Psychology Question

psychology discussion question and need an explanation and answer to help me learn.

It’s a reduced version to allow for a person to more feasibly work on it alone; even so, watch your time and try to only spend ~45 minutes on it. The questions are based on the article that’s also attached here.
Requirements: depending on the question
Psyc 215: Chapter 5 & General Practice
Reading a Journal Article
Reference:
McCabe, J. A. (2015). Location, location, location! Demonstrating the mnemonic benefit of the method of loci. Teaching of Psychology, 42(2), 169-173
1. Indicate, with page/section/paragraph numbers, the specific areas of this article that cover the following information:
a. Research question/purpose
b. Background knowledge on the topic
c. Summary statements of the researcher’s own findings
d. Author’s acknowledgement of the limitations of her own findings
2. Evaluate the method and conclusions by questioning specific aspects of the four validities, focusing on Construct Validity. Prompts are given, but feel free to add your own concerns or questions.
FacultyForumLocation,Location,Location!DemonstratingtheMnemonicBenefitoftheMethodofLociJenniferA.McCabe1AbstractClassroomdemonstrationsofempiricallysupportedlearningandmemorystrategieshavethepotentialtobooststudents’knowledgeabouttheirownmemoryandconvincethemtochangethewaytheyapproachmemorytasksinandbeyondtheclassroom.StudentsinaHumanLearningandMemorycourselearnedabouttheMethodofLoci(MoL)mnemonictechnique,thencreatedandusedtheirownMemoryPalacesbasedoncampuslocationstorememberagrocerylist.Pretesttoposttestimprovementsinmemoryfortheseriallyrecalledlist,alongwithsignificantincreasesinself-reporteduseofMoLindailylife,suggestthatthisactivitymayimproveknowledgeandapplicationofthispowerfulmemorystrategy.Morebroadly,thesetypesofactivitiescanstrengthenundergraduates’metacognitivesophistication.Keywordsmethodofloci,memorydemonstrationResearchsuggeststhatundergraduatesmaynotbeawareofempiricallysupportedmemorystrategiesthatcouldenhancetheirsuccessincollegecourses(e.g.,Hartwig&Dunlosky,2012;McCabe,2011).Eveniftheyknowaboutaparticularstrategy,theymaynotchoosetouseit(e.g.,spaced/distributedstudy,Susser&McCabe,2013).Bothlackofawarenessandunderusemaybeduetothedesirabledifficulties(Bjork,1994)inherenttomanyofthesestrategies;thatis,theiradvan-tagesarenotobviousbecausetheyslowdownlearningintheshortterm,onlyshowingtheirmemorybenefitoveralongerperiodoftime.Mostpsychologystudentsareexposedtoinformationaboutmemorystrategies,eveninintroductorycourses.Theissuethenbecomesoneofthemotivationandbehaviorchange:Whatcanbedoneinthepsychologyclassroomtoencourageuseofeffec-tivestrategies?Onepossiblesolutionistoprovideconvincingdemonstrationsoftheeffectivenessofsuchstrategies.Severalpsychologyresearchershaveendorsedtheexplicitteachingofmemoryimprovementtechniquesincollegecourses(e.g.,Balch,2005;Carney,Levin,&Levin,1994;Shimamura,1984).Followingthissuggestion,Iassessedtheimpactofdemon-stratingthememorybenefitoftheMethodofLoci(MoL)mnemo-nictechniqueinaHumanLearningandMemorycourse.MoLinvolvesimagininganorderedlistofto-be-remembereditemsbeingdroppedoffinlocationsalongawell-knownroute;then,atthetimeofrecall,