Serial position effect - Meghna's IB Psych Portfolio



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002211/18/2016No. of words - 2079Table of ContentsAbstract………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..2Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….3Method…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………4Results………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….6Discussion…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….9Works cited…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………10Appendix i Standardized directions…………………………………………………………………………………...12Appendix ii Informed consent letter………………………………………………………………………………….13Appendix iii Informed parental consent letter…………………………………………………………………..14Appendix iv Debriefing Notes…………………………………………………………………………………………….15Appendix v List of words for the participant groups…………………………………………………………..16Appendix vi Raw Data…………………………………………………………………………………………………………17Appendix vii Serial position curves……………………………………………………………………………………..19Appendix viii Processed data……………………………………………………………………………………………..20Appendix ix Standard deviation values……………………………………………………………………………...23Appendix vii Mann Whitney Calculations…………………………………………………………………………..24AbstractThe Serial position effect, a cognitive bias, states that position affects recall. The loose replication of Glanzer and Cunitz (1966) was conducted to investigate this phenomena and how the alteration of the variables ‘Rate’ and ‘Interval’ affect the Primacy-Recency effect. It was hypothesized that a bimodal serial position curve would be produced, representing the distinct short-term and long-term storage mechanism. It was hypothesized that rate is directly proportional to the recency effect, and the interval inversely. Alteration of the variables would not affect the Primacy effect. A list of 20 words was presented to 24 participants, divided into 2 groups. The first group was tested on Interval as experimental and Rate(S) as control with conditions 0-1S, 15-1S, 30-1S, with 4 participants performing the same condition. The second group was tested on Rate(S) as experimental and Interval as control with conditions 1S-15, 2S-15, 3S-15. The results produced a bimodal serial position curve allowing us to accept the relevant research hypothesis. With reference to the inferential statistics, the results disproved the research hypothesis, showing that the alteration of variables did not affect the recency and primacy effect as hypothesized. The findings partially matched those of the Glanzer and Cunitz (1966) experiment. Word count: 199IntroductionSerial position effect refers to tendency of the human brain to recall items present in the beginning/ending of a list with a greater probability, compared to the intermediate section[11]. It is regarded as evidence for Atkinson and Shiffrin’s[14][16] multi-store model explaining that items in beginning of the list are retained in the long-term memory store, owing to primacy effect, and items in ending of the list are retained in the short-term memory store, owing to recency effect. Peterson and Peterson (1959)[15][10] aimed to determine and distinguish between duration of short-term and long-term memory store to present experimental proof for multi-store. Participants were asked to recall trigrams after different intervals. To evade rehearsal, Brown-Peterson technique[12] was used. Results showed, longer the interval, lesser the trigrams were recalled supporting the multi-store model as it states that short-term memory store has a limited duration when rehearsal is prevented. Multi-store model of memory by Atkinson and Shiffrin[1] describes a distinction between three memory stores; sensory, short-term and long-term memory stores[8]. Sensory memory stores information retained long enough by our senses to be utilized, supported by studies Peterson and Peterson (1959)[15] and Miller(1956), regarding duration and amount of information that can be stored. The model stated that information stored in Short-term memory[15] could be transferred to Long-term memory if repetition occurs. I partially replicated the experiment by Glanzer and Cunitz(1966) which aimed to determine whether the serial position curve consisted of two curves representing output from distinct short-term and long-term storage mechanism[3][4]. I attempted to prove this by altering variables such as presentation rate, interval and repetition that were hypothesized to affect one storage mechanism and have no effect on the other[11][13]. The original study found out that rate at which words were presented, and interval between words presented