sunday, November 28th by midnight
REMINDER: do not COPY/PASTE and site any/all resources used

Research in Psychology: The Placebo Effect

Studies have shown that the human brain/body is capable of healing itself but also fooling itself.  Placebos are those things we think are doing us some good but, in reality, they have no true healing or mediconal  power on their own.  The power is derived through our expectations and nothing more. 
We usually think of placebos as being sugar or water pills but they are actually found in many forms.  Among these are surgical procedures, religious beliefs and other previously unknown forms of placebos.

The accompanying videos will help to understand the concept and it's applications. (Placebo: Cracking the Code parts 1/2, parts 3/4)

This week's important dates (NOV 8-12)

Vocab Quiz - Memory Terms (entire list, 1-45)
Wednesday Nov 10th.

Test: Memory (notes from PPT) & Loftus study of memory distortion
Thursday Nov. 11th

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: More Than Just Painful Memories

The video below gives some insight into the disorder of post traumatic stress disorder - a memory-realted disorder which causes great difficulty for those who suffer from it.  With the U.S. still involved in nearly a decade-long "War On Terror", thousands of Americans, as well as Iraqis and Afghans, will fall victim to PTSD due to the violence that comes with war.

Unfortunately, there are also many people who fall victim to PTSD as victims of crime throughout the world.  Learn more about the causes, symptoms and treatments for PTSD from the information linked here:

VIDEO:  http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/339/index.html

Are All Memories Alike?

Read the following articles about gender and cultural differences in memory.  Write an explanation using the information from the articles to explain these differences.

Gender Differences:     http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080220104244.htm

Cultural Differences:     http://www.apa.org/monitor/sep05/culture.aspx

Alzheimer's Disease

Write a short reflection paper (250 words minimum) detailing what you've learned and what your personal thoughts are regarding Alzheimer's Disease.  There are two short articles from Time Magazine linked below for additional information.  Please include 3 relevant photos with your blog entry.

DUE DATE: This entry is due by midnight Wednesday, November 3rd.

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2025369,00.html

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1996235,00.html

PowerPoint from class:    http://bdoughertyamschool.wikispaces.com/IB+Documents+from+Class

Alzheimer's Project - HBO program:  http://www.hbo.com/alzheimers/memory-loss-tapes.html

Articles on Memory

Choose 3 of the following articles on memory to read and summarize.
Summaries should be posted to your blog along with the link for the article and at least one relevant picture 

Summaries should include:
- identify who conducted the experiment
- give a detailed overview of the experiment, include how it was conducted and the results
- explain how this research might be applied to real-life

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081028103111.htm

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090429091806.htm

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070815105026.htm

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091105132448.htm

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081215111433.htm

Summary posts are due no later than midnight on Wednesday, October 27th

Simon Says...

Test your memory with this simple memory game:   

What Is Memory - How Does It Work?

Use the internet to research and answer the folowing questions: (DO NOT copy/paste!) Due Wednesday October 20th by midnight.

1. Explain the concept of sensory memory.
Sensory memory is the first level of memory, sensory memory retains the brief impression of a sensory stimulus after the stimulus itself has ended. (Luke Johnson)

2. Give an example of sensory memory.

3. What is the capacity of our sensory memory?
The capacity of the sensory memory can get a lot of things at a time, but it can go fairly quickly from the memory. They are two types the Iconic Memory that can go in less then 1 second, and the Echoic memory that can go in less than 4 seconds.  (Miguel Ham)
4. Describe the concept of short-term memory.

5. What is the "magic number" as it relates to short-term memory and who conducted the experiment which established this measurement?

6. What is chunking?
Chunking refers to the process of taking individual units of information and grouping them into larger units.
(Melissa Pineda)
7. What has been determined to be the ideal size of "chunks" for both letters and numbers?

8. Which mode of encoding does short-term memory mostly rely on, acoustic or visual?

9. Explain the duration and capacity of long-term memory.

10. Explain in detail the Atkinson-Shiffrin Model of memory.
Memory starts as stimuli that we sense some of it goes into short term, if hold on to it or reherse it in short term then we can move it to long term, so once it gets there that information stays. (Alexandra Wagui)
11. Identify three criticisms or limitations of the Atkinson-Shiffrin Model of memory.
The sensory stores are sensory systems, not memory systems as most people think of the term "memory."
The three-box model suggests that there is nothing in between short-term and long-term memory. However, evidence shows that information can reside somewhere between the extremes of active attention and long-term storage. Memories can be "warmed up" but outside of attention. In other words, intermediate levels of activation are possible.
The three-box model implies that there is just one short-term system and just one long-term system. In reality, there are many memory systems operating in parallel (for example, different systems for vision, language, and odor memory). Each has short-term and long-term operations.
The Atkinson-Shiffrin model does not give enough emphasis to unconscious processes. Unconscious activation is shown with a tentative, dotted arrow. Modern researchers find that unconscious and implicit forms of memory are more common than consciously directed memory processes.  (Mene Simon)

12.Explain the Levels of Processing Model of memory.

