18th Annual Student Research Conference
Social Science
I Should Have Studied Harder: The Effect of Location on Memory of Simple Sentences
Cynthia L. Wooldridge*, Mark Smith, Emily R. Holekamp, and Jonathan Thacker
Dr. Robert Tigner, Faculty Mentor
This study examined the common anecdote that people can recall where on a page they read information even when they have forgotten the content of what they read. In our experiment we manipulated several location cues in order to determine their effects on memory for simple sentences. Randomly generated subject-verb-object (SVO) sentences were presented in any of six locations on the screen for 5 sec each. Ss recalled one element of each sentence when cued with the other elements (e.g., recalled V when prompted with S and O) and were asked to report in which of the 6 locations the original sentence appeared. The cues were presented in either a neutral, correct, or incorrect location on the screen. Results were analyzed to determine the relationship between recall for content and recall for location, and to determine the effect of location cuing/miscuing on recall.
Keywords: location memory, verbal memory
Topic(s):Psychology
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 12-2
Location: VH 1232
Time: 8:45