and recalling of terms, affected short-term memory, affecting recency effect or end of curve produced[3][4]. Manipulations made in the experiment conducted is choice of variables from original variables: Interval, No. of words, Rate and Repetition, with the focus primarily on Recency effect resulting in the choice of variables ‘Rate’ and ‘Interval’. Primacy effect is mentioned in the hypothesis and investigated as a supporting factor, as it could easily be conducted using results, and would support conclusions made. Aim: To investigate how position of words affects recall and how alteration of variables affects the Primacy-Recency effect Null Hypothesis: Curve produced will not represent two different curves or distinct storage mechanisms. Variables altered would not affect recency effect curve and would affect primacy effect curve. Research Hypothesis: Bimodal serial position curve produced from the results will represent the distinct short-term and long-term storage mechanism. Variables ‘rate’ and ‘interval’ affect recency effect curve and will not have an effect on primacy effect curve. Hypothesis states that increase in variable ‘rate’ would display increase in recency effect and increase in variable ‘Interval’ would decrease it. Change in either variable wouldn’t affect primacy effect. Method DesignResearch method is experimental. Independent measures design was used. Type of data collected is nominal and will be converted to ordinal to be presented in the form of descriptive and inferential data. During preparation of the list of 20 words, it was ensured that words with obvious connections to surroundings weren’t used. Each word consisted of 5 letters ensuring that words presented to participants weren’t difficult to be recalled. Words used were commonly used making them familiar to participants, diminishing confounding variables. Participants viewed words on a Laptop screen in the same order. Variables altered were rate at which words were presented, referring to the time each word was shown for, and interval, referring to the time a participant views a blank screen before producing recollected words on a paper. The controls were no. of words participants were presented with, repetition of each word; referring to number of times each word was presented; and time frame of 2 minutes for noting down words recalled.Independent variable was position of words in the list of 20 words. First part of the list consisting of 7 words is referred to Primacy section and last 7 words to Recency section. The intermediate section comprises of 6 words. Variables, ‘Rate’ and ‘Interval’ were also an independent variable.Dependent variable refers to frequency of words remembered from Primacy-Recency rmed consent and parental consent was given to participants to ensure ethical considerations were made during conduct of the experiment. Debriefing was conducted by providing an explanation of aim of study and results, after experiment and data analysis was competed. Ethical considerations such as protection from harm, confidentiality and right to withdraw were followed.Participants24 participants were derived from opportunity sampling as it was easier, faster and more efficient to employ participants. Target population was 15-18 year old, multicultural high school students from collectivistic cultures. Participants were randomly separated into two groups, each consisting of 12 participants, exposed to different conditions. All participants were fluent in English and consisted of 19 females and 5 males. MaterialsStandardized instructions for participants(appendix i)Informed letter of consent(appendix ii)Informed letter of parental consent(appendix iii)Debriefing notes(appendix iv)List of 20 words for participants(appendix v)Paper and pen StopwatchQuiet and well-lit roomTabulated record sheet to record resultsProcedureParticipants were informed of the experiment’s aim. They were provided with standardized directions(appendix i) and an informed letter of consent(appendix ii) that they had to sign to be able to take part in the experiment. Parents of participants under the age of 18 were provided with an informed letter of parental consent(appendix iii) to show approval of their child’s involvement. Participants were asked about their age and fluency in English. Both groups were shown a list of 20 words on a laptop screen using a presentation. For group 1, Rate was kept constant and Interval was altered. Rate was kept as 1S, where S consisted of 3 seconds. Intervals were kept at 0, 15 and 30 seconds. 