Positive and negative effects of technology on cognition

What was Blacker´s (2014) IV?

• Whether pts played action games or non-action games

• Pts score on a visual working memory task

• Pts level of experience in using the internet

• The type of encoding they did.

Which of the following is a limitation of Sparrow´s (2011) study?

• It used a 2x2 factorial design

• There was a gender bias in the sample

• The information the pts had to memorise had little personal relevance

Which of the following is a strength of Mueller & Oppenheimer (2014)?

• It was an independent measures design

• The standard deviations were high.

• It had a standardized procedure

What explanation did Mueller & Oppenheimer give for their findings?

Answer explanation

When pts make notes by hand, they are forced to summarize what they hear. This requires a level of cognitive processing that is not necessary when typing as most people can type quickly enough to write down everything a speaker says. This additional cognitive processing may have helped these pts recall the information.

True or false: Small´s (2009) study lacked ecological validity.

• True

• False

Which TWO of the following are limitations of Blacker (2014)?

• Order effects may have influenced the findings.

• There was no way to check the pts were doing what they had been asked.

• There was low internal validity.

• The sample had a gender bias.

What is the main problem with Blacker´s (2014) sample?

• The sample was unrepresentative.

• The pts were old.

• It was very small

• A number of pts dropped out while the study was in progress.

In Sparrow's (2011) study, pts recalled a higher percentage of facts when they were told the facts would be....

• saved

• erased