Memory Experiment, Essay Example

Problem Statement

Upon proposition, the difference between auditory memory and visual memory seems without bias.  Most people have a general tendency to recollect information more effectively through one medium of sensory intake better than another. Human participants often have difficulty self-reporting cognitive reasoning, unless directly linked to inputs in an experiment that are of strong inference. Student learning models indicate that ‘learning types’ may include auditory, visual and tactile cognitive development.  In consideration of prior experimental studies in cognitive mapping, the foregoing prospectus articulates methodological consideration of recommended models for testing the distinctions and rate of occurrence of audio and visual stimuli correlated to retention of information over time.

Literature Review

The study references Joachim Bodamer’s (1947) findings from seminal cognitive studies on what he coined as “Prosopagnosia” or the contention that recollection of others is distinct from other forms of memory in that “faces are processed separately from other visual objects.”  Based on a series of exploratory experiments in which memory for photographs: 1) first of the center of the face; was put into; 2) comparison with periphery.  The study argues that facial expression emanates from the center; the visual intake of the center of a person’s face generates stronger stimuli. Hierarchies between facial classificatory comparisons with geometric shapes were also recorded in the findings.

In Richard J. Phillips (1970) replicated the test, showing that faces ranked higher on recognition memory tests, but the shapes recorded more consistently in associated learning tests. As associate learning is the established logic within core competency testing, and especially present within critical thinking approaches to higher learning, the abstraction of shape rather than the uniqueness of face is central to the mechanism’s outcome as tendencies in information retention are edified through the process of the experiment, and hence, easier to predict.

At present, Bodamer’s theories on Prosopagnosia, also referred to as ‘face blindness’ in contemporary neuropsychology is widely recognized as “an impairment in the recognition of faces.”  While the diagnosis is presented in cognitive studies on recollection and associated learning, the general assumption to the study follows general neuroscience recommendation on studies of this kind, that Prosopagnosia is infrequent in majority of the population. The premise of the study is that the null hypothesis of something like Prosopagnosia is atypical, and that both associated and recollection are active memory processes within the wider population, substantiates the foci of the experiment.

Experimental Design Steps

Research design for the experiment is based on a correlative model of cognitive investigation. Correlational research “describes the relationship between two or more variables without any hint of attributing the effect of one variable on another” (Salkind, 2009). A descriptive mode of conducting research, the technique is most effective for showing variables that share something in common with each other. If so, then a correlation is noted. The correlation coefficient is used to estimate reliability in the experiment. The higher the degree of retention of memory in relation to type of associated thought, the more effective one mode of cognitive reception over another. The study relies upon indirect correlations, as one variable changes in one direction, with the other automatically impacted. The study will be drawn from a population of ten (10) university students between the ages of 18 and 25, of equal gender distribution, and tested as a convenience sample.

Reasoning

Based on the null hypothesis that disorders like Prosopagnosia do not exist in the majority of students tested within memory experiments, and therefore, both recollection and associated memory are present. Variation is measured between auditory and visual channels of learning, and does not distinguish between associated and recollection within each modality. Core interests to the study should enhance insight into the following questions:

• Will people remember something better after seeing it or hearing it?
• Is time infraction involved in the modality by which memory occurs?
• Does mechanistic interference on working memory transform short term memory?

Sequence of Events:

A control is will be employed to test the short term memory outcomes, recitation of the alphabet is required to instigate block of the learning process, or ‘working’ memory prior to the recitation. Post control the subjects to the study are requested to compare retention of the digits for recorded outcomes of both memory types. Statistical significance to the study will be assessed with SPSS disseminated with illustration by both linear and scattergram charts.

Tools

In addition to the SPSS program, the following tools will be employed within the study:

• computer with internet
• index cards
• timer
• clipboard to hold data table

Variables

• Dependent Variable: Audio or Visual
• Independent Variable: Digits
• Controlled Variables: Length of recitation of Alphabet as interrupter in test, Age, Gender, Grades, Self- Reporting.

Threat Reduction to Internal Validity

Mitigation extraneous cause-and-effect correlation between independent and dependent variables will be controlled through computation of statistical rendering of the findings, with the coefficient of determination r_xy² to ensure that one variable accounts for another (Salkind, 2009). Unexplained or alienated coefficient results will be eliminated from consideration, as the sample size is not large enough to draw conclusions toward statistical significance.

Hypothesis

The study is begins with a null hypothesis that most students learn by both associated and recollection memory modalities. This indicates that both auditory and visual may be present by ranked hierarchy of performance, or simultaneously within the results of each participant tested, and that visual acuteness may promote retention, analysis and/or both. The experiment recognizes Bodamer’s (1947) theories, and proposes that visual learning based on numbers which comprise both abstract and semantic meaning, will be shown to be more frequent than audio memory offers primacy to this perspective.