4 participants were given the same condition for both groups. For group 2, Interval was kept constant and Rate was altered. Interval was kept as 15 seconds. Rate was kept at 1S(3seconds), 2S(6seconds) and 3S(9seconds). During the Interval, participants were shown a timed blank-white screen. As the screen turned black, participants were asked to write down words they could recollect on paper within a 2-minute time frame. After the experiment was conducted, participants were debriefed. After data analysis was conducted, they were informed of findings and implications of findings. ResultsE. Results: Descriptive dataNominal data was converted to ordinal for analysis and Mann-Whitney U-test. Mean, a measure of central tendency, derived from processing raw data for each condition and section of the word list represented the probability a word from a section of the list would be recalled. Graphs for mean(Appendix viii) visually displayed differences in mean for each section of the word list in different conditions. This determined the effect alteration of variables had on probability of word recall from each section. ConditionPrimacy meanStandard deviationRecency meanStandard deviationGroup 11S and 00.680.2160.540.1861S and 150.680.2940.680.1381S and 300.610.0700.460.470Group 215 and 1S0.710.2330.390.35815 and 2S0.860.1180.250.13915 and 3S0.790.0870.570.162For group 1, hypothesis states that primacy mean would be same throughout. For Intervals 0,15,30, mean values were 0.68,0.68,0.61 with a minimal difference within 10-11% of the value, supporting research hypothesis. Hypothesis states that as intervals increase, recency mean would decrease. Mean for interval 0 was 0.54,15-0.68 and 30-0.46. This was true for conditions 0-30,15-30. For 0-15, mean increased, disproving research hypothesis. For group 2, hypothesis states that primacy mean would be same throughout. For rate 1S,2S,3S, mean values were 0.71,0.86,0.79. Differences in these values ranged from 9-21%, seeming significant, thus disproving research hypothesis. Hypothesis states rate is directly proportional to recency mean. Mean for 1S was 0.39,2S-0.25 and 3S-0.57. Hypothesis was proven for 1S-3S,2S-3S. For 1S-2S, means disproved research hypothesis, similar to first group’s results. Standard deviation values, a measure of dispersion, ranged from 0.070-0.294 for group 1 primacy, 0.138-0.470 for group 1 recency, 0.087-0.233 for group 2 primacy, and 0.139-0.358 for group 2 recency.Based on descriptive data, it is difficult to determine if null hypothesis for this section can be rejected or not, as part of the results support research hypothesis and some disprove it. U-curve graphs reflect second part of aim determining how position of words affect recall by displaying frequency of words with respect to their position on the word list. U-curves prove research hypothesis as they represent bimodal serial position curve displaying two different curves as two distinct storage mechanisms. Null hypothesis for this section can be rejected.Inferential dataIndependent measures design, ordinal level of measurement and Mann-Whitney U-test was used. Due to the size of sample and lack of a standard distribution of data, the level of data was reduced to ordinal, and therefore the U-test was used. Mann-Whitney U-test computes level significance for independent measures design and represents data of small sample with greatest accuracy allowing us to reject/accept the null hypothesis and thus was used[5].Mann-Whitney U-test was performed twice on raw data. Values used for comparison with the U values were 0.05 directional test values[6]. First test was conducted to determine the effect alteration of variables had on Primacy effect. Results showed that UA value of 100 was larger than 0.05 lower limit value of 42, and UB value of 44 was smaller than 0.05 upper limit value of 102. P values were 0.0559 and 0.1118, being greater than the limit of 0.05.Second test was conducted to determine the effect alteration of variables had on recency effect. Results showed that UA value of 44 was greater than 0.05 lower limit value of 42, and UB value of 99.5 was smaller than 0.05 value of 102. P values amounted to 0.0594 and 0.1188 which were greater than the limit value of 0.05. Inferential data rejected the research hypothesis. U values don’t match critical values of significance, and P values and are not statistically significant, therefore, results may be due to chance and confounding variables[5][6]. DiscussionResults differ from the Glanzer and Cunitz(1966)[3][4][7] experiment. Production of bimodal serial position curve was similar to findings of original experiment[9], proving part of the research hypothesis. For part of the research hypothesis