project1 - spss

8/7/2019 project1 - spss

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C8057(ResearchMethodsinPsychology):LaboratoryProject1

ZoltanDienes&AndyField Page1

LaboratoryProject1:ExperimentalResearch

Overview

Inthislaboratoryprojectyouwillhavetothinkupanexperiment,designtheexperimentyourselfandthencollectand

analyseyourowndata.Thebackgroundforthislaboratoryprojectismemory,aboutwhichyoushouldbelearningin

yourCognitioncourse.So,thisprojectisintendedtofitinwithwhatyourecurrentlystudyingandIhopethisenables

youtodrawuponthisinformationtodevelopyourresearchideas.

Inthefirstsessionyoushouldgetintosmallgroups(3-5people)anddiscusssomesimpleideasbasedontheideasin

this handout (which are all about memory because they were kindly donated to me by colleagues who know

somethingaboutmemoryyoudonothavetodoamemoryexperimentifyoudontwantto,aslongasitaddressesa

topiccoveredinCognition).Youshoulddiscussyourideaswithyourseminartutor.Usethenexttwoweekstorefine

your ideasintoan interestingresearchquestion,designyourexperiment,andworkoutwhichstatisticalprocedure

youwillusetoanalyseyourdata.Youhave2weekstodesignastudywithinwhichyoushouldfeelfreetodiscuss

ideasanddesignissueswithyourseminartutorormyself.Yourdatawillbeanalysedinweek9ofterm.Somethings

toremember:

Thinkabouthowyouregoingtoanalyseyourdata beforeyoucollectit.Thisisveryimportant,asitisafundamentalprincipleofwell-conductedresearch.Also,itsverysoul-destroyingtocollectlotsofdataonlyto

realisethattheycannotbeanalysed.Yourseminartutors(andme)arehappytoofferadviceaboutanalysis

beforeyoustartcollectingitismuchmoredifficultforustosalvageabadlydesignedexperiment.

DonttrytowintheNobelPrizeforscience: Thesearesmallscaleprojectssodonttryanythingtoocomplexunlessyoureveryconfidentabouttheanalysisandexecution.

Projectsinwhichyoudesignyourownstudygiveyouyourfirsttasteofdoingresearch(andactasa warm-upfor

your final year project). As such, its very important that you embrace the opportunity to practice conducting

research.Dontworryifyoufinditdifficultitisaverytoughtransitionfromcarryingoutprojectstodesigningyour

own.Asever,anyfeedbackonthisprojectiswelcomedviathecourseBulletinBoard.YoumayalsofindtheField&

Holebook(onyourreadinglist)useful(Chapter2 suggestshowyou canrefinea researchquestion, andChapter3offerssomeadviceonexperimentaldesign).

IdeasforProjects

Introduction

Memory is nota perfectrepresentation of anexperienced event asmany notablecommentatorshave stated.As

BartlettstressesintheprefacetoRemembering,somewidelyheldviewshavetobecompletelydiscarded,andnone

more completelythan thatwhich treatsrecallas thereexcitement in somewayof fixedandchangelesstraces

(Bartlett,1932,p.vi).Thefirstissueofthemostpopularintroductorypsychologytextbookclearlystates,manythings

arerememberedthatneverhappenedatallorthatactuallyhappenedinways verydifferent from those recalled

(Hilgard,1953,p.270).Inhisseminaltextbook,Neisser(1967)callsthenotionthatmemorysimplyreactivatesfixedorchangelesstracesasthereappearancehypothesis.Hestatesthatitissoingrainedinourthinkingthatwerarely

notice how poorly it fits experience (p. 282). Despite these claims, many psychologists still believed in the

reappearance hypothesis.However,it wasnotuntil themid-1970 witha seriesofmemorydistortion studiesby

Loftus and colleagues (e.g., Loftus,Miller & Burns, 1978; Loftus & Palmer, 1974) that the malleability ofhuman

memorywasclearlydemonstrated.

