7.4.09

Validity



Have a look at this recent research on memory.

The first study raises some interesting questions about the validity of a lot of memory research. Back in 1978 the psychologist Ulric Neisser argued that research on memory often focused on how people learn lists of words, digits, or even nonsense trigrams, simple material that had little meaning for the participants. Peterson and Peterson's study is a good example of the type of research he attacked. He also argued that psychologists interested in human memory should leave the lab and get out into the real world to find out how human memory really worked. Neisser wanted psychologists to base their research on real events in real environments and to use the findings from this research to have a real impact on our understanding of human memory in everyday life. In short he wanted memory research to have better ecological validity.

This led to the design of a lot of naturalistic experiments: experiments that used more realistic material, like adverts, for participants to remember. It also led to a lot of field research, research on what people remember and what they forget about important events.

Mindhacks has just published a post on research that used the
1980 bombing of Bologna train station to investigate the reliability of eye witness memory. You can read it here....

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