not proven, there were similarities in descriptive data; however, the inferential data accepted the null hypothesis eliminating similarities with original findings. Large standard deviation values questioned reliability and credibility of data. Peterson and Peterson(1959) distinguished between two-storage mechanisms, similar to Glanzer and Cunitz(1966) and my study, proving that greater the interval, the lesser was recalled, to which results from my study differed. It also supported the multi-store model stating that short-term memory store has a limited duration when rehearsal is prevented, and my experiment, rehearsal was not prevented using a distractor technique. Atkinson and Shiffrin[16] provided a greater distinction between storage mechanisms, supported by Miller(1956). Limitations were present in methodology, such as noise levels and distractions that participants may have experienced, as the setting was a school. Improvements would involve a soundproof room with no possible distractions. Brown-Peterson technique could be used to prevent rehearsal during interval and this was a major limitation greatly affecting results. Participants weren’t representative of entire population as they were students, from a specific age range, belonging to collectivistic cultures. Sample size was small, consisting of 19 females and 5 males. Further improvements include a larger and diverse sample in terms of age, culture and gender, providing a definite causation and relevant results.Confounding variables, such as effectiveness of memory, memorization techniques, fluency in English, familiarity with words, concentration, state of mind, intervened in the working of the experiment affecting results. Design and procedure consisted of strengths. Demand characteristics and participant bias couldn’t occur as hypothesis and working of experiment was not provided with. It was ensured that participants were calm, but this still served as a confounding variable as this could not be determined. Participants were informed that the experiment wasn’t labelling their memorizing capabilities, reducing any form of anxiety. 5-lettered words were used allowing memorization to be easily possible regarding the short-term memory store. Participants understood instructions, and both groups performed identical tasks allowing direct comparison. Independent measures was used in place of repeated measures design as participants would pay less attention when made to do the experiment again, or become aware of the experiment’s requirements. Order effects were also eliminated. However, this reduced the sample size. In conclusion, results accepted null hypothesis regarding the effect alteration of variables had on primacy-recency effect and rejected null hypothesis regarding the bimodal serial position curve representing two distinct storage mechanisms. Several improvements could be made to ensure that confounding variables didn’t affect the working and results of the experiment, providing more reliable and accurate results.Works cited[1] Atkinson, R.C. and Shiffrin, R.M. (2011)?HUMAN MEMORY: A PROPOSED SYSTEM AND ITS CONTROL PROCESSES!?Available at: (Accessed: 19 October 2016).(Atkinson and Shiffrin, 2011)[2] Cowan, N. (2008) ‘What are the differences between long-term, short-term, and working memory?’, 169.(Cowan, 2008)[3] Glanzer, M. and Cunitz, A.R. (1966a) ‘Two storage mechanisms in free recall’,?Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 5(4), pp. 351–360. doi: 10.1016/s0022-5371(66)80044-0.(Glanzer and Cunitz, 1966a)[4] Glanzer, M. and Cunitz, A.R. (1966b) ‘Two storage mechanisms in free recall’,?Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 5(4), pp. 351–360. doi: 10.1016/s0022-5371(66)80044-0.(Glanzer and Cunitz, 1966b)[5] GraphPad statistics guide?(no date) Available at: (Accessed: 14 November 2016).(GraphPad statistics guide, no date)[6] Ltd, L.R. (2013)?Mann-Whitney U test using SPSS statistics. Available at: (Accessed: 14 November 2016).(Ltd, 2013)[7] McLeod, S. (2008)?Serial position effect. Available at: (Accessed: 14 November 2016).(McLeod, 2008)[8] Multi store model of Memor?(2007) Available at: (Accessed: 19 October 2016).(Multi store model of Memor, 2007)[9] New page 1?(no date) Available at: (Accessed: 14 November 2016).(New page 1, no date)[10] Peterson and Peterson (1959)?(2008) Available at: (Accessed: 19 October 2016).(Peterson and Peterson (1959), 2008)[11] Revolvy, L. (no date)?‘Serial position effect’ on . Available at: (Accessed: 17 October 2016).(Revolvy, no date)[12] Ricker, T., Vergauwe, E. and Cowan, N. (2014) ‘Decay theory of immediate memory: From brown (1958) to today (2014)’,?Quarterly journal of experimental psychology (2006)., 69(10), pp. 1969–95.