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Study: Effects of exercise on memory (Labuan and Etneir, 2011)

Theory: The Yerkes-Dodson Law (an inverted U hypothesis of arousal and performance)

An alternative is the reticular-activating hypofrontality theory, but my understanding of this complex theory is that it explains implicit memory, not explicit memory

Tips: This is not a good study to conduct online and it is time-consuming and involves many practical difficulties. It would require highly motivated participants who were willing to give up a lot of time and effort.

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Study: The effects of word length of memory (Baddeley, Thomson and Buchanan, 1975)

Info: This study found that participants could remember monosyllabic words better than polysyllabic words (E.g. those with eight syllables). This is in stark contrast to Miller’s hypothesis that “…the capacity of short-term memory is constant when measured in terms of number of chunks, a chunk being a subjectively meaningful unit.” This study challenges this hypothesis.

Theory: Miller’s hypothesis and/or the multi-store model of memory (capacity of the short-term store).

Tips: Be warned – this study is more complicated than it looks because the link between the hypothesis and the study can be difficult to comprehend. It’s also different in that it’s challenging a background theory, whereas most studies for the IA are supporting one.

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Study: forming impressions of someone’s personality (Asch, 1946).

Theory: Edit: I previously stated that  “the primacy of warmth effect” was a possible theory to use. However, effects are no longer accepted as “theories or models” for the IA so you’ll need a specific theory to explain this effect.

Info: “In the classic warm-cold study (Study I), participants were either exposed to a trait-list containing warm or to a trait-list containing cold, keeping all other traits identical between groups. Participants then wrote down their impression of the target person (open-ended measure), selected which traits from a trait-pair list were most applicable to the target (trait-pair choice measure), and ranked the original traits according to importance for their impression (ranking measure).” Those with “warm” in the list rated the person more favourably than those with “cold” in the list.

Tips: To test the primacy of warmth effect, make sure “warm” or “cold” is at the top of the list of adjectives.

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Study: Weapon focus and memory reliability (Loftus, Loftus and Messo, 1987).

Theory: Theoretical explanations include the “unusual item hypothesis” (read more), Easterbrook’s (1959) cue-utilisation hypothesis or the “automatic capture of attention” hypothesis (Read more about both these hypothesis in Pickel et al.’s 2006 study). (Edit: The “weapon focus” is not a theory or model, so you need a theory to explain the effect).

Info: People have reduced memory of a scene when a weapon is present because their attention is focused on the weapon. Loftus et al. tested this by showing participants a slide show of a robbery where the robber shows the cashier a gun in one condition, or a check in another.

Tips: The weapon can be manipulated in a photo using photoshop. Avoid using images that are gruesome or violent for ethical reasons.

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Heuristics and Biases (e.g. Anchoring Effect)

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Heuristics and Biases (e.g. Anchoring Effect)

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Study: Anchoring bias and guessing Gandhi’s age by Kahneman and Tversky; could also use ascending/descending maths problem (1x2x-…x8) or (8x7x6….x1).

Theory: The dual processing model of thinking and decision-making

Info: This study aimed to see if we can manipulate people’s thinking by using the anchoring effect. This is when you give someone a random number and it can influence their guess about the value of an unrelated item.

Tip: It’s best to try to use the dual processing model of thinking and decision-making as the background theory or model to explain the phenomenon of the anchoring effect. Previously “effects” such as the anchoring effect, the Mozart effect, or the misinformation effect have been acceptable as background theories to the studies replicated for the IA. However, as of May 2021, they are no longer accepted.

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Study: Google effects on Memory by Sparrow, Liu and Wegner (2011)

Theory: Transactive memory theory (Wegner, 1985).

Info: This study tested the effects of external storage systems of information (e.g. google) on memory.

Tip: The original experiment had multiple conditions – you can simplify it to two conditions (one IV) and one DV.

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Study: The duration of short-term memory by Peterson and Peterson (1959)

Theory: Multi-store model of memory (Atkinson and Shiffrin)

Info: This study tested the duration of short-term memory by having participants remember trigrams whilst counting backwards at varying intervals. They found our short-term memory without rehearsal is about 20 seconds.

Tip: Simplify the original experiment to only two conditions to make it easier for the inferential analysis.

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Study: The Influence of Taking Photos on Memory for a Museum Tour by Henkel (2013)
Theories: Multi-store model (Atkinson and Shiffrin); Cue-Dependent Forgetting by Tulving (1974)
Info: Two studies examined whether photographing objects impacts what is remembered about them. When participants zoomed in to photograph a specific part of the object, their subsequent recognition and detail memory were not impaired, and, in fact, memory for features that were not zoomed in on was just as strong as a memory for features that were zoomed in on.

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Study: Does holding a warm cup of coffee increase mood? (Williams and Barge, 2008).

Theory: Bowlby’s attachment theory

Tips: This is a difficult study to conduct because it’s time-consuming – each participant has to be studied individually and it requires many practical considerations.

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Study: The effects of visual noise on memory (Quinn and McConnell, 1996)

Theory: The working memory model

Info: When participants are trying to use visual mnemonics to remember words, watching visual static interferes with memory recall more so than if they are using simple rote learning memorization techniques (e.g. repeating the word over and over).

Tips:  You can use “static noise” clips on Youtube for interference.

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Study: The influence of self-reference on memory (Rogers, Kuiper, and Kirker, 1977)

Theory: Levels of processing theory; schema theory

Info: This involved presenting a cue question, followed by 1 of the 40 adjectives. Subjects answered yes or no to the cue question as it applied to the adjective. They were then given a blank piece of paper and 3 minutes to write down as many as they could remember. The results showed the self-referencing condition had the best recall.

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Smartphone Distractions and Cognition (Beli)

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Smartphone Distractions and Cognition (Beli)

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Studies: Smartphone notifications and working memory (Aharony and Zion, 2019); The mere presence of a smartphone and working memory (Ward et al. 2017)

Theory: Cognitive load theory (Sweller, 1988)

Info: Aharony and Zion/ Ward et. al. > people were getting smartphone notifications their performance on working memory tests was reduced. Ward et al.

Tip: Some studies have used a word find as a way to measure “cognitive performance” when distracted by cell phones.

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Effects of WhatsApp’s Use on Working Memory