Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Meghan Castellano, Marlee Cohen, Jenna ODonovan, Meenu Joseph, Marissa Pine, & Jaclyn
Spittler
Fall 2016
EXTERNAL STIMULI AND WORKING MEMORY 2
Abstract
Purpose: To determine how outside stimuli affects one's working memory attention while
Method: 20 graduate students completed two recall tasks, one with no stimuli and one with
visual and auditory stimuli (a video clip). They were given sets of 7 numbers and had to recall
Results: Participants recalled numbers better in the no stimulus task, recalling an average of 5.68
out of 7 numbers. In the dual stimuli task, participants recalled an average of 4.85 out of 7
numbers.
Discussion: Participants were better able to recall numbers after being presented with 30 seconds
Introduction
Within the 21st century, graduate programs have increased in competitiveness and
complexity. Graduate students are faced with an immense amount of pressures both in and out of
the classroom. The environmental stimuli of the classroom has transformed from strict note
taking to multiple stimuli that can interrupt the focus of students. The present study was aimed at
determining if the environment that students study in has a direct impact on his or her grades
Working memory plays an important role in the success of students within the
classroom. Graduate courses involve higher level cognitive functioning and attentional skills
which are also need to be constant components in their studying. According to Baddeley,
working memory is the processing of information that occurs at that moment. Baddeley's
working memory model is the theoretical framework that this study is based on. Additionally, the
working memory system is a limited capacity system, meaning that the working memory can
only hold a certain amount of information before it goes into overload and information
processing is interrupted. There are four subsystems: visuo-spatial sketchpad, phonological loop,
The study aims to determine if recall through the phonological loop using subvocal
rehearsal or any other preferred strategy will increase or decrease the number of digits recalled
by the individuals when presented with outside visual and auditory stimuli. Phonological loop is
a temporary storage system concerned with verbal and acoustic information within Baddeley's
working memory model that encompasses a subvocal rehearsal system. The visuo-spatial
sketchpad is the subsystem that processes visual and kinesthetic information and encompasses
the ability to alter the images in one's mind. The episodic buffer is used when there is an
EXTERNAL STIMULI AND WORKING MEMORY 4
overload of information between the phonological loop and visuo-spatial sketchpad. The central
executive component is responsible for attention and long-term memory retrieval. The subvocal
rehearsal system is a strategy used to rehearse a series of items in one working memory before it
enters long-term memory. Digit recall is holding sequences of numbers in one's working
memory. The number of digits can range from zero to eight (Baddeley, 2003).
listened to unrelated digits and tried to repeat the list every time they heard a new number. For
example, if they were told "5" the child would say "5." The examiner would then say "7" and the
child would say "5, 7." This was an adapted memory training task to be done with children with
Down Syndrome. The study found that auditory verbal memory span in children with Down
Syndrome improved due to this rehearsal strategy. Since participants in the current study being
conducted are typically developing adults the tasks were adapted to fit their cognitive level. They
were given all 7 digits at one time and expected to use their own strategies to be able to recall the
digits after a 30 second wait time period. Researchers presented digits auditorily to the subjects
and expected them to use subvocal rehearsal within the phonological loop in order to recall the
Experimenters were looking to see how the environment stimuli impacted the recall
numbers after waiting a specific time period. This study can help determine the optimal
environment students need in order to retain information and increase their academic
performance. The goal was to simulate the classroom environment during this experiment by
expecting participants to recall information from working memory while there is a distracting
stimulus. It is hypothesized that graduate students will have better recall of numbers when there
EXTERNAL STIMULI AND WORKING MEMORY 5
are no background stimuli presented than when they are exposed to both visual and auditory
stimuli simultaneously. The specific research question is: Would recall of numbers be better
when graduate level students are presented with auditory and visual stimuli in the background
Methods
Participants
Participants in this study were recruited as part of a research project for Research
Methods 1 in the School of Health of Medical Sciences at Seton Hall University. The 20
graduate students are currently enrolled at Seton Hall University for either Speech-Language
Pathology or Physical Therapy. Their age ranges from 22 years old to 27 years old. Additional
information about the participants background are recorded in Table 1 in the appendix.
