A cognitive scientist designed a study to investigate the impact of different background auditory environments on spatial memory and path efficiency.
Participants wore a virtual reality (VR) headset and were tasked with navigating a complex, standardized digital labyrinth to locate a hidden beacon. Each participant completed the task twice on different days in a randomized order. In one condition, participants wore noise-cancelling headphones playing a continuous loop of 'low-frequency pink noise (at 55 dB)'. In the other condition, the headphones played a continuous loop of 'urban traffic street noise (at 55 dB)'.
As soon as the participant reached the beacon, the VR software calculated their performance by recording their 'excess path length (measured in virtual meters)' beyond the absolute shortest possible route.
Write a directional hypothesis the researcher might use for this study.
Practise AQA A Level Psychology Scientific processes with exam-style questions for A Level Psychology. 689 questions, matched to the AQA A Level Psychology (7182) specification and written in Paper 1, Paper 2 and Paper 3 style. Every question includes a full worked solution and mark scheme, so you can see where marks are awarded rather than just whether you got the answer right.
