Researchers wanted to investigate whether ambient background noise affects spatial reasoning performance and self-reported mental fatigue during a design task. In a controlled experiment, 60 participants completed a 30-minute spatial-rotation test.
The researchers recorded performance under two conditions: high-level ambient office noise (75 dB) or low-level ambient noise (35 dB). At the end of the test, they recorded spatial reasoning scores (out of 50) and subjective mental fatigue ratings (on a scale of 1 to 5, where 5 is extremely fatigued). The results are shown in Table 1 below.
Analyse the data in Table 1 to explain three conclusions that the researchers might draw from these results.
Table 1: Means and Standard Deviations for Spatial Reasoning Performance and Mental Fatigue
| High ambient noise | Low ambient noise | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean | Standard deviation | Mean | Standard deviation | |
| Spatial reasoning score | 28.40 | 9.85 | 39.15 | 4.20 |
| Mental fatigue | 4.10 | 0.85 | 1.95 | 0.42 |
638 exam-style questions on Edexcel A Level Psychology Methods. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.