A cognitive psychologist investigated whether synesthesia affects the speed of cross-modal sensory processing. They measured the reaction time (in milliseconds) of participants matching spoken words with physical color patches.
The results are shown in Table 1 below.
| Synesthetes | Non-synesthetes | |
|---|---|---|
| Mean reaction time (ms) | 412.5 | 530.2 |
Explain why an 'independent groups' design is suitable for this investigation.
Practise Edexcel A Level Psychology Methods with exam-style questions for A Level Psychology. 100 questions, 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.