Howpeoplerememberan eventiscomplex.Information feedsintomemoryfrommanysources,notjusttheinitial

perceptions,whichthemselvesarefilteredanddistortedastheypassthroughthecognitivesystem.Whilethereare

manydifferentmetaphorsortheoriesforhowmemoryworks(Roediger,1980),thegeneralconsensusisthatmemory

is reconstructive. An influentialmetaphor that Neisser (1967) used was of a paleontologist trying to construct a


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dinosaurfromafewstoredfragments(i.e.,fossilizedbones)coupledwiththeoriesofpaleontology.1Memoriescan

bereconstructedfromperhapsafewfragmentsofthefilteredperceptionsofourcognitivesystem,fromscriptbase

knowledgeoftheeventtype,andfrominformationabouttheeventthatwasnotpartoftheinitialencoding.Memory

distortionscanarisefromanyofthesestages.

Memorydistortionworkhasoftenbeenlinkedwithappliedconcerns.Inthe1980sthiswasdonemainlyinrelationto

eyewitnesstestimonyandtoalesserextenttextprocessing.Inthe1990stherecoveredmemorydebatedominatedmemoryresearch,withpsychologyandpsychiatrybeingpresented(ofteninabadlight)onthecoversofallthemain

USnewsmagazines,andwithcontradictory expert testimony producingmulti-million dollar legal settlements and

imprisoninginnocentpeople(seeLoftus,1997).Further,therehasbeenalargeincreaseinchildrentestifyingincourt

(Ceci & Bruck, 1993). The applied interests should not take away from the theoretical importance of memory

distortionresearchtoourunderstandingofhumanmemory.

There are several different procedures to examine memory distortion. The following is a partial list with a few

thoughtsabouttheresearchapproachesandsomereferences.IhavenotlimitedthelisttooneswhereANOVA-type

designsareusuallyused,becauseyoumaydesigna studythatrequiresa differentanalysisandthisisperfectlyOK

(youdonothavetouseANOVA).

Agoodintroductiontomemorycanbefoundhere:

http://www.exploratorium.edu/memory/index.html

1.Post-eventinformation(PEI)

ThisreferstotheclassicLoftus-likestudieswherepeopleseeanevent,insomeform,thenaregivenapost-event

narrativewhich,forsomepeople,presentsmisleadinginformation,andthenparticipantsaretested.Thisprocedure

hasbeenusedmorethanotherproceduresandthereismuchresearchondifferencesincharacteristicsoftheevent,

thePEIandtesting.

Loftus,Miller&Burns(1978). McCloskey&Zaragoza(1985).

2.Deese-Roediger-McDermottProcedure

InNorthAmerican,overthelasttenyears,itseemsthattoqualifyasamemoryresearcheryouhavetohaveusedthe

DRMprocedure.Thisinvolvesshowingpeoplelistsofsemanticallyrelatedwords.Foreachlist,thereisacriticallure

thatismissing.Whenaskedtorecallthelists,peopleoftenincludethesecriticallures.Listsareincludedattheendof

theRoedigerandMcDermott(1995)paper.TheRoedigerandMcDermott(1995)paperandsubsequentstudieshave

usedwords.Itwouldbenicetohavestudiesdesigned,whichusemoreecologicallyvalidstimuli(suchaspicturesor

sounds).Deese(1959)firstusedthistechnique,butthepaperwasnotwellknownwhenitfirstcameout.

Roediger&McDermott(1995).3.Biasingquestions

LoftusandPalmer(1974)showedpeopleseveralcarscrashesandthenaskedthemthevelocityofthecars.Theyused

differentverbstodescribethespeed(forexample,hitandsmashed)andfoundpeoplegavefasterestimatesthe

higherimpliedspeedoftheverb.BurtandPopple(1996)havemorerecentlyshownthisworksalsowithdurationestimates.Itisimportanttochooseacontinuousvariableastheresponsevariable.