takingamentalwalkthroughthoselocationsinorderto‘‘pickup’’theitems.Thistechniqueisoneoftheoldestmnemonicsdocumentedandhasbeenresearchedasaneffectivememoryaideoverthepast40years(e.g.,Roediger,1980).MnemonicssuchasMoLarethoughttobebeneficialtomemorybecausetheyincreaseeffortfulattentiontothematerialandenhanceorganization,chunking,andelaboration(Bellezza,1996;Carney&Levin,1998;Levin,1983).MoLhastheaddedadvantageofincorporatingvividmentalimagery(Paivio,1986).Yetwhenundergraduatesweresurveyedaboutfamiliarity,use,andhelpfulnessofvariousmnemonics,MoLwassecondlowest,aboveonlythepegwordmethodandbelowseveralcommonmnemonicssuchasfirst-lettertechniques(McCabe,Osha,Roche,&Susser,2013).Clearly,undergradu-atesarenotfamiliarwithand/ornotusingMoL,althoughithasgreatpotentialtoimprovememory.Toassessimprovementinmemory,Icollectedscoresfromagrocerylistrecalltask.Firststudentstookthepretest,usinganystrategy,thentheyreadthepopularpressbook,MoonwalkingwithEinstein(Foer,2011),inwhichtheauthordescribeshowtocreateaMemoryPalace(i.e.,thementalspacecontainingplacesalongarouteforusewithMoL).Ashomework,studentscreatedtheirownMemoryPalacesusinglocationsontheirhomecampusatGoucherCollege.Fortheposttest,theyusedtheirMemoryPalacestoremembertheorderofitemsinanewlist.Forexample,torememberthefirst2items,onecouldvisualizeeggssplatteredalloveradormroom’sdoorframe,thenslicesofbreadliningthefloorliketilesinthehallway.Thus,oneoutcomeofinterestwasthechangeinrecallscoresfrompretesttoposttest,whichwoulddemonstratethe1DepartmentofPsychology,GoucherCollege,Baltimore,MD,USACorrespondingAuthor:JenniferA.McCabe,DepartmentofPsychology,GoucherCollege,1021DulaneyValleyRoad,Baltimore,MD21204,USA.Email:jennifer.mccabe@goucher.eduTeachingofPsychology2015,Vol.42(2)169-173ªTheAuthor(s)2015Reprintsandpermission:sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.navDOI:10.1177/0098628315573143top.sagepub.com at UNIV OF NORTHERN BC LIBRARY on February 10, 2016top.sagepub.comDownloaded from
memorybenefitofMoL.Anotherdependentmeasurewasthepretesttoposttestchangeinamemoryaidsquestionnaire,withthehypothesisthatstudentswouldshowanespeciallylargeincreaseintheirself-reporteduseof‘‘theplacemethod’’(i.e.,MoL)indailylife.MethodParticipantsParticipantswere30undergraduatesintheSpring2013seme-sterand27undergraduatesintheSpring2014semesterfroma200-levelHumanLearningandMemorycoursetaughtbytheauthoratGoucherCollege.Onlythosestudentspresentinclassonbothdaysofdatacollectionwereincludedinthecentralanalyses.Astherewerenodifferencesonanydependentmea-suresbetweenthetwosemesters,allanalysescombinethetwosectionsunlessotherwisenoted.MaterialsTwolistswereusedfortherecalltask,eachconsistingof12commongroceryitems(seeAppendix).Thelistswerecon-structedtohavethesamenumberoftotalsyllables.Thepresen-tationorderofthelistswascounterbalancedacrosssemesters.The‘‘MemoryAids’’questionnaire(Harris,1980;modifiedbyBaddeley,2004)containeddescriptionsof19commonlyusedmnemonicaids,namely,shoppinglists,first-lettermem-oryaids,diary,rhymes,theplacemethod,writingonhand,thestorymethod,mentallyretracingasequenceofeventsoractions,alarmclock,kitchentimer,thepegwordmethod,turn-ingnumbersintoletters,memos,face-nameassociations,alphabeticalsearching,calendars,askingotherpeopletorememberthingsforyou,andleavingobjectsinspecialorunusualplaces.Thequestionnaireusedthefollowingself-ratingscale:0forneveruse,1forusedlessthanthreetimesinlast6months,2forusedlessthanthreetimesinlast4weeks,3forusedlessthanthreetimesinlast2weeks,4forusedthreetofivetimesinlast2weeks,5forusedsixtotentimesinlast2weeks,and6forusedelevenormoretimesinlast2weeks.ProcedureDuringthefirstweekofclass,priortodiscussionofmemorystrategies,pretestmeasureswerecollected.First,Iinstructedstu-dentstolistthenumbers1through12onablankpieceofpaperandtowriteacodenameatthetopthattheywoulduseformul-tipleanonymousactivitiesthroughoutthesemester.Nexttheyweretoldtotrytorememberalistof12groceryitemsusinganystrategy,thenattempttorecalltheminorder.Afterhearingthelistreadaloud,studentscompletedtherecalltask.Theythenself-scoredtheirlists,computingthreedependentmeasures,eachoutofamaximumof12:strictserialscore(1pointforeachitemrecalledinthecorrectposition),lenientserialscore(1pointforeachitemrecalledinthecorrectrelativeserialposition,forexample,if‘‘apples’’wasinposition3insteadofposition4,butinthecorrectorderaftertheitemprecedingit,thiswouldbecorrect),andnonserialrecallscore(1pointforeachitemrecalledcorrectly,regardlessofserialposition).1IntheSpring2014classonly,Iaskedstudentstowritedownwhich(ifany)strategiestheyusedtorememberthelist.Laterinthatsameclassperiod,studentsweregivenclasstimetocompletetheMemoryAidsquestionnaire(Harris,1980),againwiththeircodenamewrittenatthetopofthepage.Usingthecodenamestrategyallowedmetokeepthedataanonymousandretaintheabilitytoconductwithin-subjectscomparisons.Overthenext2weeks,studentsreadMoonwalkingwithEin-stein(Foer,2011),includingchaptersaboutthehistoryofMoL,howtocreateanduseaMemoryPalace,andtheauthor’ssuccessimplementingthemethodintheU.S.MemoryChampionship.Asahomeworkassignment,eachstudentcreatedhisorherownMemoryPalaceusing12orderedlocationsonGoucherCol-lege’scampus.Studentswereaskedtodrawamapofthecam-pus,withthe12locationslabeled,andtopracticementallywalkingtheroutewhileimaginingthesensoryexperiencesasso-ciatedwitheachlocation.TheybroughttheirMemoryPalacemapstoclass(seeFigure1)andweregiven5mintostudytheirmapsandpracticetakingthe‘‘mentalwalk’’throughtheirorderedlocations.Next,theyputtheirmapsawayandweregiventheposttestforanewlistof12groceryitems.IaskedthemtousetheirMemoryPalacestorememberthislist.Followingthelist,theyrecalledtheitemsinorder,self-scoredtheirpapersasdescribedpreviously,wrotetheircodenames,thensubmittedtherecallsheets.Approximately2monthslater,studentsagaincom-pletedtheMemoryAidsquestionnaire(Harris,1980).ResultsThealevelwassetat.05forallanalyses.GroceryListRecallPaired-samplest-testsrevealedsignificantimprovementsinrecallforallthreememorymeasures.Forstrictserialrecall,thepretestmeanwas8.47(SD¼2.60)andtheposttestmeanwas10.45(SD¼2.30),t(39)¼3.87,p<.001.Forlenientserialrecall,thepretestmeanwas9.68(SD¼2.18)andtheposttestmeanwas10.63(SD¼2.13),t(40)¼2.26,p¼.029.Fornonserialrecall,thepretestmeanwas10.56(SD¼1.42)andtheposttestmeanwas11.10(SD¼1.56),t(40)¼2.31,p¼.026.Anotherwaytoconsiderthedataistolookatfrequenciesofrecallingthelistperfectly(i.e.,12ofthe12itemsincorrectserialpositions)ornearlyperfectly(11of12).Atpretest,12%oftheparticipantsachievedthisperfectstrictserialscoreand14%scored11of12.Atposttest,18%scoredperfectlyand32%scored11of12.Combiningthesepercentages,26%atpretestand50%atposttestscoredperfectlyornearlyso.AMcNemartest,computedtodetermineifthesepercentagesweredifferentfrompretesttopost-test,returnedasignificantresult(p¼.001).AsnotedintheProceduresection,studentsintheSpring2014sectionofthecoursewerealsoaskedaboutwhichstrate-giestheyusedtorememberthelistduringthepretest.Themost170TeachingofPsychology42(2) 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commonlystatedstrategywasrepetition(n¼13participantsoutof26),followedbychunking/groupingstrategies(n¼4),andrehearsingtheitemstoasongorrhythm(n¼3).Interest-ingly,twoparticipantsexplicitlymentionedMoL(althoughonenotedheorshedidnothaveenoughtimetouseit)andtwodescribedvisualizingtheitemsastheywouldputtheminacartonatriptothegrocerystore,astrategywhichresemblesMoL.MemoryAidsQuestionnaireBecausetheself-reportscalefromthequestionnairewasordi-nal(Harris,1980;modifiedbyBaddeley,2004),Iconductednonparametricanalysestocomparepretesttoposttestscores.Wilcoxonsigned-rankstestsrevealedthatonlythefollowingtwomemoryaidsoutof19showedincreasedfrequencyofuse:theplacemethod(i.e.,MoL),N¼47,Z¼2.07,p¼.038and‘‘face-nameassociations’’(i.e.,theface-namemnemonic),N¼47,Z¼2.26,p¼.024.Allotherps>.05.DiscussionThegoalofthisresearchwastoprovideevidenceforaneffec-tivepedagogicaltechniquetohelpstudentslearnabout,create,andmorefrequentlyuseaspecificmnemonicstrategy,theMoL.AlthoughempiricalresearchhasshownMoLtobeeffec-tive,particularlyforseriallyorderedlists(e.g.,Roediger,1980),knowledgeanduseofMoLinundergraduatesislow(McCabeetal.,2013).Figure1.Samplememorypalacefromclassactivity.2McCabe171 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FollowinganassignedreadingonMoLandthecreationofindividualMemoryPalacesbasedoncampuslocations,stu-dentsshowedsignificantincreasesinserialrecallofa12-itemgrocerylistfrompretesttoposttest;thepercentagewhorecalledthelistperfectlyornearperfectlynearlydoubled.Thesedatareplicatepriorresearchshowingthememorybene-fitsoftheMoLtechnique.Moreimportantly,theactivityallowedstudentstoexperiencerealtimetheimprovementintheirownmemories,usingamemorydevicepersonallymean-ingfultothem(i.e.,self-referenceeffect;Rogers,Kuiper,&Kirker,1979)andreusableinfuturesituations.Further,bydescribingthepretestandposttestresultstothestudentsinthesubsequentclassperiod,theycouldseetheincreasesingroupmeanrecallscores.Itismyhopethatstudentswouldwalkawayfromthisactivityfeelingmoreconvincedthatmemoryskillis‘‘made,notborn’’(Ericsson,2003)andthatthisinturnwouldincreasemotivationandefforttowardimprovingtheirmemories.Arelatedquestionofinterestpertainstothestrategiesstu-dentsusedforthepretest,specificallywhethertheywereawareofMoLbeforetheclassintervention.Qualitativedatashowedthatonlyafewstudentslistedthistypeofstrategy.Theover-whelminglymodalresponseforstrategyusedwasrepetition.Thisisinlinewithresearchshowingundergraduatesreportnonelaborativestrategiessuchasrepetition,rereading,andhighlightingaspreferredchoicesofstudyactivities(Karpicke,Butler,&Roediger,2009).Italsosupportstheideathatignor-anceand/ornonuseofdesirablydifficult(Bjork,1994)strate-gies,includingmnemonicssuchasMoL,maybethenormamongcollegestudents.Studentswereaskedtoself-reportfrequencyofusingavari-etyofmemoryaidsviaquestionnaire.Thefactthattherewasasignificantincreaseinreporteduseoftheplacemethod(i.e.,MoL)fromthestarttotheendofthesemestersuggeststhattheactivitymayhavehelpedchangetheirbehaviorstoapplythismnemonicmoreoftenintheirlives.Asacorollarysupportingargument,theonlyothermemoryaidonthequestionnairethatshowedasignificantincreaseinusewasface-nameassocia-tions.Thisislikelynotacoincidence,aswespentconsiderableclasstimediscussingandpracticingtheface-namemnemonic(i.e.,akeywordthatsoundslikeaperson’snameisassociatedbywayofmentalimagetoaphysicalorpersonalitytrait;seeSmith,1985).Thefindingthattheonlytwomemoryaids(of19)showingpre–postincreasesweretheonesonwhichin-depthclassroomdemonstrationswerebasedsupportstheargu-mentthatthistypeofactivitymayencouragestudentstousememorystrategiesmorefrequently.Itisalsopossiblethatthefrequency-of-useratingsreflectstudents’enhancedfamiliaritywiththesestrategiesduetotheclassdemonstrations.Futureresearchcouldteaseapartthesefactors.AcriticismofMoListhatforasmuchtimeandeffortasittakestocreateaMemoryPalace,itsusefulnessmaybeques-tionablebeyondrememberingwhattogetatthestoreor,forthosefewdedicatedmemoryexperts,memorizingdecksofcards(Foer,2011).Irespondtothisbysharingwithmystu-dentseducationalapplicationsforthemnemonic(e.g.,tolearnErikson’sstages,Carneyetal.,1994)andrecentlypublishedresearchshowingthatMoLassistedpeoplewithdepressionbyaidingretrievalofself-affirmingepisodicmemories‘‘stored’’ateachlocationofaMemoryPalace(Dalgleishetal.,2013).IencouragethemtobecreativeinfindingothernontraditionalusesforMoL,allowingforthispowerfulmem-orytechniquetobeappliedinavarietyofsituations.Inconclusion,asimpleactivitythattooknomorethan10minoftimeon2daysofclasswasassociatedwithsubstantialimprovementinparticipants’memorieswhenusingMoL,andwithincreasedMoLuseratingsonaself-reportquestionnaire.Morebroadly,thereispotentialforavarietyofmnemonictech-niquestobetaughtanddemonstratedinaconcretewayinthepsychologyclassroom,contributingtostudents’knowledgeabouttheirownmemoriesand,generallyspeaking,totheirmetacognitivesophistication.AppendixGroceryList11.Eggs2.Milk3.Bread4.Sugar5.Apples6.Jelly7.Bacon8.Vinegar9.Hotdogs10.Crackers11.Cinnamon12.GrapesGroceryList21.Tacos2.Carrots3.Soda4.Pretzels5.Juice6.Icecream7.Chips8.Popsicles9.Bagels10.Pizza11.Broccoli12.CheeseAcknowledgmentIthankBrandonMeyers-Orrforassistancewithdataentry.DeclarationofConflictingInterestsTheauthordeclarednopotentialconflictsofinterestwithrespecttotheresearch,authorship,and/orpublicationofthisarticle.172TeachingofPsychology42(2) at UNIV OF NORTHERN BC LIBRARY on February 10, 2016top.sagepub.comDownloaded from
