Will Word Association Help Kids to Memorize Certain Words Easier

Practice IA For International Baccalaureate Psychology SL

Candidate Name: Logan Stepp Session Number: Hillcrest High School Midvale Utah, USA School Code: 001395

Instructor: Sunny Allen Submission Date: 29 September 2013 Word Count: 1,562

Table of Contents: Abstract 3 Introduction 4 Methods 5 Design Participants Materials Procedure Results 6 Description of results Graph of Calculated Data Discussion 7 Conclusion References 8 Appendix 9-12

Abstract: The aim of our investigation was to see if people could memorize words easier with association to another word, or without an association. I believe that with this research we will find out that people can easily memorize words better with an association word and this will be an easy topic to test. We will be using the cognitive process using memory and our brains, which can cause skewing, but thats where the adventure is. We will give each person all of the materials that they will need, except for a brain and a pencil. They will only need to spend about 5 minutes all together and that is all. Students that were studied was an IB class at hillcrest high school with 30 students in it. Our results showed that data was skewed because it is harder to memorize words that are shown for only 3 seconds rather than a longer time period. In conclusion our data proved my hypothesis wrong because it was skewed and it showed that it is just equally hard to memorize words that have an association, rather than not having an association.

Introduction: Why do most of us have bad memories? The truthful answer is that we dont, most of us just do not have enough practice using it efficiently. Our memory works by association. If there is no obvious association between things, its very difficult to remember them. In this study, we, as a group, were testing if word association would help students memorize words easier. With a PowerPoint, we showed 20 slides with two words on each slide. Some of the words were associated and others were not, this would help us see if word association would help memory. Students at Duke University tested this same idea and question in their experiment Neural Correlates of Relational Memory: Successful Encoding and Retrieval of Semantic and Perceptual Associations. Participants were scanned while encoding and then retrieving associations between words (semantic condition) or between words and fonts (perceptual condition). The retrieval task was an associative recognition test that included identical and recombined pairs in the semantic condition, recombined pairs consisted of words encoded in separate pairs, whereas in the perceptual condition recombined pairs consisted of studied pairs written in a font previously seen in a different pair. (Prince, 2004) This is important to people, if it is a scientific fact then people will listen to it more and they will see if it works. People would like to have easier ways to remember what can help them and wont in memorizing words. I predict that people who have word associations with their words that they are trying to memorize will get more words correct than those words with word that do not associate. To test this we will be doing the test on a school psychology class with students to see if it works.

Methods: Design: We used the repeated design because for the test we were doing, it was easier to find the results. We controlled the group by giving them papers that we wanted them to fill out instead of their own papers, everyone got the same things, same distracter, same everything, except pens or pencils. The independent variable was the words that we used and the dependent variable was the people in the room. We did not harm them at all, we did not touch them, give them anything to ingest or anything along those lines with their ethical standards. Did not force them to be part of it. Participants: In our experiment we had 30 students and they were between the ages of 16-17. There were 14 males and 16 females; this could have caused our data to mishap. All students that were in this experiment were students in the IB program at hillcrest and were used mainly for convenience and we did not split them into groups. Materials: In this experiment we had a PowerPoint with 20 slides, which had two words on each slide. Ten slides were made where both words were associated and then the other ten slides had words that were not associated at all. We also had a consent form, an answer sheet, which was for the answers. Included a procedure and a short questionnaire. All these materials are found in the Appendix. Procedure: We had everyone who was participating in the study fill out a consent form and sign it at the bottom. After that was completed we picked that up and explained what we were going to do and if they dont want to be part of it they can leave at anytime, no harm would come to them. As we gave instructions we asked for questions, after that we showed the PowerPoint for 3 seconds each slide. As soon as we did that we handed out our distracter, which was a small questionnaire about the words so that they wouldnt think about the words anymore. After we collected those questionnaires we handed out the test so they could fill it out. Once they had that filled out we had them put their age and whether they were male or female on the bottom right hand corner of their papers. As we finished collecting all the tests we debriefed them telling them when results would be available and how to get them. We told them that we were thankful for their participation and after all study was over we gave them candy. (All information stated in procedure is in the Appendix)

Results: Our data showed that most people were able to get about 4-6 words correct. Our main tendencies were the mean, which was 2.7 words correct, median, which was 5 words, and our mode was also 5 words correct. Students had a hard time trying to get the words memorized.

Associated Words Non-Associated Words

As you can see in the data chart it shows that students were mainly in the lower categories for people who could get a lot of the words right. Even though we had twenty words, the highest amount someone had on their paper was 11 and this caused the data to be skewed which could be good because it wasnt skewed as much as it could have been if someone got 20 out of 20 words. This graph shows that the majority of people got about 5-6 words correctly. The reason we collected data this way and charted it this way was to see if people could be put in categories for enough help to get the words associated. As it shows above our graph really is skewed due to the fifth category and sixth category because they are both the same for associated and non-associated, but that is what makes this case so interesting. Calculations and raw data are included in the appendix.