Loftus&Palmer(1974).

1NeissernotesthatHebbusedthismetaphorforfocalattention:Hebbs(1949,p.47)comparisonoftheperceiver

witha palaeontologist,who carefully extractsa fewfragments ofwhatmightbebones from amass of irrelevant

rubble andreconstructsthedinosaurthatwill eventuallystand intheMuseumofNaturalHistory (1967,p. 94).

Hebbsowndescription, adrawingor a reportofwhatis seentachistoscopically isnotunlikea palaeontologists

reconstructionofearlymanfromatoothandarib,islessambitiousthanNeisserselegantreconstruction.Itisworth

stating that Neisser still believes that memory is constructed, he just believeswe no longer even have the few

fossilizedremainstoaidthereconstruction,butthatmemoriesarecompleteconstructions.


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Burt&Popple(1996).Itmight beworthwhile to lookat the recent recommendations for avoiding biasingquestions when interviewing

eyewitness(http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/nij/178240.pdf).

4.Memoryimplanting

Therehavebeensomeimpressivestudies,withadultsandchildren,showingmemoriesforeventsthatdidnotoccur.Themost impressivedemonstrationsare therapistsgettingclients tobelievethattheywereabductedby aliensor

experienced biologically impossible events. The laboratory analogs involve getting people to remember some

childhood events that happened (parents are usually contacted) and one that did not happen. This is probably

impossibleforthecurrentassignment,becauseittakestimetocontactparents.Still,someofyoumaycomeupwith

goodideasonhowtodothiswithintheconstraintsoftheassignment.

Loftus&Pickrell(1995). Hyman,Husband&Billings(1995). Garry&Gerrie(2005),CurrentDirectionsinPsychology(Reviewofthephotoshoptechnique)

o http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.0963-7214.2005.00390.x

LoftushaswrittenapopularscienceintroductiontoCreatingFalsememories,whichcanbefound

here:

https://webfiles.uci.edu/eloftus/Loftus_ScientificAmerican_Good97.pdf?uniq=-jd60qg

5.Retrievalinducedforgetting

Anderson,BjorkandBjork(1994)showedparticipantsseveralsetsofwords.Thesetswere,forexample,alistoffruits.

Later,participantswerere-presentedwithhalftheitemsforhalfofthesets.Later,therewasarecalltest.Theitems

thatwererepeatedwererecalledthebest.Theitemsfromsetsnotpresentedwerethenextbestrecalled.Theworst

recalleditemswerethosefromthesetsfromwhichsomeitemswererecalled,butnot thoseparticularitems.Bjork

andBjorkdescribehowtheretrievingofrelateditemsinhibitedmemoryfortheotheritemsintheset.Thesesetsare

includedinanappendixtoAndersonetal.(1994).

Anderson,Bjork&Bjork(1994).6.Imaginationinflationanddreaminterpretation

Peoplearegivenalistofexperiencesandaskediftheyexperiencedthem.Theyarethenrequiredtoimaginesomeof

these experiences. Later, they are asked the likelihood that the experienced really happened. Those experiences

imaginedareratedasmorelikelythatthosenotimagined.Thesestudiesusuallyusethelifeeventinventory,whichis

available on Garryswebpage (http://www.vuw.ac.nz/psyc/staff/maryanne-garry/index.aspx ). IntheMazzoni etal.

paper,theyusedreaminterpretationtoincreaseeventlikelihood.

Garry,Manning,Loftus&Sherman(1996). Mazzonietal.(1999).

7.MemoryConformity

Ineyewitnesssituations,ifseveralpeopleseethesamecrimeandthendiscusstheeventthenoftentheirmemories

will bedifferent.Whentalking,what onepersonsays caninfluencewhat theotherperson reportson later tests.SchneiderandWatkins(1996)showedthatthishappenedinamemorytestforwords.Wright,SelfandJustice(2000)

showedthatthisworksalsowithmemoryofevents,andinfacttheeffectslookstrong.