13. What is maintenance rehearsal - give an example.

14. What is elaborative rehearsal - give an example.

15. Who developed the Levels of Processing Model and the concepts of maintenance and elaborative rehearsal?

Post your answers on your blog - be sure to answer each question thoroughly and DO NOT COPY/PASTE - restate in your own words
**Site the resources you use in researching your answers.

Final Week of Quarter One

Wednesday, October 13th: Write a 200 word (minimum) response to what you learned/thought of the video we are watching in class.  The video is about various issues concerning memory.  If you would like to review the video you can find the first segment at this address:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxVb6M8UPTQ   
We will be taking a quiz over the first 20 terms from your memory vocabulary handout - Thursday, October 14th.

Loftus and Palmer - study of memory 1974

The famous "car crash" experiment from 1974 - Loftus shows evidence for her theory that memory can be altered by adding information after the fact.  We will be reading and analyzing this experiment in class - this is an important study in the area of cognitive psychology/memory and will be very useful throughout the IB program both on the final test and possibly during the internal assessment.

Loftus, E. F. and Palmer, J. C. (1974)                 Reconstruction of automobile destruction

Background

Memory can be defined as capacity to retain and store information.

Many of the early studies of memory (e.g. Bartlett 1932) demonstrated how memories are not accurate records of our experiences.  It seems that we try to fit past events into our existing representations of the world, making the memory more coherent or make more sense for us.

Elizabeth Loftus is a leading figure in the field of eyewitness testimony research.   She has demonstrated through the use of leading questions how it is possible to distort a person’s memory of an event.

A leading question is a question that suggests what answer is desired or leads to the desired answer.

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Aim

The aim of this study was to investigate how information supplied after an event, influences a witness's memory for that event.

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 Method

The study actually consists of two laboratory experiments.   They are both examples of an independent measures design.   The independent variable in both of the experiments is the verb used.  The dependent variable in the first experiment is the participant’s speed estimate and the dependent variable in the second experiment is whether the participant believed they saw glass.

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 First Experiment

Method/Procedure

The participants were 45 students of the University of Washington.  They were each shown seven film-clips of traffic accidents.  The clips were short excerpts from safety films made for driver education. The clips ranged from 5 to 30 seconds long. 

Following each clip, the students were asked to write an account of the accident they had just seen.  They were also asked to answer some specific questions but the critical question was to do with the speed of the vehicles involved in the collision.

There were five conditions in the experiment (each with nine participants) and the independent variable was manipulated by means of the wording of the questions.

For example:

Condition 1: 'About how fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?'

Condition 2: 'About how fast were the cars going when they collided into each other?'

Condition 3: 'About how fast were the cars going when they bumped into each other?'

Condition 4: 'About how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?

Condition 5: 'About how fast were the cars going when they contacted each other?'

The basic question was therefore 'About how fast were the cars going when they ***** each other?'.  In each condition, a different word or phrase was used to fill in the blank.  These words were; smashed, collided, bumped, hit, contacted.

The entire experiment lasted about an hour and a half and a different ordering of the films was presented to each group of participants.

The dependent variable was the speed estimates given by the participants.

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Results of the first experiment

  Table 1.  Speed estimates for the verbs used in the estimation of speed question

VERB	MEAN ESTIMATE OF SPEED (mph)
Smashed	40.8
Collided	39.3
Bumped	38.1
Hit	34.0
Contacted	31.8

The results in table 1. show that the phrasing of the question brought about a change in speed estimate.  With smashed eliciting a higher speed estimate than contacted.

Explanation of findings

  Loftus and Palmer give two interpretations/explanations of the findings of their 1st experiment.

1.    Firstly, they argue that the results could be due to a distortion in the memory of the participant.  The memory of how fast the cars were travelling could have been distorted by the verbal label which had been used to characterize the intensity of the crash. 

2.    Secondly, they argue that the results could be due to response-bias factors, in which case the participant is not sure of the exact speed and therefore adjusts his or her estimate to fit in with the expectations of the questioner.  (This is also an example of a demand characteristic)

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Second Experiment

Procedure/Method

The second experiment was to provide additional insights into the origin of the different speed estimates.  In particular they wanted to find out if the participants memories really had been distorted by the verbal label.

