A comparison of effects of categorized and uncategorized words on Essay

A comparison of effects of categorized and uncategorized words on memory - Essay Example This model is best illustrated by a computer system where information is received and processed variably by the brain before it is stored into memory.Atkinson and Shiffrin's "multi-store model of memory" theory posits that there are three distinct memory stores - sensory, short term, and long term. The amount of attention paid and "rehearsal" of information affects likelihood of this information passing first into short term and then into long-term memory.Sensory memory has a very limited duration of about a second for visual store and two seconds for the acoustic store. Short term memory also has a limited storage capacity and a very short duration and can be lost through decay or displacement as new information is added to the store. Organizing information in short term memory through "chunking" enables it to pass into long term memory. These chunks can be acronyms, words, phrases, or anything else that links the information together into a meaningful structure. By chunking informa tion, a much greater quantity can be stored. Memory can decay over time, or there can be problems of retrieval, where the memory is there but cannot be recalled. Information in long term memory is more likely to be in the form of semantics, organized by general meaning rather than in greater detail. In a study by Tulving and Pearlstone (1966), participants' recall of word lists of 12, 24, and 48 words in categories of 1, 2, or 4 words was tested. The answer sheets were used with and without category headings to measure the effects of categorization on recall. Participants showed a significant increase in words recalled when the category headings were present on the answer sheet. This study shows that organizing information in memory increases the amount of recall. Objective of the Study Generally, the study's aim was to approximate studies [such as that of Tulving and Pearlstone (1966)] to determine whether word categorization could increase the number of words recalled from a prepared word list. In more specific point of view, the study is aimed at: 1. Identifying the factors that could help people recall more numbers of words 2. Assess which among the given factors (as stated in the first specific objective) is better be applied to specific age range of the people 3. Evaluate if there could be a difference to the number of words recall if the subjects are of different gender, social status and level of education earned. Hypotheses The null hypothesis supposes that any variation in the number of words recalled between the categorised and uncategorised word lists will be due to chance factors. The alternative hypothesis assumes that there will be a significant difference in the number of words recalled between the categorised and uncategorised word lists such that the number of words recalled from the former will be higher. Methodology Research Design The experimental method was used to try and establish a causal relationship.A repeated measures design was utilized to limit the number of participants required and to reduce participant variables. To minimize order effects, counterbalancing was used, with half the participants hearing the uncategorized list first and the remaining half hearing the categorized list followed by the uncategorized list. Participants The study was participated in by close