Schneider&Watkins(1996). Wright,Self&Justice(2000). Gabbert, F., Memon, A., &Wright, D.B. (2007). I saw it for longer than you: The relationship between

perceivedencodingdurationandmemoryconformity.ActaPsychologica,124,319-331.

Available:http://portal.abertay.ac.uk/portal/page/portal/SHARED/f/F513576 8.Yougotemstudies

WellsandBradfield(1999)showedpeopleanevent,andthenhadthemtrytochoosetheculpritfromwhatsknown

asatargetabsent,orblank,identificationparade(i.e.anidentificationparadeinwhichallsixofthepeoplewere


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nottheculprit).Eventhoughthepeoplehadntseentheculprit,if theyweretoldthattheyhadchosenthecorrect

personthennotonlywastheirestimatedconfidencehigher,butsowerecharacteristicslikehowlongtheysawthe

culpritsface.

Wright, D. B., & Skagerberg, E. M. (2007). Post-identification feedback affects real eyewitnesses.PsychologicalScience,18,172-178.

oAvailable:http://www.sussex.ac.uk/Users/danw/pdf/postid.pdf

9.LevelsofProcessing

Howwellyou remembersomething depends on howyouprocessed it (howyou thought about it), withdeeper

processing leading to better memory. Deep processing means attending to the meaning of the stimulus (its

semantics); shallow processing means attending to its physical attributes. (See, for example, Eysenck& Keane,

CognitivePsychology:Astudentshandbook,oranyothertextbookonmemory).

HydeandJenkins(1973)showedparticipantsalistofwords.Howparticipantsprocessedthewordswasdetermined

bywhichofthreeorientingtaskstheyweregiven:

1. Onegroupwereaskedtodetectaneoraginthewords.2. Onegrouphadtodecidethepartofspeechoftheword(e.g.noun,verb,etc).3. Onegrouphadtoratethepleasantnessoftheword.

Therationalewasthattoratethepleasantnessofawordyouhavetothinkaboutthemeaningofthatwordindepth.

Therefore,peopleinthegroupwhomadetheseratingsshouldremembermore.Infact,theyfoundthatpleasantness

ratingledtodoubletherecallcomparedtoonlylookingatphysicalattributes,likewhichlettersareintheword.

Tominimizeparticipantstryingtoprocessthewordsinotherways,forhalftheparticipants,learningwasincidental

(i.e.theywerenottoldtherewouldbeasubsequentmemorytest).Fortheotherhalfoftheparticipants,learningwas

intentional (they were told of the subsequent memory test). Hyde and Jenkins found no difference between

participants who learnt intentionally and incidentally: The intention to remember in itself did not help people

remember.

Foryourexperimentyoucouldlookatwhatsortoftasksmightimprovepeoplesmemorycomparedtoothertasks?YoucanremainclosetotheHydeandJenkinsexperiment,butitwouldbemoreinterestingtouseyourexperimentto

provideananswertoaquestiontowhichyouwouldactuallyliketoknowtheanswer.

HowSimilarCanMyExperimentBeToPastWork?

Youcan,ifyoulike,simplyreplicateoneofthestudiesthatIhavejustdescribed.However,bettermarkswillusually

gotopeoplewhohavedonesomethingslightlydifferent.Youcouldreplicateoneofthestudiesbutusingadifferent

modality(say,replicateanexperimentusingvisualstimuli,butuseauditorystimuliinstead),oryoucouldimprovethe

methodology(ifyoufeeltherewereproblemswiththeoriginalstudy).Somepeopledocompletelynewthingsbutbe

realistic:dontdesignsomethingwith58differentgroupsandthenspendeverywakinghourtryingtocollectthedata.


