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Wednesday, January 19, 2011

HOW TO STUDY MEMORY

HOW TO STUDY MEMORY
Memory can be studied in many ways, in many situations. It can be manipulated and observed in the ‘real world’ (e.g. Cohen, 1996; Gruneberg, Morris & Sykes, 1988; Searleman & Herrmann, 1994; Neisser, 1982). But most research has been experimental work, comparing controlled conditions in a laboratory setting. The manipulated conditions might include any variable that is expected to influence memory, such as the familiarity of the material, the degree of similarity between study and test conditions, and the level of motivation to learn. Traditionally, researchers have studied memory for lists of words, non-words (i.e. nonsense words like ‘argnop’ or ‘DAL’), numbers or pictures, although many other sorts of materials have been used as well, including texts, stories, poems, appointments and life events. So most systematic investigations of memory have been experimental, conducted in a laboratory, and involving a set of to-be remembered words or other similar materials. This description applies well to much of Ebbinghaus’s (1885) work; he was the first psychologist to study memory systematically.

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