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Research methods and skills

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Question 21

Levels of Processing Memory Study

Psychologists wanted to investigate how structural versus semantic cognitive processing affects long-term memory recall. They recruited 100 participants and randomly allocated them to one of two conditions.

All participants were shown 40 target English nouns on a tablet screen, one at a time.

  • Condition 1 (structural processing group) was asked to decide whether each word was written in uppercase or lowercase letters.
  • Condition 2 (semantic processing group) was asked to decide whether each word would logically fit into a specific sample sentence (e.g. "The boy sat on the _____.").

After completing this task, all participants completed a 5-minute distractor task consisting of simple arithmetic puzzles. They then completed a surprise recall test under controlled laboratory conditions, where they had to write down as many of the 40 target nouns as they could remember within 6 minutes.

Explain two strengths of using a laboratory experiment for this memory recall study.

[4]

Research methods and skills Questions

  1. A Level
  2. /Psychology
  3. /Research methods and skills

Practise Edexcel A Level Psychology Research methods and skills with exam-style questions for A Level Psychology. 657 questions covering Research methods and skills, matched to the Edexcel A Level Psychology (9PS0) 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.

Question bank