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ThingstothinkaboutWhenDesigningYourExperiment

Ethics

Normallywhenwedoresearch,wehavetoensurethatourproceduresconformtoethicalcodesofconductandalso

completeanethicsformthatisassessedbyauniversitypaneltoapprovetheprocedures.Theproceduresforthis

processattheUniversityofSussexcanbefoundhere:http://www.sussex.ac.uk/res/1-6-12.html

Tosumup,theuniversityclassifiesresearchasbeingeitherhighorlowrisk.FortheseRMiPprojects,thereisnot

enoughtimetogothroughtheformalethicalprocedures,whichisoneofthereasonswhywegetyoutobaseyour

workonpublishedresearch,whichwillhavebeensubjecttoethicalclearance(inotherwords,theproceduresshould

be ethical). Instead, for these projects, we have chairs action to give ethical clearance to any project that the

universitywould deemlow risk,and forbidanyproject thatwould be classifiedas high risk.Some examplesof

projectsthatareforbiddenbecausetheywouldbehighriskare:

Anyprojectinvolvingchildrenorothervulnerablegroups. Anyprojectinvolvingadministeringfoodordrugs(e.g.alcohol). Anyprojectinvolvinghazardoussubstancesorequipment. Anyprojectinvolvingdeceptionofanykind.

Beforerunningyourexperiment,youneedto:

Read the BPS code of conduct for conducting research (http://www.bps.org.uk/the-society/code-of-conduct/support-for-researchers_home.cfm).

ReadtheSussexResearchGovernancewebsite:http://www.sussex.ac.uk/res/1-6-12.html Ifyourprojectis'lowrisk'thenyoumustbeabletorespondtruetothesequestions:

1. My study does not involve participants who are from a vulnerable group or who can not giveinformedconsent

2. Participantswillnotbeaskedtotakepartwithouttheirconsentbeingobtainedinadvance,andnodeceptionofanysortwillbeused.

3. Alldatagatheredwillbeanonymisedandremainstrictlyconfidential4. The study will not induce psychological stress or anxiety, produce humiliation or cause harm or

consequencesbeyondtherisksencounteredintheeverydaylifeoftheparticipant.5. Nodrugs,placebosorothersubstances(food,supplements)willbeadministeredandnoinvasiveor

potentiallyharmfulproceduresofanykindwillbeused.

6. The projectwill not involveworkingwith any substances or equipment thatmay be consideredhazardous

7. Nofinancialinducementswillbeofferedtoparticipants Ifyoucouldanswertruetotheabovequestionsandyoubelievethatyourexperimentaldesignfallsintothe

lowriskcategory,thenproceed.

Ifyourdesignfallsintothesecondcategoryhighriskthenyoumustnotdoit.Instead,reviseyourideasuntilyourexperimentfallsintothelowriskcategory.

Ifyouareinanydoubtaboutwhichcategoryyourprojectfallsintothenpleaseconsultwithyourpracticalclasstutor(who,ifinanydoubtwillconsultwithmeandthechairoftheethicscommittee).

DataAnalysis

Youshouldusethemethodofanalysisthatismostappropriateforthedatathatyouhavecollected.Thismethod

couldbeanythingthatyouhavebeentaughtinbothfirstandsecondyear.Contrarytoapervasivemyth,youdonot

have to analyze your data with anANOVA. Unless, of course, anANOVA is the most appropriatemethod for

analyzingyourparticulardataset

References

Wehavejustputoneortworeferencesforeachsuggestedidea.Itwillbeworthsearchingformore.TheWebof

Knowledge(http://wok.mimas.ac.uk/ )willbeusefulforthis.


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FormatofyourData

Inmemoryresearchoftenthekeyresponsevariableiswhethersomebodyremembersanitem.Thisisnotappropriate

forparametricstatisticaltestsbasedonthenormaldistribution(i.e.t-tests,ANOVAetc.).Acommonwaytoturnthis

intoamorecontinuousvariableistoaskpeoplehowconfidenttheyareintheirmemories.Pretendyouuseafive-

pointscale,andthepersoneitherremembersordoesnotremember.Youneedtocalculateanewvariable.Ifthe

personrememberstheevent,thenthenewvariableisequaltotheconfidencescore.Ifthepersondoesnot,thenitisthenegativeoftheirconfidencescore.

