Cognitive Approach

Andrade (Doodling)
Background
- Researchers found that when an individual’s attention is divided, they tend
to perform poorer, however, doodling has been found to enhance
concentration (Do and Schallert, 2004), perhaps due to the reduction of
daydreaming.

- This can be explained by the working memory model which suggests that
daydreaming is associated with high levels of arousal when concentrating on
a task and therefore the ‘central executive’ cannot spend enough cognitive
processing resources on the primary task.
- As reported by Wilson and Korn (2007), doodling might help maintain an
optional arousal level by either increasing or decreasing it depending on the
situation.

Aim
- To find whether doodling would aid information processing by either
increasing the efficiency of listening or enhancing memory.

Method
- Laboratory Experiment

IV
- If the participants were in the ‘doodling’ or ‘control’ condition.

DV
- The number of correctly recalled names.
Sample
- 40 individuals, with ages ranging from 15 to 55.
- Recruited from the Medical Research Council for Cognitive Research.
- They were paid a small sum for participating in the study.

Design
- Independent Measures Design

Procedure
- Participants listened to a boring, simulated phone conversation describing
a birthday party and individuals who are going and not going there, several
places were mentioned too. The phone call lasted 2.5 minutes and included
8 names of the party- goers and 3 of the non- party- goers as well as 8 place
names. Individuals in the ‘doodling’ group were provided an A4 paper with
outlined shapes and encouraged to doodle while listening to the
conversation, those in the ‘control’ group were not. They were told they will
be tested on recalling the names of the individuals who will go to the party,
which was the ‘monitoring’ task. Additionally, there was a ‘recall’ task in
which they were asked to remember the names of the places mentioned.
Counterbalancing was used (the order of the ‘monitoring’ and ‘recall’ task
was randomized) in order to reduce order effects. The dependent variable
was operationalized by accepting the names misspelled due to the
participants hearing it wrong and considering the names of the individuals
who weren’t going to the party as false alarms. The final score was
calculated by subtracting the false alarms from the number of correct names
provided. The experimenter debriefed the participants about the memory
test and apologized for deceiving them.

Results
- Participants in the doodling condition doodled 36 shapes on average
- Participants in the ‘control’ condition provided correctly a mean of 7.1 out
of 8 names with five of them making false alarms while participants in the
‘doodling’ condition recalled a mean of 7.8 party- goer names and only one
false alarm was made.
- The ‘doodling’ group provided 29% more correct information about the
names of individuals and places than the ‘control’ one, their recall for
monitored and incidental information was significantly higher.

Conclusions
- Doodling was concluded to aid concentration since those who did doodle
recalled more information than those who did not.
- As those in the ‘doodling’ condition performed better on both the
monitored and incidental tasks, it can be assumed that they either noticed
more words because their attention was enhanced, or their memory was
improved since doodling might have supported a deeper information
processing. It is difficult to assess which of these suggestions is more realistic
due to there not being information collected on the levels of daydreaming of
individuals.

Strengths And Weaknesses

- Low ecological validity as the experiment was conducted in a laboratory.
- High validity as the procedure was standardized and the environment was
highly controlled.
- Quantitative data was collected.
- Low generalizability as the sample was small, consisted of mostly females
and was recruited from the same place.

Ethical Issues
- The participants were unable to fully give their informed consent as they
were unexpectedly tested on place names.
- Being unable to remember the names could have made them mentally
distressed, exposing them to the risk of psychological harm.

Baron- Cohen et al. (Eyes test)

Background
- Autism is a condition characterized by challenges in social skills, impaired
verbal and non- verbal communication and lack of imaginative abilities.
Individuals with autism, therefore, struggle with understanding the
intentions of others, realizing what they experience and lack empathy.
Baron- Cohen named this decreased cognitive process a lack of ‘theory of
mind.
- To measure the ‘theory of mind’ of individuals with autism, Baron- Cohen
et al. came up with the ‘Reading the Mind in the Eyes’ task but there were
issues in it. Therefore he came up with a revised version of it.

