IB SL Psychology
Internal Assessment
An experiment to investigate the effect of
articulatory suppression on memory recall of a
list of letters
Date of submission: May 2024
IB candidate code:
IB candidate code for group members:
Referencing style: APA
Word count: 2196
,Table of Contents
Introduction _____________________________________________________________________ 1
Aim _________________________________________________________________________________ 2
Independent Variable __________________________________________________________________ 2
Dependent Variable____________________________________________________________________ 3
Research hypothesis (H1) _______________________________________________________________ 3
Null hypothesis (H0) ___________________________________________________________________ 3
Exploration ______________________________________________________________________ 4
Design _______________________________________________________________________________ 4
Sampling technique ____________________________________________________________________ 4
Choice of participants __________________________________________________________________ 4
Materials_____________________________________________________________________________ 5
Procedure ____________________________________________________________________________ 5
Controlled variables ___________________________________________________________________ 5
Analysis _________________________________________________________________________ 7
Descriptive statistics ___________________________________________________________________ 7
Measure of central tendency ____________________________________________________________ 7
Measure of dispersion __________________________________________________________________ 8
Inferential statistics ____________________________________________________________________ 8
Evaluation ______________________________________________________________________ 9
Link to theory and study________________________________________________________________ 9
Evaluation of design ___________________________________________________________________ 9
Evaluation of sample __________________________________________________________________ 10
Evaluation of procedure _______________________________________________________________ 10
Conclusion __________________________________________________________________________ 11
References _____________________________________________________________________ 12
Appendices _____________________________________________________________________ 13
Appendix 1: Standardised Instructions for control group ___________________________________ 13
Appendix 2: Standardised Instructions for experimental group ______________________________ 15
Appendix 3: Informed consent form _____________________________________________________ 17
Appendix 4: Answer sheet _____________________________________________________________ 18
Appendix 5: Standardised list of letters __________________________________________________ 19
Appendix 6: Debriefing form ___________________________________________________________ 20
Appendix 7: Raw Data Table ___________________________________________________________ 21
Appendix 8: Descriptive Statistics Calculations ____________________________________________ 22
Appendix 9: Inferential Statistics Calculations ____________________________________________ 23
, 1
Introduction
The cognitive approach is the study of how information is processed in the mind (Mcleod, 2023a),
including mental processes such as memory, which allows people to encode, store and recall
information (Zlotnik & Vansintjan, 2019). Working memory is a cognitive system which has a
limited capacity for retaining and manipulating information at one time to accomplish tasks
(Baddeley, 1992).
Baddeley and Hitch (1974) developed the Working Memory Model which presented short-term
memory (STM) as composed of subsystems and capable of complex information processing. This
built on the Multistore Memory Model by Atkinson and Shiffrin (Mcleod, 2023b), which presented
STM as encoding information in a unitary system. The subsystems are responsible for retaining and
processing different types of information, mostly acting independently of one another (Baddeley,
1992). The central executive is the supervisory subsystem responsible for allocating information to
and coordinating the two slave memory stores. The specialised stores are the phonological loop,
which is responsible for retaining and processing speech-based material, and the visuospatial
sketchpad, which is responsible for visual and spatial processing. In addition, Baddeley (2000) added
the episodic buffer which is another storage subsystem that integrates sensory information from
different stores into a single episode.
Our investigation was linked to the phonological loop of the Working Memory Model as we
investigated whether articulatory suppression does in fact reduce the accuracy of memory recall of a
list of letters.
Landry and Bartling (2011) tested the Working Memory Model through an experiment investigating
the role of the phonological loop, which we replicated. The phonological loop is further divided into
the phonological store, which stores spoken word, and the articulatory control process, which
Internal Assessment
An experiment to investigate the effect of
articulatory suppression on memory recall of a
list of letters
Date of submission: May 2024
IB candidate code:
IB candidate code for group members:
Referencing style: APA
Word count: 2196
,Table of Contents
Introduction _____________________________________________________________________ 1
Aim _________________________________________________________________________________ 2
Independent Variable __________________________________________________________________ 2
Dependent Variable____________________________________________________________________ 3
Research hypothesis (H1) _______________________________________________________________ 3
Null hypothesis (H0) ___________________________________________________________________ 3
Exploration ______________________________________________________________________ 4
Design _______________________________________________________________________________ 4
Sampling technique ____________________________________________________________________ 4
Choice of participants __________________________________________________________________ 4
Materials_____________________________________________________________________________ 5
Procedure ____________________________________________________________________________ 5
Controlled variables ___________________________________________________________________ 5
Analysis _________________________________________________________________________ 7
Descriptive statistics ___________________________________________________________________ 7
Measure of central tendency ____________________________________________________________ 7
Measure of dispersion __________________________________________________________________ 8
Inferential statistics ____________________________________________________________________ 8
Evaluation ______________________________________________________________________ 9
Link to theory and study________________________________________________________________ 9
Evaluation of design ___________________________________________________________________ 9
Evaluation of sample __________________________________________________________________ 10
Evaluation of procedure _______________________________________________________________ 10
Conclusion __________________________________________________________________________ 11
References _____________________________________________________________________ 12
Appendices _____________________________________________________________________ 13
Appendix 1: Standardised Instructions for control group ___________________________________ 13
Appendix 2: Standardised Instructions for experimental group ______________________________ 15
Appendix 3: Informed consent form _____________________________________________________ 17
Appendix 4: Answer sheet _____________________________________________________________ 18
Appendix 5: Standardised list of letters __________________________________________________ 19
Appendix 6: Debriefing form ___________________________________________________________ 20
Appendix 7: Raw Data Table ___________________________________________________________ 21
Appendix 8: Descriptive Statistics Calculations ____________________________________________ 22
Appendix 9: Inferential Statistics Calculations ____________________________________________ 23
, 1
Introduction
The cognitive approach is the study of how information is processed in the mind (Mcleod, 2023a),
including mental processes such as memory, which allows people to encode, store and recall
information (Zlotnik & Vansintjan, 2019). Working memory is a cognitive system which has a
limited capacity for retaining and manipulating information at one time to accomplish tasks
(Baddeley, 1992).
Baddeley and Hitch (1974) developed the Working Memory Model which presented short-term
memory (STM) as composed of subsystems and capable of complex information processing. This
built on the Multistore Memory Model by Atkinson and Shiffrin (Mcleod, 2023b), which presented
STM as encoding information in a unitary system. The subsystems are responsible for retaining and
processing different types of information, mostly acting independently of one another (Baddeley,
1992). The central executive is the supervisory subsystem responsible for allocating information to
and coordinating the two slave memory stores. The specialised stores are the phonological loop,
which is responsible for retaining and processing speech-based material, and the visuospatial
sketchpad, which is responsible for visual and spatial processing. In addition, Baddeley (2000) added
the episodic buffer which is another storage subsystem that integrates sensory information from
different stores into a single episode.
Our investigation was linked to the phonological loop of the Working Memory Model as we
investigated whether articulatory suppression does in fact reduce the accuracy of memory recall of a
list of letters.
Landry and Bartling (2011) tested the Working Memory Model through an experiment investigating
the role of the phonological loop, which we replicated. The phonological loop is further divided into
the phonological store, which stores spoken word, and the articulatory control process, which