Process of Data Collection

Numerical sequences in pictogram and audio transmission form the two modalities. The Random Number Generator offers objective control with selection of random number sequences (Haahr, 2006).

Figure 1: Random Number Generator

The series of numbers presented by the database may be transferred to both an index card and to SPSS for retention of the participant’s numerical sequence. A data table will be utilized for record of the number of correct answers for each respondent, on each modality of memory testing.

Visual memory is tested by showing the respondent a single card for 30 seconds timed with a timer. This is followed by removal of the card, and implementation of the control: recitation of the alphabet.  The request for the numbers is then requested.  Number of correct answers will be recorded.

Auditory memory is tested second, with reading of the numerical sequence on each card three times slowly. Application of the control follows, with similar repetition of the visual experiment with request for memory of the numbers. Again, the score of correct answers will be recorded.

Appropriate Methods

The experiment relies upon a simple associate memory test consisting of visual and auditory retention of sequences of seven (7) digits both heard and read. The simple correlation study will serve as an adequate tool to test the hypothesis that visual learning is more prominent in students’ capacity to memorize and learn in the classroom. Selection of statistical renderings of the findings is important toward further dissemination of the replicable study, with visual distributions shown in graphs generated by SPSS.

Results

Calculation of the percentage of people correlated to each score will serve to analyze the preliminary data. The formula for the calculation: C / N (100) = P

Add total number of participants for each column, followed by division of the number of people in receipt of that score by the total number of participants in the study. Multiply the answer by 100 to get the percentage.

Sequence 1-7

A histogram will reveal median memory in each modality within the findings. Figure 2 represents a normal histogram graph to be used in dissemination of the study’s outcomes with the Y-axis on the left side of the graph as a scale for the percentage of people from 0 to 100%, and on the bottom a scale for the number of correct responses from 0 to 7.  Linear representation of time will account for variations in the control time in the study, and a scattergram will offer an illustration of density.

Figure 4: Normal Histogram

Conclusion

Neuroscience approaches to study of cognitive retention reveal that visual memory is potentially stronger than other sentient experiences. While the brain stores information from all five senses, the visual aspect of thought appears to be more salient within the controlled experimentation environment. The notion of ‘photographic memory’ is of particular interest, here, as query to the study also addresses the retention of human physiognomy as ‘image’ within memory. The old adage ‘one never forgets a pretty face’ is central to differentiation within the test.  As students develop over time, associated learning forefronts analytical capacity; hence the study proposes to investigate the statistical significance of both recollection and associated learning by way of testing retention of numerical sequencing.

Confirmation of Hypothesis

The study looks at the effect of memory function on learning. The study forms the hypothesis toward further longitudinal investigation of memory formation, and employs convenience sampling for data collection of universal findings on the distinction between audio and visual cognition.

Experimental Design as Key Factor

As most cognitive experiments are based upon objective research designs, where the respondent is intended to react to like variables with no apparent differentiation beyond normative classificatory difference the distinction between one factor and another is typically unsaid at the outset of the experiment. However, few would argue that most human subjects will show stronger tendencies in one category or another over time, and hence the objectivity of cognitive science is reliant upon this fact without additional built in bias.

Replication

Replications of Bodamer’s (1947) experiment are many, yet the study serves contemporary queries into human cognition, and especially visual learning as evidence of a null hypothesis, and the overarching presence of both recollection and associated memory in students in higher learning institutions. Consistency in findings in the study should be replicable based on the simple convenience sampling and correlation model of research.

Evaluation of Validity

As the study’s hypothesis is not based on synopsis based retention as seen in neuroscience experimentation, but an experiment on cognitive learning amongst students in a higher education setting, the distribution should be relatively unaffected by unknown factors like developmental disabilities already reflected in grades prior to selection as participants to the study. Bodamer’s (1947) research is mentioned as it presents the only real impact on the distinction between abstract and semantic visual learning. Other factors in the evaluation of the findings might be focused on the application of the control in the study.

References

Memory (2006). Wikipedia. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Memory&oldid=73168963

Phillips, R. J. (2002). Some exploratory experiments on memory for photographs of faces. Acta Psychologica, 43 (1), 1979, 39-56. Retrieved from: doi:10.1016/0001-6918(79)90012-X

Richard R.J. & Zahra C. M. Undergraduates’ immediate memory span for faces is three. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1979, 48, 1098.

Salkind, N.J. (2009). Exploring Research, Sixth Edition. New York: Prentice Hall.

Seeing, Hearing and Smelling the World (1997). Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). Retrieved from: http://www.hhmi.org/senses/

Visual memory (2006). Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Visual_memory&oldid=63146060