Aim
To test if the revised version of ‘Reading the Mind in the Eyes’ task would
be successful at differentiating participants with Asperger’s Syndrome or
High- Functioning Autism from the general population.

Hypothesis
- Participants with AS or HFA will have lower scores on the task.
- Participants with AS or HFA will have higher scores on the Autism Spectrum
Quotient Test (AQ) measure.
- Females in the adult and student comparison group will score higher on
the task than males in the same group.
- Males in the student comparison group will score higher on the AQ than
females.
- The scores on the AQ and task will be negatively correlated.
Method
- Laboratory Experiment

IV
- The type of participant in each condition.
- One experimental group and three control groups where th participants in
the control group suffered from AS/HFA.

DV
- The scores on the AQ and the eyes task.

Sample
There were four participant groups in the experiment:
- Group 1. AS/HFA participants – 15 adults recruited by volunteer sampling
using an advert in the Autistic Society magazine, they were diagnosed by the
DSM or ICD criteria, their mean IQ was 115 (matched with Group 4) and
mean age 30.
- Group 2. Adult comparison group – 122 adults recruited by opportunity
sampling from educational classes in Exeter and Cambridge library users,
mean age 46.
- Group 3. Student comparison group – 103 young adults, recruited by
opportunity sampling from the Cambridge University (their intellect may be
higher since Cambridge is a highly selective university and therefore not
representative of the general population) mean age 21.
- Group 4. IQ matched group – 14 individuals recruited by random sampling
from the general population, with a mean IQ of 116 and mean age of 28.

Design
- Independent Measures Design
Procedure
Prior to the study, a pilot study was conducted to assess the most
appropriate label for each of the emotions on the photographs – at least 5
out of the 8 judges had to agree.
The revised ‘Reading the Mind in the Eyes’ task was improved with the
following adjustments: there were more sets of eyes – 36 as opposed to the
prior 25; the gender of the eyes was balanced – 18 males and 18 females;
there were 4 choices of emotions for every photograph; the participants
were given a glossary to which they could refer to for the definition of the
emotions at any time during the experiment.
All participants consented to take part in the study.
Participants in all groups expect the adult comparison one were asked to
complete the Autism Spectrum Quotient test.
Participants in all groups were asked to complete the eyes task. Additionally,
participants in the AS/HFA group were asked to determine the gender of the
eyes. The control groups were not asked so since pilot tests showed that
most ‘normal’ adults score 100% at this.
Participants could take as much time as necessary to complete the task.

Results
- The eyes task showed that participants in the AS/HFA group identified
fewer correct emotion labels than those in the other groups. They, however,
identified at least 33 out of the 36 genders on the photographs.
- There were differences between the results of males and females in the
adult and student comparison group but they were not significant.
- There were no cases in which participants would check more than 2
definitions in the glossary.
- AS/HFA group participants scored significantly higher on the AQ test than
the student comparison and IQ matched group.
- There was a significant difference between the male and female score in
the student comparison group on the AQ test.
- The negative correlation between the AQ and eyes task was confirmed and
therefore suggests how as an individual’s AQ score increases (presenting
higher autistic traits), their ability to recognize emotions decreases. There
was no negative correlation between IQ and eyes task.

Conclusions
- Individuals with Asperger’s Syndrome and High Functioning Autism have an
impaired cognition at identifying the emotions of others and therefore a lack
of theory of mind.
- There is a basis to which males can be considered as having more autistic
traits than females since they performed poorer at the Eyes Task, however
not significant.
- The revised version of the Reading the Mind in the Eyes task is more
efficient at measuring social intelligence than the original version and thus
allows a more accurate method of deciphering individual differences when
assessing autistic traits.

Strengths And Weaknesses

-Low ecological validity as the experiment was conducted in a laboratory.
-High validity as the procedure was standardized and the environment was
highly controlled.
- This study cannot be useful in real life.
- This study supports the nature side of the nature- nurture debate.
- Quantitative data was collected
- High generalizability as participants had different intellects and came from
different areas. Low generalizability because sample of AS/HFA participants
is small.
Ethical Issues
- Participants with AS/HFA might feel alienated from the rest of the
participants.