Remembers:

Yes 1 2 3 4 5

No 1 2 3 4 5

NewVariable -1 -2 -3 -4 -5 0 1 2 3 4 5

Anotherusefulwayaroundthisistohaveseveraltargets(severalthingsthatyouwantpeopletoremember)anduse

thenumber(orpercentage)thattheydorememberasyourdependentvariable.

Youshouldstillcheckthedistributionalassumptions.

Randomassignmentofparticipantstogroups

Participantsshouldberandomlyassigned toyourexperimentalgroups(youcanaddtheconstraintthateachgroup

hasanequalnumberofsubjects).Thisisforacoupleofreasons.

First,thewayyouruntheexperimentwillsubtlychangeasyourunit.Youmaybemoresmoothormoreorless

motivatinginsubtleways.Second,thesortofparticipantyoucanrecruitasyouruntheexperimentwillchangeasyou

run the experiment.Firstyouwillask yourfriends.Prettysoon you haveusedupyour friendsandyouareon to

acquaintances.By the6th participantyou needto runcomplete strangers.Your friendsmay have certaincommon

characteristicse.g.youallliketostudyhardoryouareallalcoholics.Alsothefriendsyourunatfirstwillbetheones

thatagreedquickly;thefriendsyourunlastwillbetheonesyouhadtotwistthearmoftogettodotheexperiment.

Soifyoufinishgroup1firstthengroup2thenfinallygroup3,therecouldwellbeadifferenttypeofpersonineach

group.Iftherewasadifferencebetweenthegroupsrecallyouwouldnotknowifitwastheexperimentaltaskthat

madeadifferenceorthetypeofpersonyoudtested.

Randomassignmentliterallymeansrandom,itdoesnotmeanthatyoujustdidnothaveanyspecificmethodyoucan

putyourfingeron.Onewayofrandomlyassigningandfillingupgroupsequallyistohavethreecards,oneforeach

group.Shufflethecards.Thenthenextthreepeopleyourunwillberuninthatorder.Shufflethecardsagainforthe

nextthreeandsoon.

Ifparticipants arerandomly assignedto groups,any significant resultyougetCANNOTbeexplainedby individual

differences that you did not control. If you get a significant result, donot say in your discussion Butwe didnt

measure IQ, thismust influence how well people can rememberwords and perhaps this explains the significant

result. Randomassignmentmeans that anycharacteristicthatmaydifferfrom oneperson to another should be

roughlyequallydistributedacrosstheexperimentalgroups.Ofcourse,randomassignmentwillsometimesproducea

largeexcessofe.g.cleverpeopleinonegroup,butthatsexactlywhatyourpvaluesmeasure:Howlikelyisitthat

youdgetthedatathatyouhaveifchanceproducedtheresults.Chanceisalwaysatwork,andthatswhatyouarecontrollingbysettingyourpvalues.

Experimentereffects

Youwillhavemorethanoneexperimenter(becauseyoureworkinginsmallgroups).Therefore,eachexperimenter

shouldrunthesamenumberofpeopleineachgroupaseveryotherexperimenter.DonotsayOk,Illrunthepeople

ingroup1,yourunthepeopleingroup2andsoon.Thereasonwhyyoushoulddothisisbecauseof experimenter

effects.Whotheexperimenteris,theirexpectationsandcharactercanstronglyaffecthowparticipantsperform.Even

whenallinstructionsarewrittendown,ithasbeenshownthatdifferentexperimenterscanproducedifferentlevelsof

performance. Even rats perform differently when different experimenters with different expectations are

administeringthetask.