Participants were included if their primary language was English and had no hearing
glasses they were able to be included. Exclusion criteria was if participants had a high-stress
level at the time of the experiment, a 3 on a 1-3 scale, or slept less than three hours the night
Procedures
Prior to beginning the experiment, the participant completed a questionnaire, seen in the
appendix Questionnaire 1, that included background information that could be used as exclusion
criteria. This information can be found in Table 1 (numbers represent amount of participants).
Each participant was identified through the last four digits of their phone number, which allowed
them to remain anonymous throughout the experiment. Once participants completed the
questionnaire, scripted instructions were read to them. A script was used in order to make sure
EXTERNAL STIMULI AND WORKING MEMORY 6
that the directions were given the same way to each participant and control for inter-rater
reliability.
In order to prevent background noise altering the results, participants were placed in an
environment that had reduced background sound. Each participant then completed four tasks
(two total trials); two under no stimuli followed by two under the dual stimuli environment. The
tasks consisted of repeating back numbers that were presented with stimuli and without stimuli.
There were two sets of numbers for both conditions and a time gap of thirty seconds after each
set was presented to the participant. All participants participated in both trials, no stimuli and
dual stimuli respectively, to ensure accurate results and keep consistency. Researchers used two
trails for dual stimuli in order to vary the stimulus that the participant was exposed to. Since dual
stimuli was performed twice the no stimuli condition was also performed twice to match the
number of trials.
During each task, individuals were given seven numbers to recall when prompted.
Numbers were used instead of words as a stimuli because students are exposed to numbers on a
daily basis and they are not program specific, which prevents any sort of bias based on the
individual's lexicon. These seven numbers were randomly generated by one experimenter, and
given via recording. For the no stimuli task, the first set of numbers was "5764839" and the
second set of numbers was "2349604." For the dual stimuli task the first set of numbers was
"8963768" and the second set of numbers was "9482905." By recording the numbers,
experimenters ensured that all participants received the stimuli in the same manner in each trial.
This increased fidelity and account for both intra-rater and inter-rater reliability.
For the no stimuli tasks, participants were asked to listen to the set of numbers, wait 30
seconds, and then verbally recall the numbers in the order that they heard. A timer was used to
EXTERNAL STIMULI AND WORKING MEMORY 7
determine when the 30 seconds was up. The participant was then prompted by the researcher,
"tell me the numbers." This was done for both sets. The data collector marked the amount of
numbers correct out of the seven that were given. The same procedure was done for the next
task (dual stimuli), but this time a 30-second clip was played on a computer. The same two
videos, a M & M's Mini Television Commercial from 1998 and a Lunchables Pizza Commercial
from 1996, were used for the two sets with dual stimuli. The amount of numbers recalled in both
of the tasks were recorded in an excel spreadsheet and then analyzed using SPSS to see if there
No Stimuli Tasks
Students participated in two trials for the no stimuli task. Participants were asked to
repeat two different sets of seven numbers (trials) each 30 seconds following them receiving no
Participants were asked to repeat two different sets of seven numbers each after watching
a 30-second commercial. The commercial for trial 1 differed from trial 2. The same process of
finding the participants' averages was completed for the stimulus condition as stated in no stimuli
section.
Results
Analysis
The research question asked if external stimuli would affect recall of numbers. To answer
this question two conditions, no stimuli and dual stimuli, were compared. The dependent
variable is the amount of correct numbers that were recalled. Experimenters decided to find the
average amount of recalled numbers out of the seven that were given from the two sets of no
EXTERNAL STIMULI AND WORKING MEMORY 8
stimuli results and the two sets of dual stimuli results. For the no stimuli results, it was found
that the average amount of numbers recalled by the participants was 5.68 out of 7. For the dual
stimuli results, the average amount of numbers recalled was 4.85 out of 7. Table 2 provides
Using SPSS, a Paired Samples T-Test was conducted to analyze the results comparing
these two means. It was found that a significant difference was present between the conditions
explored throughout the study, t(19) = 2.98, p = .05, with the advantage to the no stimuli tasks
having the better number recall. The mean from the paired samples test is .83 with a standard
deviation of 1.24. These results suggest that the hypothesis is correct and that the null hypothesis
can be rejected. This means that graduate school students recall numbers better when in silence,
Discussion
This study tested the working memory of graduate students with information that is well
known to everyone (numbers), however, it is unknown how auditory and visual distractions
would affect one's working memory when learning new information. This relates to graduate
students in the classroom because every day they are learning something new. Based on the
findings of recall with familiar information, outside stimuli may affect the learning of new
information more greatly. The purpose of this study was to determine how outside stimuli affect
one's working memory capability while listening to a lecture. The results found that participants
performed better with the recall of numbers when they were not distracted by outside stimuli.