Laney et al. (False memories)

Background
- It has been found that memories can be distorted. Braun et al. (2002)
reported that it is possible to implant false neutral memories by convincing
individuals they have met Bugs Bunny at Disneyland while Bugs Bunny is a
Warner Bros character. Other studies, such as Bernstein et al (2005) showed
that memory alteration can also have consequences as individuals who were
implanted false memories about being sick after eating pickles or eggs
changed their likelihood of eating them. Alternatively, Laney et al. wanted to
find whether implantation of positive memories could create positive
consequences.
- The study was composed of two experiments. The first experiment was
conducted to investigate whether it is possible to change a individual’s
eating behaviour by implanting a positive false memory about liking a
specific food. The second experiment aimed at ensuring the reliability of the
findings from the first experiment and investigate the underlying mechanism
of the false memory consequence effect.

Questionnaires
Throughout the two experiments, several questionnaires were used:
•Food History Inventory – participants had to rate 24 items on a 1 – 8 scale
in terms of how sure they are the event stated happened, e.g. Loved
asparagus first time you tried it.
•Restaurant Questionnaire – participants had to rate 32 dishes presented on
a menu-like form with 5 courses on a 1 – 8 scale in terms of how likely they
would be to order each dish at a dinner, regardless of its price e.g sauteed
asparagus spears.
• Food Preference Questionnaire – participants had to rate 62 items, e.g
asparagus, on a scale 1 – 8 in terms of how much they like to eat each item.
• Food Cost Questionnaire – participants had to choose the price they were
ready to pay out of multiple options for 21 food items e.g. a pound of
asparagus – $1.90 $2.50 $3.20 $3.80 $4.40 $5 $5.70 or ‘would never buy’
• Memory or Belief – participants had to indicate for 3 items of the Food
History Inventory e.g. asparagus, whether they had a memory or experience
with, and specify whether they had a specific memory that the event occur,
a belief that it did , or were sure that event didn’t occur.

Experiment-1
Aim
-To find if,by giving participants false feedback about them loving to eat
asparagus as a child, it would produce a false memory or belief of the
experience linked to eating and enjoying asparagus.

Method
-Laboratory Experiment

IV
- If the participants had a false belief about eating asparagus after receiving
a false feedback or not.

DV
- The responses to the 5 self-report questionnaires.
Sample
- 128 participants recruited from the University of California.
- 99 females and 29 males, with mean age of 21.

Sampling
-Volunteer Sampling

Design
-Independent Measures Design

Procedure
- Participants came to the laboratory in groups of 8 and were deceived that
they are taking part in a study investigating food preferences and
personality. All participants were asked to complete initially the Food
History Inventory and the Restaurant Questionnaire. Following that, they
were asked to also complete three distraction questionnaires on personality,
social desirability and eating habits.
After one week, they were asked to return to the laboratory and were
randomly allocated to either the ‘love’ or ‘control’ conditions. They were
given a report about their childhood experiences based on their
questionnaires. The participants in the ‘love’ condition had the critical
statement ‘you loved to eat cooked asparagus’ in their report.
Participants were asked questions about these experiences like specific
details of the memories or rate on a 1-9 scale how likely the experience
affected them, to ensure they had processed the feedback.
Participants were then asked to complete the Food History Inventory and
Restaurant Questionnaire again as well as three other questionnaires – Food
Preference Questionnaire, Food Cost Questionnaire and the Memory or
Belief Questionnaire. Following this, the participants were debriefed and
describe the real aim of the study.
Results
- Participant’s scores on the Food History Inventory in the ‘love’ condition
increased by 2.6 points after receiving the false feedback, significantly more
than of those in the ‘control’ condition. There was a statistically insignificant
difference between the report of memory or beliefs between the ‘love’ and
the ‘control’ condition.
- To be classified as a ‘believer’, the participants had to have an initially low
score at the Food History Inventory, an increase in score on the second
completion and give either memory or belief response on the Memory or
Belief Questionnaire. In the ‘love’ condition, 48% of participants – 22
individuals, met the criteria for ‘believers’. The ‘believers’ reported more
desire to eat asparagus on the Restaurant Questionnaire, as well as liking
asparagus significantly more on the Food Preference Questionnaire and
willing to pay more on the Food Cost Questionnaire (none selected never
buy option).