(Ricker, Vergauwe, and Cowan, 2014)[13] Serial position effect?(2008) Available at: (Accessed: 17 October 2016).(Serial position effect, 2008)[14] Shiffrin, R.M. and Atkinson, R.C. (1969) ‘Storage and retrieval processes in long-term memory’,?Psychological Review, 76(2), pp. 179–193. doi: 10.1037/h0027277.(Shiffrin and Atkinson, 1969)[15] Short term memory?(2009) Available at: (Accessed: 14 November 2016).(Short term memory, 2009)[16] The Atkinson-Shiffrin model - A theory of memory?(no date) Available at: (Accessed: 19 October 2016).(The Atkinson-Shiffrin model - A theory of memory, no date)Appendix i Standardized directionsStandardized directions for all participants:Before you begin the experiment, ensure that you are calm.Be ensured that this is not a memory test, so do not be stressed about how much you can remember. Read the 20 words presented on the laptop screen, placed in front of you.Begin writing down the words you remember on the empty sheet of paper given as soon as you see a dark screen saying ‘end of slideshow’. Write down as many words as you can remember within a two minute time frame.Appendix ii Informed consent letterDear participant,I am a student from Wells International School and am replicating and modifying a previous psychology experiment for an internal assessment for my IB Psychology HL class. The purpose of this study is to investigate the Primacy and Recency effect in free recall. If you wish to participate in this experiment you should know that during this experiment:No psychological or physical harm would be caused.All data collected will be kept confidential.Taking part is voluntary. If you have any further questions you can contact me using this number: ########You will be given a copy of this form to keep for your recordsStatement of Consent: I have read the above information, and have received answers to any questions I asked. I provide consent for myself to take part in the study.5334046355????? ( (Please tick box for agreement)Participant’s Full name ______________________________Participant’s Signature ___________________Date _________________Appendix iii Informed parental consent letter (for participants under the age of 18)Dear parent/guardian,I am a student from Wells International School and am replicating and modifying a previous psychology experiment for an internal assessment for my IB Psychology HL class. The purpose of this study is to investigate the Primacy and Recency effect in free recall. If you allow your child to participate in this experiment you should know that during this experiment:No psychological or physical harm will be caused.All data collected will be kept confidential.Taking part is voluntary. If you have any further questions you can contact me using this number: #########You will be given a copy of this form to keep for your records.Statement of Consent: I have read the above information, and have received answers to any questions I asked. I provide consent for my child to take part in the study. ??5334046355????? ( (Please tick box for agreement)Parent/Guardian Full name _________________________________________________Parent/Guardian Signature _________________________________________________Participant’s Signature ___________________________________Participant’s Full Name ___________________________________Date ________________________Appendix iv Debriefing notesDear participants,We would like to thank you for participating in our study. This experiment was based on the Primacy and Recency effect theory, which suggests that when people try to recall a list of words they have tried to memorize, the first and the last words in the list have a higher chance of being recalled.The Primacy effect occurs due to the words from the beginning of the list being remembered as they are hypothesized to be stored in the long-term memory store, The Recency effect occurs due to the words from the ending of the list being remembered as they are hypothesized to be stored in the short-term memory store.All the participants were divided into two groups. The participants in the first group were investigated for the effect of Interval on the Primacy effect. The participants in the second group were investigated for the effect of Rate on the primacy effect. The rate refers to the rate at which words were presented and the interval refers to the time between the end of the presentation of words and the time during which participants record the words they can recall. The results show that position affected recall, as participants were