Comtemporary Study - Sebasitian and Hernandez-Gill (2012)

Question 1

aim

Answer 1

• investigated the phonological loop component of working memory in children aged 5-17
• to see if Anglo Saxon (digit span as the measure of PL capacity) which found 15 years to be the age which digit span stop developing were replicated or is higher for Spanish Speakers
• to compare finding to their previous research in adult, aged people and dementia patients

Question 2

sample

Answer 2

• 570 children divided into 5 age groups (cross sectional design): 6-8, 9-11, 12-14, 15-17
• volunteer sample
• all from schools in Madrid and of Native Spanish
• impairments in hearing, reading, writing were controlled and not included

Question 3

procedure

Answer 3

• children tested individual participants
• participants were read sequences of digits which they had to recall in correct order
• starting with 4, the sequence increased by one digit per sequence
• digit span was defined as the longest sequence the child could recall without error

Question 4

results

Answer 4

• digit span increased with age
• 5 yrs had the lowest
• 17 years had the highest
• digit span increased significantly and smoothly up to 11 years then slowed and stabilised up to 17 yrs

Question 5

conclusions

Answer 5

• digit span increases from 5-17yrs
• english data had a digit span increasing to 15 years but Spanish data found an increase up to 17 years
• english data showed an adult digit span of 7 digits but Spanish was 6 digits (could be due to spanish numbers in words are longer than english e.g one=uno)
• age is the cause of poor digit span as opposed to dementia

Question 6

generalisability

Answer 6

• population validity
• other data only has 59 participants and had more females than males so not representative (estrocentric)

Question 7

reliability

Answer 7

• standardised procedures
• good controls like impairments were removed and children were tested individually so it has high internal validity so it can be replicable therefore reliability
• took place in schools so there is a chance of extraneous variables which decreases reliability

Question 8

application

Answer 8

• shows transformation of the digit span across ages so gives an indication of when learning becomes easier which is useful for teachers
• aids primary schools and how students are educated

Question 9

validity

Answer 9

• artificial testing therefore lacks task validity so not representative of how the STM works in everyday life
• specific people may be volunteering so can lack population validity
• representative of what may happen in a classroom environment as set in a school therefore it has ecological validity