When participants were not distracted by outside stimuli, they were able to rehearse the numbers
results. Within the model, an individual uses both the visuo-spatial sketchpad and the
phonological loop when presented with information. The episodic buffer is utilized when there is
an overload of information in the brain (Baddeley, 2003). The results suggest that participants'
episodic buffer component was not helpful when it came to recalling numbers when both
auditory and visual stimuli were presented. When the auditory and visual stimuli were presented,
participants experienced difficulty remembering the exact numbers that were given to them. This
could be due to an interruption in subvocal rehearsal because of the external stimuli impacting
The null hypothesis states that there is no difference between the recall of numbers with
or without stimuli. The null hypothesis was rejected because a significant difference was found
when comparing the recall of numbers with no stimuli to dual stimuli (p<0.05). Therefore, the
hypothesis is correct. Many graduate students prefer to study information with background music
on, however, the findings suggest that this is not the ideal studying environment. These
individuals are exposed to numerous external stimuli within the classroom while listening to a
Clinical Implications
Clinical implications found from our results include having a stimulus in the background
which an effect on working memory recall tasks. The findings suggest that there is an effect on
working memory when there is a stimuli versus when there is no stimuli. Participants had a more
difficult time recalling the sets of numbers when there was a stimulus presented. These results
suggest that when trying to attend to a lecture and recall what was being taught a student needs to
avoid outside stimuli for the information to register successfully. The findings obtained can be
EXTERNAL STIMULI AND WORKING MEMORY 10
used for helping students to find the optimal environment to recall the information they have
learned in lectures. Working memory is an essential component for students' ability to retain and
recall information. This is useful in understanding the influence that working memory has on
graduate students' studying capabilities. This may further contribute to students' grades and
academic success through school. The findings obtained through this study may explain the
A limitation in this study is that the participants involved only represented graduate
students in the health and medical field, which is not representative of the whole population. The
reduced number of participants used in this study make it a limited sample. In the future this
study could be conducted with a larger number of participants from various age groups and
Conclusion
Overall, these findings have determined that recalling numbers is more successful while
in silence (or as close to it as possible) than while presented with external stimuli. These results
have a clinical relevance to other graduate students and their learning environments including
learning and studying in the quietest possible environment. This is a useful technique to ensure
References
Baddeley, A. (2003, February 25). Working memory and language: An overview. Journal of
Conners, F., Rosenquist, C., Arnett, L., Moore, M., & Hume, L. (2008, March). Improving
Fast Forward Eats The Tape. (2016, January 1). M&Ms Mini Television Commercial 1998.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmbE9x9WFqc
EXTERNAL STIMULI AND WORKING MEMORY 12
Appendix
Questionnaire 1.
Participant Background Information
Background information on the participants within the study
Last 4 digits of Phone Number: __ __ __ __
Age:______
Gender: Male Female Other
Handed: Left Right Ambidextrous
What graduate program are you enrolled in: PT SLP
How do you study: Silence Background Music Background TV
Any vision impairments: No Yes, Aided (glasses or contacts) Yes, unaided (nothing)
Any hearing impairments: No Yes, Aided Yes, Unaided
How many hours of sleep did you get last night: 0-2 3-5 6-8 9-above
What type of learner are you: Visual Auditory Kinesthetic Read/Write Other:______
What is your primary language: English Other:________
Rate your stress level
(Lowdo not feel at all) 1 2 3 (Highhaving a breakdown)