Your Name Sonia Larsen

Date February 2, 2023

Memory
Week 05
“I was paying attention.”
Participants
● Participant 1: My husband, 42 years old, male, full time Respiratory Therapy worker, and
BYU-Idaho Student.
● Participant 2: My daughter,19 Years old, female, former college student, entering the
Missionary Training Center in a month.
● Participant 3: My daughter, 15 years old, female, high school student, part time pool
attendance.
● Participant 4: My daughter, 10 years old, female, 5th grade elementary student.
Procedures
I ask my family if they could help me with an activity for my class, I have every one do it at the

same time, I told them that they needed to pay attention to me not taking to each other’s, I

handled them a piece of paper and proceeded by explaining that I was going to read a series of 12

number they needed to first listen then when I gave then the go they would write down in order

and in a single line as many number as they could remember.

The exact number sequence I used for my study was (5,2,8,3,7,2,4,1,9,7,5,3). For the parameter I

followed the direction I was given, to create a list of twelve single digit numbers, avoiding

sequential, or patten. I did not do sequential, I tried to create a number that did not follow an

specific parameter just number that would not add up, or would follow an obvious pattern, or

closely related. After the study was done I explained a little more about the reason why they did

not remember the number as I read to them , how that was do according to the researchers “ our

shot-term memory not having much space for storage, or the amount of time they took to write it

1
down, or the fast that even when they were looking at me there were other things calling for their

attention.” (Learning objective 6.4)

Results
The participants followed the direction they were given, after the activity was completed and

everybody paper collected, I find out only one person have meet Mille’s “The Magical Number

Seven, Plus or Minus Two” theory. Looking at their paper I noticed that they have recalled most of

the digit number right but tended to switch the digit in the fifth place with the digit in the six

places.

Table 1
Digits recalled
Participant (P) Digit stream used Digits prior to 1st error Miller’s 5-9 range?

P1 5,2,8,3,7,2,4,1,9,7,5,3 5, No

P2 5,2,8,3,7,2,4,1,9,7,5,3 5,2,8,3 No

P3 5,2,8,3,7,2,4,1,9,7,5,3 5,2,8,3 No

P4 5,2,8,3,7,2,4,1,9,7,5,3 5,2,8,3,7,2,4 Yes

Discussion

In this case most of the participants did not fall on Miller’s 5-9 range. I think this is because our

short-term memory has the capacity to remember 5-9 items. My digit number did not have any

particular meaning for them, It could also validated what recent researcher have found out that

our ability to recall things that that magical number is more of a 4 plus or minus 1.(Learning

Objective 6.4). Some factors I notice that could have influenced the number of items my

participants were able to recall are: Someone commented on feeling tired before we stared,

among then they talk about they forgot if the number where supposed to be written in order, for

others having them together created competitiveness among them. Interference from preview
2
activity they were engaged in before I ask them for some of their time. Age and the responsibility

that comes with it has something to do with this too, I picked only four participant but I actually

did this with my hold family. Looking at all the papers together it seems as if the younger did

better at remembering. My opinion on that is that when my husband just got home after been out

working for 13 hours, now he would be doing this again in a few hours, but there were other things

he needed to do before he could even go to bed. The younger kids have been playing, there might

not have felt as overwhelm, a more fucus mind. Even though I read it slowly they commented that

read it too fast. Some of the participants put some of the digits together, they keep saying I don’t

know why I put them together.

Implications

One concept that I think was demonstrated with this activity was the fact that even though we

are always processing and censoring information from our environment like listening to this

activity ( sound ) but if those activity sensory did not grab our attention we as the reading explain

would not likely “direct attentional resources to it and transfer them to our short-term memory.”

Another thing is when we are receiving information in the case of this study a series of digits that

needed to be remembered in order to be written down, that thinking about needing to remember

became an interference.

Another concept that could have been beneficial in impacting the participant short-term memory is

“Chunking.” It was interesting to see some do just that during the study they new there where only

twelve single digits number but the have two digits on their result no extra just some together. I

am guessing that chunking the numbers made it easier to remember a 41, 97 than a 4,1,9,7.

Another concept that could have been useful is the combination of different ways for coding and

processing information into short-time memory then just auditory coding. Been able to see the

numbers writing for whatever fraction of a second could have helped.

3
As a student there are ample opportunities to learn new information, much of which needs to be

remembered and retrieved often. What could then be the best strategy or skill to use to help learn

and keep that information fresh and ready to be retrieved when needed. Memory is the answer yes,

why ? because for us to retrieve information from our memory we have to had saved, or what it

call encode the information properly. Our memory has different stages of processing information.

The first is sensory memory that “brief attention of a sensory stimulation, an extension of

perception. A fleeting visual that lasts for a few tenths to one half of a second. Or our ability to

briefly and accurately remember a sound for about three or four second.” Then there is short-term

memory that evolves into working memory. Here depending on how much attention we give to the

information we get it could slowly disappear, or other information entering or sensory became

interferences for the information in our short-term memory. So we need “ to learn effective

strategies to move information from working memory to long-term memory, this is what learning is

about.” (Learning objective 6.5). We are going to consolidate information from our working

memory to our long-term memory by using the process of encoding. We will need to find meaning

and find some way to connect the information to our own life experiences. Use Mnemonics by

connecting the information to something that serves as a trigger. Teach what you learned to

someone else. These among others are techniques that could help in proper storage and successful

retrieval.

Peer Feedback

Regarding reviews you received, paraphrase the feedback. Do NOT copy and paste. State what you

did or did not do as a result of the feedback you received.

Regarding the reviews you provided, state an observation or insight about your own work (or an

action you took) based on your review of others’ work.

4