A similar procedure was used whereby 150 student participants viewed a short (one minute) film which contained a 4 second scene of a multiple car accident, and were then questioned about it.

There were three conditions and the independent variable was manipulated by the wording of the question.

50 of the participants were asked 'How fast were the cars going when they hit each other?’

50 of the participants were asked 'How fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?'

50 of the participants were not interrogated about the speed of the vehicles.

One week later, the participants returned and, without viewing the film again, they answered a series of questions about the accident.  The critical question was 'Did you see any broken glass?'  The critical question was part of a longer series of questions and was placed in a random position on each participants question paper.  There was in fact no broken glass in the film.

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Results of the second experiment

Table 2.  Response to the question 'Did you see any broken glass?'

Response	Smashed	Hit	Control
Yes	16	7	6
No	34	43	44

These results show a significant effect of the verb in the question on the mis-perception of glass in the film.

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Explanation of results

To account for the results of the second experiment, Loftus and Palmer developed the following explanation:

They argue that two kinds of information go into a person's memory of an event.  The first is the information obtained from perceiving an event (e.g. witnessing a video of a car accident), and the second is the other information supplied to us after the event (e.g. the question containing hit or smashed).  Over time, the information from these two sources may be integrated in such a way that we are unable to tell from which source some specific detail is recalled.  All we have is one 'memory'.  This explanation is often referred to as the reconstructive hypothesis.

For example in Loftus and Palmer's 2nd experiment, the participants first form some memory of the video they have witnessed.  The experimenter then, while asking, "About how fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?" supplies a piece of external information, namely, that the cars did indeed smash into each other.  When these two pieces of information are integrated, the participant has a memory of an accident that was more severe than in fact it was.   Since broken glass corresponds to a severe accident, the participant is more likely to think that broken glass was present.

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Evaluation of Procedure

Strengths of the method

Experiments allow for precise control of variables.  The purpose of control is to enable the experimenter to isolate the one key variable which has been selected (the IV), in order to observe its effect on some other variable (the DV). Control is intended to allow us to conclude that it is the IV, and nothing else, which is influencing the DV.   For example Loftus was able to control the age of the participants, the use of video and the location of the experiment.  All participants were asked the same questions (apart from changes in the critical words), and the position of the key question in the second was randomised.

Limitations of the method

The experiment was not typical of real life situations.  The experiments carried out by Loftus are artificial in the sense that they are different from how people would normally witness events.  For example, when the participants were giving their estimates of speed, they did not have any personal involvement in the judgement and had not taken part in the event.  When we witness events in everyday life, we often have some involvement in the people or the action. Therefore it should be difficult to generalise findings from laboratory experiments because they are not ecologically valid (true to real life).  

A further problem with the study was the use of students as participants.  Students may be very different from other people.  For example, students are used to remembering useless information, and are usually good at memory tasks compared with other people.

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Evaluation of Explanation

Loftus and Palmer argue that two kinds of information go into a person's memory of a complex event.  The first is the information obtained from perceiving the event, and the second is the other information supplied to us after the event.  Over time, information from these two sources may be integrated in such a way that we are unable to tell from which source some specific detail is recalled.  All we have is one 'memory'.  This argument is called the reconstructive hypothesis.

One way in which we could criticise this argument is to recognise that it is not only the type of question asked but also many other factors which could influence your memory of an event. Other factors which include food, alcohol, emotions, environment, who you were with, what the event meant to you, and so forth. 

Some psychologists have made a further criticism of the argument.  They do not agree with Loftus that post event information changes the witness's original memory, never to be retrieved again.  They suggest that witnesses merely follow the questioner’s suggestions, leaving the original memory intact for retrieval under appropriate conditions. 

The main strength of Loftus' argument is its wider implications.  Based on evidence like that of Loftus's, the Devlin Report (1976) recommended that the trial judge be required to instruct the jury that it is not safe to convict on a single eyewitness testimony alone, except in exceptional circumstances or when there is substantial corroborative evidence.

Loftus's reconstructive hypothesis has also meant that the police and lawyers are urged to use as few leading questions as possible, (i.e. questions suggesting to the witness the desired answer) although in reality this practice is still widely carried out.

Reference

Loftus, E.F. & Palmer, J.C. (1974)  Reconstruction of auto-mobile destruction: An example of the interaction between language and memory.  Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behaviour, 13, 585 -589