Cogn. essays
● Evaluate the contemporary study (8)
One strength of Sebastian and Hernandez-Gil (2012) is that the findings can be
generalised to the whole Spanish population. This is because 570 participants took part
in the study and their digit span was measured. This means that the findings are
representative of the Spanish population as anomalies in this large sample will average
out. This increases the generalisability of the conclusions of this study to other
populations. On the other hand, this study used an artificial measure of verbal memory
capacity - digit span, which does not take into account all the information that the
phonological loop can handle since it is based on the order of the digits. This implies
that the study truly measured the maximum number of digits each group can recall in
the correct order and not their verbal memory capacity. This means that the
conclusions from this study are invalid.
One weakness of this study is that it has low ecological validity. This is because the
task of recalling as many digits as possible in the correct order isn’t an everyday task
that one would usually expect to do. This means that the conclusions of the study
cannot be applied to the real world, such as that verbal memory capacity increases with
age or is the same for both dementia patients and the elderly, since in the real world,
verbal memory capacity is also affected by language and education in maths. On the
other hand, these conclusions are supported by other studies that looked at the digit
span of other cultures. For example Ellis and Hennelley (1980) found that digit span for
the Welsh was lower compared to that of the English as the Welsh digits in words take
longer to pronounce and hence occupy more space in the phonological loop and
increase the time for subvocal repetition and the chance of memory fade. This implies
that the conclusions drawn from this contemporary study are reliable as similar findings
were found from different studies.
● Evaluate the contemporary study (8)
One strength of Sebastian and Hernandez-Gil (2012) is that the findings can be
generalised to the whole Spanish population. This is because 570 participants took part
in the study and their digit span was measured. This means that the findings are
representative of the Spanish population as anomalies in this large sample will average
out. This increases the generalisability of the conclusions of this study to other
populations. On the other hand, this study used an artificial measure of verbal memory
capacity - digit span, which does not take into account all the information that the
phonological loop can handle since it is based on the order of the digits. This implies
that the study truly measured the maximum number of digits each group can recall in
the correct order and not their verbal memory capacity. This means that the
conclusions from this study are invalid.
One weakness of this study is that it has low ecological validity. This is because the
task of recalling as many digits as possible in the correct order isn’t an everyday task
that one would usually expect to do. This means that the conclusions of the study
cannot be applied to the real world, such as that verbal memory capacity increases with
age or is the same for both dementia patients and the elderly, since in the real world,
verbal memory capacity is also affected by language and education in maths. On the
other hand, these conclusions are supported by other studies that looked at the digit
span of other cultures. For example Ellis and Hennelley (1980) found that digit span for
the Welsh was lower compared to that of the English as the Welsh digits in words take
longer to pronounce and hence occupy more space in the phonological loop and
increase the time for subvocal repetition and the chance of memory fade. This implies
that the conclusions drawn from this contemporary study are reliable as similar findings
were found from different studies.