FundingTheauthorreceivednofinancialsupportfortheresearch,authorship,and/orpublicationofthisarticle.Notes1.Ialsocomputedthesescoresfromtherawdataontherecallsheets.Whenadiscrepancyarose,Idouble-checkedmyscoringthenincludedmycomputedscoreinthedataset.2.Usedwithpermissionfromstudent.ReferencesBaddeley,A.(2004).Yourmemory:Auser’sguide.Buffalo,NY:FireflyBooks.Balch,W.R.(2005).Elaborationsofintroductorypsychologyterms:Effectsontestperformanceandsubjectiveratings.TeachingofPsychology,32,29–34.doi:10.1207/s15328023top3201_7Bellezza,F.(1996).Mnemonicmethodstoenhancestorageandretrie-val.InE.L.Bjork&R.A.Bjork(Eds.),Memory:Handbookofperceptionandcognition(pp.345–380).SanDiego,CA:Aca-demicPress.doi:10.1016/B978-012102570-0/50012-4Bjork,R.A.(1994).Memoryandmetamemoryconsiderationsinthetrainingofhumanbeings.InJ.Metcalfe&A.Shimamura(Eds.),Metacognition:Knowingaboutknowing(pp.185–205).Cambridge,MA:MITPress.Retrievedfromhttp://bjorklab.psych.ucla.eduCarney,R.N.,Levin,J.,&Levin,M.(1994).Enhancingthepsychol-ogyofmemorybyenhancingmemoryofpsychology.TeachingofPsychology,21,171–174.doi:10.1207/s15328023top2103_12Carney,R.N.,&Levin,J.R.(1998).Mnemonicstrategiesforadultlearners.InM.C.Smith&T.Pourchot(Eds.),Adultlearninganddevelopment:Perspectivesfromeducationalpsychology(pp.159–175).Mahwah,NJ:Erlbaum.Dalgleish,T.,Navrady,L.,Bird,E.,Hill,E.,Dunn,B.D.,&Golden,A.(2013).Method-of-lociasamnemonicdevicetofacilitateaccesstoself-affirmingpersonalmemoriesforindividualswithdepression.ClinicalPsychologicalScience,1,156–162.doi:10.1177/2167702612468111Ericsson,K.A.(2003).Exceptionalmemorizers:Made,notborn.TrendsinCognitiveSciences,7,233–235.doi:10.1016/S1364-6613(03)00103-7Foer,J.(2011).MoonwalkingwithEinstein:Theartandscienceofrememberingeverything.NewYork,NY:PenguinGroup.Harris,J.E.(1980).Memoryaidspeopleuse:Twointerviewstudies.Memory&Cognition,8,31–38.Retrievedfromhttp://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/BF03197549Hartwig,M.K.,&Dunlosky,J.(2012).Studystrategiesofcollegestu-dents:Areself-testingandschedulingrelatedtoachievement?Psy-chonomicBulletin&Review,19,126–134.Karpicke,J.D.,Butler,A.C.,&Roediger,H.L.,III.(2009).Metacog-nitivestrategiesinstudentlearning:Dostudentspracticeretrievalwhentheystudyontheirown?Memory,17,471–479.doi:10.1080/09658210802647009Levin,J.R.(1983).Pictorialstrategiesforschoollearning:Practicalillustration.InM.Pressley&J.R.Levin(Eds.),Cognitivestrategyresearch:Educationalapplications(pp.213–237).NewYork,NY:Springer-Verlag.McCabe,J.(2011).Metacognitiveawarenessoflearningstrategiesinundergraduates.Memory&Cognition,39,462–476.doi:10.3758/s13421-010-0035-2McCabe,J.A.,Osha,K.L.,Roche,J.A.,&Susser,J.A.(2013).Psy-chologystudents’knowledgeanduseofmnemonics.TeachingofPsychology,40,183–192.doi:10.1177/0098628313487460Paivio,A.(1986).Mentalrepresentations:Adualcodingapproach.NewYork,NY:OxfordUniversityPress.Roediger,H.L.(1980).Theeffectivenessoffourmnemonicsinorder-ingrecall.JournalofExperimentalPsychology:HumanLearningandMemory,6,558–567.doi:10.1037/0278-7393.6.5.558Rogers,T.B.,Kuiper,N.A.,&Kirker,W.S.(1979).Self-referenceandtheencodingofpersonalinformation.JournalofPersonalityandSocialPsychology,35,677–688.doi:10.1037/0022-3514.35.9.677Shimamura,A.P.(1984).Aguideforteachingmnemonicskills.TeachingofPsychology,11,162–166.Smith,S.M.(1985).Amethodforteachingnamemnemonics.Teach-ingofPsychology,12,156–158.doi:10.1207/s15328023top1203_11Susser,J.A.,&McCabe,J.(2013).Fromthelabtothedormroom:Metacognitiveawarenessanduseofspacedstudy.InstructionalScience,41,345–363.doi:10.1007/s11251-012-9231-8McCabe173 at UNIV OF NORTHERN BC LIBRARY on February 10, 2016top.sagepub.comDownloaded from