Memory - Context

Question 1

What’s context?

Answer 1

The situation in which something happens

Can act as a cue to recall info

Question 2

What’s the aim of Godden & Baddeley’s study?

Answer 2

To see if they could demonstrate that recall for things learnt underwater is more accurate if recall is also underwater

Question 3

What’s the method of Godden & Baddeley’s study?

Answer 3

• 18 members of a diving club had to listen to 36 unrelated words either on the beach or underwater
• they were tested after 4 mins to see how many words they could recall
• there were 4 groups (ww, dd, wd & dw)

Question 4

What’s the results of Godden & Baddeley’s study?

Answer 4

Wet/wet & dry/dry had better recall

Overall, recall for the same context conditions was approximately 40% higher than it was for differing contexts

Question 5

What’s the conclusions of Godden & Baddeley’s study?

Answer 5

Suggests the context of learning acts as a trigger or cue when trying to remember info
Context enhances the accuracy of memory

Question 6

A weakness of context as a theory (artificial)

Answer 6

• Words lists were used to test it, artificial
• field so environment is natural but task isn’t
• the word task is simple & other research found tasks with complex materials don’t show strong context effects
• results can’t be applied to all situations

Question 7

A weakness of context as a theory ( specific effect)

Answer 7

• participants had to recall words almost immediately
• a short time gap is unrealistic
• we’d need to know if context affects longer gaps
• only tells us about a v specific site of circumstances