Discussion: Our results show that people had an equally difficult time trying to memorize words with association as without association. This experiment was a good experiment to try but my hypothesis was incorrect because the data was skewed. If we had more words, a longer time period, and more students, then this test would have been much easier to complete and not be so skewed. What is a good sign is that not one person got below one word correct in the association column, but in the non-associated column, the students got two people who had zero words correctly. The participants most likely acted like this because the slides were too short. Maybe if the slides had a longer time period, like five seconds instead of 3, then the results couldve been different. The data also couldve been skewed one way because of how long we took on the distracter; that could have been a different result without the distracter. The data also couldve been skewed because the people might have been bored and not really paid attention in the slides so when they had to fill out the answer sheet then they didnt try because they already knew it. The idea is to be creative and clever. You dont have to invent a rhyme or a poem every time you want to remember something, though just think of a picture in your mind that links pieces of information together, preferably something unusual or silly so it is more memorable. For example, suppose you want to remember that the football field is on Maple Street. You might imagine in your mind a burly football player eating a football for breakfast he pours some maple syrup on the football, cuts off a chunk and eats it!(thememorypage, 2012) This is good because it shows how you dont need to make the words special but make it so that you can remember them without doing anything special. How people memorize things is one of the factors that I couldnt control because some might have tricky methods and the slides may have made them think too fast. I cant control who took the test and did the memorization, who was in the class or the students race, ethnicity or age, or gender and that could cause overlap. I also couldnt change how people saw things a certain way, so that could have been a reason data was skewed. Next time we could have people move to where they can see they board clearly, and also couldve lengthened the time of the slides, that could cause different results next time.

References: Prince, D. C. (2004, 12 19). Neural Correlates of Relational Memory. Retrieved 09 29, 2013, from The Journal of Neuroscience : http://www.jneurosci.org/content/25/5/1203.full?sid=b8d453a9-055b-4798-8ac2673fa8c92c25 thememorypage. (2012). How to Improve Your Memory with Associations. Retrieved 09 29, 2013, from The Memory Page: http://www.thememorypage.net/how-to-improve-yourmemory-with-associations/

Appendix;
Gender Male Female Frequency 14 16 Age Frequency 16 20 17 10

# Of words correct 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Total Mean: Standard deviation: Range: Median:

Frequency Associated Non-associated 0 2 0 4 1 6 3 3 6 7 7 3 6 0 4 4 2 0 1 1 0 0 30 30 2.73 2.53 2 to 9 5 0 to 9 3.5 2.73 2.3

Associated Words Non-Associated Words

Procedure: If you agree to be in this study, you will be asked to do the following: 1. Watch a short PowerPoint 2. Fill out a brief answer sheet The total time required to complete the study should be approximately 15 minutes. Benefits/Risks to Participant: Participants will learn about how memorization works and will help contribute to the body of knowledge in psychology. Risks include any discomfort you may feel while watching the power point or responding to questions. Voluntary Nature of the Study/Confidentiality: Your participation in this study is entirely voluntary and you may refuse to complete the study at any point during the experiment, or refuse to answer any questions with which you are uncomfortable. You may also stop at any time and ask the researcher any questions you may have. Your name will never be connected to your results or to your responses on the questionnaires; instead, a number will be used for identification purposes. Information that would make it possible to identify you or any other participant will never be included in any sort of report. The data will be accessible only to those working on the project and any participant interested in the final results. Statement of Consent: I have read the above information. I have asked any questions I had regarding the experimental procedure and they have been answered to my satisfaction. I consent to participate in this study. Name of Participant_________________________________________Date: __________ (Please print) Signature of Participant ___________________________________________

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Response Questions: 1. One a scale from 1-10 (10 being most frequent), how often do you encounter the words you saw?

2. On a scale from 1-10 (10 being most complex), how complex were the words you saw?

3. How many words do you think there were?

4. What was your favorite word listed? 5. How did these words make you feel?

Gender (circle one):

Age (circle one): 15 16 17 18

Answer Sheet: 1. Ant2. Ball3. Milk4. Sun5. Gas6. Beard7. Soup8. Scarf9. Shoe10. Math11. Leaf12. Head13. Mouse14. Tree15. Party16. Heart17. Storm18. Pencil19. Skin20. Flat-

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Word Associations Procedure 1. Hand out and collect completed consent form. Thank you for participating in our study. If you sign this consent form you are agreeing to view a short PowerPoint presentation and complete a response sheet afterwards. If you agree to this and the points listed on the form, please sign it and pass it to the front of the row. Are there any questions? (Fivesecond pause) 2. Read pre-PowerPoint instructions to the class. We will now play a short PowerPoint presentation. Please pay close attention, but do not take any notes. Are there any questions? (Five-second pause) 3. Present PowerPoint with both words to the class. 4. Hand out distracter questions and read distracter instructions to the class. Please complete the questions listed on the sheet in front of you. We will collect it once you have completed it. Are there any questions? (Five-second pause) 5. Collect distracter answers 6. Hand out real answer sheet, read the pre-answer instructions We will now present to you some of the words that you saw in the initial PowerPoint. Please write down the associated word for each word on your answer sheet. Are there any questions? (Five-second pause) 7. Collect the answer sheets 8. Read the debrief Thank you for participating in our study. The purpose of this study was to determine if commonly associated words are remembered easier than non-associated words. The results will be available in two weeks from Mrs. Allen in room. If any of you are experiencing mental or physical trauma as a result of this experiment, please consult one of Mrs. Allen or us.

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