A Common Memory Task Is the Classification of Objects into Categories

question 13

Essay

A common memory task is the classification of objects into categories. For example, a table is a piece of furniture; a dog is an animal, etc. This classification capability was used in a recent study of divided attention. Elderly adults were randomly selected from those answering a newspaper advertisement, and randomly assigned to two conditions: divided attention and no divided attention. Subjects in the "divided attention" group were told to memorize a list of 36 words while simultaneously listening to a tape recorder; subjects in a control group were told to memorize a list of 36 words and did not listen to a tape recorder. Subjects were then asked to classify the 36 words into 6 categories. (There were 6 words in each category.) The distributions of the correct number of recalled words / category were approximately normal in each of the groups, and a summary of the data for the words/category recalled are presented below: ​
a)Is there evidence that the memory performance differs in the two groups? Test the appropriate hypothesis using α = .05.
b)One possible implication of this study is that high school students should not be dividing their attention by listening to music while studying. What results, if any, of this study would support the contention that students should not be dividing their attention?

---

Definitions:

P-Waves

Primary waves, or compressional waves, which are the fastest kind of seismic wave and can travel through solid, liquid, or gas layers of the Earth.

Seismographs

Seismographs are instruments that measure and record the motion of the ground, including those of seismic waves generated by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and other seismic sources.

Plate Divergence

A tectonic process involving the moving apart, or divergence, of two tectonic plates.

Oceanic Trench

Deep depressions in the ocean floor caused by the subduction of one tectonic plate under another.