Conclusions
- It is possible to implant false positive memories and these can have an
effect on the behaviour and food preference of a person. The false beliefs
affected the participants’ perceived desire, preference and willingness to
spend on asparagus.
Experiment-2
Aim
- To investigate the potential underlying mechanism of false memory
consequence. This would be done by exploring whether after the false
feedback given to participants about asparagus, they would find it more
visually pleasant and attractive.
- The second experiments was also conducted to replicate the first
experiment and to ensure the reliability of its findings.
Method
-Laboratory Experiment

IV
- Whether the participants were in the ‘love’ or ‘control’ group.

DV
- The scores given to asparagus on the picture slideshow.

Sample
- 103 participants, 64 female and 39 male undergraduate students at the
University of Washington with the mean age of 20.

Sampling
-Volunteer Sampling

Procedure
- Participants were not deceived about the aim of the study and were only
told they will have to complete a few questionnaires so that their profile of
eating experiences can be generated. They initially completed the Food
History Inventory, Restaurant Questionnaire and the Food Preference
Questionnaire. Following that, they were given two distractor
questionnaires on personality measure and social desirability.
One week later, the participants had to return to the laboratory where they
were split into the ‘love’ and ‘control’ groups. Participants were given a
feedback report based and those in the ‘love’ condition had the phrase ‘ you
loved asparagus the first time you tried it’ in it. Those in the ‘love’ condition
had to complete an elaboration exercise based on the memories, those in
the ‘control’ group did not. All participants were asked to provide thei most
important childhood food-event that the feedback did not provide.
Participants then had to view a slideshow of 20 photographs of common
foods, each displayed for 30 seconds. They had to rate 4 questions about
how appetizing the food was, how disgusting, artistic qualities of the
photograph and experience of the photographer on a 1 – 8 scale.
The Food History Inventory, The Restaurant Questionnaire and the Food
Preference Questionnaires were completed again as well as the Memory or
Belief Questionnaire.
Participants were then fully debriefed.

Results
- In the Food History Inventory, all participants gave similar ratings before
the manipulation but the ‘love’ condition gave significantly higher ratings for
asparagus after the manipulation.
- There wasn’t a significant difference between the two groups on the
Memory or Beliefs Questionnaire, those in the ‘love’ group had only a
slightly greater chance of generating false memories or beliefs.
- The quantity of believers in the ‘love’ condition consisted of 40
participants.
- There was no increase desire for asparagus on the Restaurant
Questionnaire in either of the two groups, however, there was a significantly
increased desire to eat asparagus for the ‘love’ group participants on the
Food Preference Questionnaires.
- Believers rated the photographs of asparagus on the slideshow more
appetizing and less disgusting than the non-believers.

Conclusions
- It is possible to implant false positive memories in individuals and these will
have consequence on their attitude and behaviour towards food. The ratings
of the photographs provided information about the cognitive mechanism
associated with false memories – false memories primes an individual to
process the image of asparagus as more positive and interpret it something
familiar, misattributing it to childhood memories.

Strengths And Weaknesses

- Low ecological validity as the experiment was conducted in a laboratory.
- High validity as the procedure was standardized and the environment was
highly controlled.
- Supports nurture side of the nature-nurture debate.
- Both qualitative and quantitative data was collected.
- Low generalizability as all participants were of a similar age group. High
generalizability because students can come from different economic and
ethnic backgrounds.

Ethical Issues
- Deception was used on the participants
- Participants could not fully give their informed consent to take part in this
study.
- The participants may have felt mentally distressed about their memories.