Memory is a cognitive, information- processing system which enables us to store
ID: 3491373 • Letter: M
Question
Memory is a cognitive, information- processing system which enables us to store and retrieve information over time ( Zimbardo. Johnson, & Hamilton, 2014). Although our memories are normally quite reliabl, it is known that sometimes our memories can be susceptible to various kind of errors and distortions (Schacter, Koustal & Norman, 1997). For example, Roediger and McDermott (1995) found that when presenting participants with lists of thematically related words with a critical but unpresented lure (e.g., the words thread, pin eye,sewing,sharp, and point are presented, but not the critical associated word needle) participants would falsely recall the critical lure. A more recent study by Dehon and Breddart(2004) used this sort of test ( called the DRM paradigm) to establish that older adults are more likely to falsely recall the critical lure than younger adults.
Based on past findings, the present study attempts to replicate the finding that older adults are more susceptible to false memories by using lists of words and a recognition test.
The experimental hypothesis predicts that older participants will have a higher rate of false recognition than younger participants while the null hypothesis predicts that there will be no difference in the rate of false recognition between older and younger participants.
Design
The experiment employed a between participants design. The independent variable was the age group having two values, the older adults and the younger participants. The dependent variable was susceptibility to false recognition as measured by instances of false recognition in ‘recognition test’.
Participants
There are a total of 10 participants in the older adults. Mean age between them was 55. There are also 10 participants in the younger adults. Mean age between them was 25.
Results
Table 1 shows the mean number of falsely recognized words for older and younger adults. The mean numbers of falsely recognized words in the older adults are 4.5 while the mean numbers of falsely recognized words between the younger participants are 1.7.
Table: Mean number of falsely recognized words
Participants age group
Number of falsely recognized words
Older adults
4.5
Younger adults
1.7
Question:
based on the t test shown, was there any significant difference?
can we accept the experimental hypothesis and reject the null?
How to write the discussions bearing in mind that the discussions must relate back to the introduction,
Participants age group
Number of falsely recognized words
Older adults
4.5
Younger adults
1.7
Explanation / Answer
You have not conducted any t-test
here is a t-test based upon your values of group means and group size with assumed std of 1.0 for adult group and 0.5 for younger participants
mean1 eq: 4.5 (variance= 1) (se= 0.3162)
mean2 eq: 1.7 (variance= 0.25) (se= 0.1581)
Probability that var1<var2
p=0.0255 (left: 0.9745; double: 0.051)
Difference between means:
-M2=4.5-1.7=2.8
sd=1.2862; se=0.3536
95% CI of difference:
2.107 <2.8< 3.493 (Wald)
t-difference: 7.92
df-t: 12.7; p= 1
(left p: 0; two sided: 0)
Since the t-value of group differnec is 7.92 and p = approximately 0 therefore the mean difference in groups is highly significant. And thus we can comfortably reject the null hypothesis. This would imply that the adults and younger participants do indeed differ in false recognition with adults being much higher.