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Writedownyourinstructions

Giveparticipantswritteninstructions.Writingtheinstructionswillhelpyouthinkclearlyabouthowbesttoinstruct

people.Itwillalsohelpyougiveamorestandarddeliverythroughouttheexperiment.

Keepeverythingconstantexceptforthecovertask

Inyourexperimentyoullhavedifferentgroupsofpeopledoingdifferenttasks(perhapswithdifferentcoverstories).Donotuse different sets ofstimuli (mostofyouwillbeusingwords orpictures)for different experimentaltasks,

otherwiseyouwontknowifanydifferencebetweenthegroupsisbecausethetasksvariedorbecausethewords

varied.Forexample,differentwordsaremoreorlesseasytorememberforexample,concretewordsareeasierto

rememberthanabstractwords.Ifyouareinterestedintheeffectofa task,usethesamestimuliforeachtask.(Of

course,youmightbeinterestedindifferenttypesofwordsthenyouwouldusethesameexperimentaltaskfor

differentsetsofwords.)

Forexample,ifonecovertaskistostatethecolourofthewordsorthelettercasetheyarein,youwillneedwordsof

differentcoloursandinupperandlowercase.Butthenusethesamestimuliforallgroups.Sothegroupthatdoesa

semantictaskstillseesthewordsindifferentcolours.Bykeepingconstantasmanythingsaspossibleyoucansay

morepreciselywhatcouldhavecausedanydifferencesbetweenthegroups.

Youshouldalsocontroltheexposuretimeofeachstimulus.Ifyoujustgivepeoplethelistofwordsallatonce,people

mighttake2minutestostatethelengthofeachword,but3minutestosaywhatroominahouseitismostlikelyto

befound.Ifrecallisdifferentbetweenthegroups,isthatbecauseofthetypeofprocessingtheyengagedin,orjust

becausetheylookedatthewordslongerinonecaseratherthantheother?Youcouldshoweachwordonacardfora

setamountoftime,e.g.fiveseconds,togetroundthisproblem.

Recencyeffect

Justafteraparticipanthasseenasetofstimuli,thelastfewstimuliwillberememberedalmostperfectly,regardless

oftheexperimentaltask.Thisisknownastherecencyeffect.Therefore,thelastfewstimuliwillnotbeespecially

useful in distinguishing the groups if there is a recency effect. To get around this, you could give participants a

distractertaskafterthestudyphase(e.g.solvesomemathsproblemsforaminute),ormakesurethatyouusesome

distracterstimuliattheendofthestudyphase,sothatthestimuliyoureactuallyinterestedindonotappearatthe

endofthisphase.

Congruencyeffect

Forexperimentaltasksthatinvolvesayes/noanswer,participantsrememberthosewordsbestthattheygaveayes

answertoratherthananoanswer.Ifparticipantsareclassifyingthestimuliintodifferentcategories,thenumberof

categoriescanalsoinfluencerecall.Sotrytohavethesamenumberofresponsetypesforeachexperimentaltask,and

thesamenumberofstimuliforeachresponsetype.Forexample,ifonetaskisArethewordsinuppercase?you

couldhavehalfthewordsinupperandhalfinlowercase.IfanotherquestionisIsitananimal?,havehalfthewords

beingananimalandhalfnot.

Howismemoryassessed?

Youcoulduseafreerecalltest(Inthenexttwominutes,trytorecallallthewordsyousaw).Or youmightusea

recognition test (Here are 40words, halfwere the ones you just saw and the otherhalfare new. Say whichis

which.).

HowManypeopleshouldItest?

Youshouldtrytotestatleast10-15peopleineachexperimentalgroup.

Pilotexperiment

Before you run the experiment proper, itis a good idea to run a pilot. Just run a couple ofpeople through the

procedure.Checkthattheinstructionswereclear,thetimingsareappropriate,andthetasksareneithertooeasynor

toodifficult.If allgoes smoothlyyou areready to run; otherwise, alter theprocedureand tryit onanotherpilot

participant.


