Research into coding

Question 1

What is coding?

Answer 1

Information stored in different forms in the STM and LTM

Question 2

Who conducted research into coding and what was it?

Answer 2

Baddeley (1966)- used word lists that either sounded the same or had a similar meaning- participants were in 4 groups- group 1 (accoustically similar group) had words that sounded similar- group 2 (accoustically dissimilar group) had words that did not sound the same- group 3 (semantically similar group) had words with similar meanings- group 4 (semantically dissimilar) had words with different meanings- all groups were asked to recall the words at different intervals- immediately after, 20 mins after

Question 3

What were the findings of Baddeley’s research?

Answer 3

Participant recall immediately after was worse for the accoustically similar group suggesting STM was getting confused because it codes accoustically
Participant recall 20 mins after was worse for the semantically similar group suggesting the LTM was confused because it codes semantically

Question 4

What is a strength of research into coding?

Answer 4

Well controlled- all participants received exactly the same instructions and procedure- means EVs were well controlled- easy to replicate to test for reliability- strength because both are important features of science making research scientific

Question 5

What is a limitation of research into coding?

Answer 5

Lacks ecological validity- wordlists were artificial as they had random words with no specific links to everyday life- may be that STM and LTM code like this during research but stimuli on a daily basis may be coded in other ways- limitation as it may not apply to wider contexts