more likely to remember words from the beginning and ending of the list. However, regarding the effect the alteration of variables had on the Primacy and Recency effect, our results disproved our research hypothesis, displaying that the variables did not affect the Recency effect and affected the Primacy effect rather.The results derived from our loosely replicated experiment are partially similar to the results derived from the original experiment. We would like to remind you that your data shall remain confidential, I am very thankful for your participation in my study.Appendix v List of words for the participant groupsThe word list was the same for all groups which further allowed us to eliminate confounding variables.BakerQuickJokerZebraClimbAmazeClickBraceCrashSlideCatchBroadMixedCreamWeighPeachNightCraneShapeJuicyAppendix vi Raw dataS as control, Interval as experimentalParticipantnRateIntervalagewords remembered position wiseP11S0171,2,3,14,18P21S0181,3,4,5,10,15,17,18,19,20P31S0171,2,3,4,5,6,10,12,13,15,17,18,20P41S0181,2,3,5,6,7,10,12,14,17,18,19P51S15181,2,3,4,5,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,16,17,18,19,20P61S15171,2,3,4,5,6,7,10,11,12,13,14,16,19,20P71S15171,3,4,13,14,17,18,20P81S15171,2,3,14,15,16,17,18,20P91S30171,2,3,4,7,11,13,14,15,16,17,20P101S30171,4,6,7,18,20P111S30171,2,3,4,9,11,14,16,17,19P121S30171,2,5,7,9,10,14,16,20Interval as control, S as experimentalParticipantnRateIntervalagewords remembered position wiseP131S15171,2,5,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,19,20P141S15171,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,10P151S15171,2,3,4,5,8,16,18,20P161S15171,2,4,5,6,14,20P172S15171,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,11,14,16,20P182S15152,3,4,5,6,8,9,12,13,16,20P192S15171,2,3,4,5,6,7,13,14P202S15171,2,3,4,6,7,10,12,13,16P213S15151,2,3,4,5,6,8,14,16,20P223S15161,2,3,4,7,11,12,14,15,16,17,20P233S15161,2,3,4,5,6,10,11,12,13,15,16,17,18,20P243S15151,2,3,5,6,10,11,13,17,18,20S as control, Interval as experimental (words remembered by individual participants)1S and 01234567891011121314151617181920????????????????????????????????????????434232100302122034221S and 151234567891011121314151617181920?????????????????????????????????????????????????434321211222341333231S and 301234567891011121314151617181920????????????????????????????????????43231130212013132112Interval as control and S as experimental15 and 1S1234567891011121314151617181920??????????????????????????????????????4423421202111212111315 and 2S1234567891011121314151617181920??????????????????????????????????????????3344343221123203000215 and 3S1234567891011121314151617181920????????????????????????????????????????????????44433311023222233204Appendix vii Serial position curvesS as control, Interval as experimental (serial position curves)Interval as control, S as experimental (serial position curve)Appendix viii Processed dataS as control, Interval as experimental (total words remembered by participants)1S and 0primacy totalmiddle totalrecency total196151S and 15primacy totalmiddle totalrecency total1911191S and 30primacy totalmiddle totalrecency total17613Interval as control, S as experimental (total words remembered by participants)Interval as controlS as experimental15 and 1Sprimacy totalmiddle totalrecency total2071115 and 2Sprimacy totalmiddle totalrecency total2411715 and 3Sprimacy totalmiddle totalrecency total221016S as control, Interval as experimental (mean for each section)1S and 0primacy meanmiddle meanrecency mean0.680.250.541S and 15primacy meanmiddle meanrecency mean0.680.460.681S and 30primacy meanmiddle meanrecency mean0.610.250.46Interval as control, S as experimental (mean for each section)15 and 1Sprimacy meanmiddle meanrecency mean0.710.290.3915 and 2Sprimacy meanmiddle meanrecency mean0.860.460.2515 and 3Sprimacy meanmiddle meanrecency mean0.790.420.57Mean was calculated using the formula:Total no. of words in desired section7*14=mean for desired sectionAppendix ix Standard deviation valuesConditionStandard deviation for Primacy meanStandard deviation for Recency meanGroup 11S and 00.2160.1861S and 150.2940.1381S and 300.0700.470Group 215 and 1S0.2330.35815 and 2S0.1180.13915 and 3S0.0870.162Calculation for standard deviation:s= √Σ (x-x)2n-1S = standard deviationx = mean of the xx = each of the values of the datan = number of samplesAppendix x Mann Whitney CalculationsTo determine whether the alteration of variables had an effect on the Primacy effect. To determine whether the alteration of variables had an effect on the Primacy effect. ................
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