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References

Anderson,M.C.,Bjork,R.A.,&Bjork,E.L.(1994).Rememberingcancauseforgetting:Retrievaldynamicsinlong-term

memory.JournalofExperimentalPsychology:Learning,Memory,&Cognition,20,1063-1087.

Bartlett,F.C.(1932).Remembering:Astudyinexperimentalandsocialpsychology.NewYork:Macmillan.

Burt,C.D.B.,&Popple,J.S.(1996).Effectsofimpliedactionspeedonestimationofeventduration.AppliedCognitive

Psychology,10,53-63.

Ceci, S. J., & Bruck,M. (1993).Suggestibility of the childwitness:A historical review andsynthesis. Psychological

Bulletin,113,403-439.

Deese, J. (1959). On the prediction of occurrence of particular verbal intrusions in immediate recall.Journal of

ExperimentalPsychology,58,17-22.

Garry,M.,Manning,C.G.,Loftus,E. F.,&Sherman,S.J. (1996).Imaginationinflation:Imagininga childhoodevent

inflates confidence that it occurred. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 3, 208-214. (Available on

http://www.vuw.ac.nz/psyc/garry/garry.html).

Hilgard,E.R.(1953). IntroductiontoPsychology.NewYork:Harcourt,BraceandCompany.

HydeandJenkins(1973).JournalofVerbalLearningandVerbalBehavior,12,471-480.

Hyman, I. E., Husband, T.H., & Billings, F. J. (1995). Falsememoriesof childhood experiences.Applied Cognitive

Psychology,9,181-197.

Loftus, E. F. (1997, September). Creating false memories. Scientific American, 277, 70-75. (Available on

http://faculty.washington.edu/eloftus/Articles/sciam.htm)

Loftus,E.F.,Miller,D.G.,&Burns,H.J.(1978).Semanticintegrationofverbalinformationintovisualmemory.Journal

ofExperimentalPsychology:HumanLearningandMemory,4,19-31.

Loftus,E. F.& Palmer, J.C. (1974). Reconstruction ofautomobile destruction: Anexamplebetween language and

memory.JournalofVerbalLearningandVerbalBehavior,13,3-13.

Loftus,E.F.,&Pickrell,J.E.(1995).Theformationoffalsememories. PsychiatricAnnals,25,720-725.

Mazzoni,G.A.L.,Lombardo,P.,Malvagia,S.&Loftus,E.F.(1999).Dreaminterpretationandfalsebeliefs.Professional

Psychology: Research and Practice, 30, 45-50. (Available on

http://faculty.washington.edu/eloftus/Articles/mazz.htm)

McCloskey,M.&Zaragoza,M.S.(1985).Misleadingposteventinformationandmemoryforevents:Argumentsand

evidenceagainstmemoryimpairmenthypotheses.JournalofExperimentalPsychology:General,114,1-16.

Neisser,U.(1967).CognitivePsychology.Appleton-Century-Crofts:NewYork.

Roediger, H. L.,&McDermott, K. B. (1995).Creating falsememories: Rememberingwords notpresented in lists.

JournalofExperimentalPsychology:LearningMemoryandCognition,21,803-814.

Schneider,D.M.,&Watkins,M.J.(1996).Responseconformityinrecognitiontesting.PsychonomicBulletin&Review,

3,481-485.

Wells,G. L.& Bradfield,A. L.(1999).Distortionsineyewitnesses'recollections:Canthepostidentification feedback

effect be moderated? Psychological Science, 10, 138-144. (Available on

http://psych_server.iastate.edu/faculty/gwells/pslscifeebackrevised.html)

Wright,D.B.,Self,G.,&Justice,C.(2000).Memoryconformity:Exploringmisinformationeffectswhenpresentedby

anotherperson.BritishJournalofPsychology,91,189-202.

Thishandoutwasjointlyproducedby(inalphabeticalorder)ZoltanDienesandAndyField.

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