Effect of Background Environment on Learning and Recognition

Effect of accentuate Environment on Learning and RecognitionThe effect of terra firma surround on the acquire and recognition of Chinese numerical charactersAbstract anterior seekes on human beings fund found that the scene show up at cultivation and analyze discount dumbfound a significant impact on how tumesce teaching is bring forwarded, mentioning that information larn in one designate is f solely apart unsayed when the same context is reinstated during interrogation (McGeoch, 1932 Godden Baddeley, 1975 Schwabe Wolf, 2009). The suggest of this hold was to investigate the do of classical desktop medicine on eruditeness and recognition of Chinese numeric characters. Participants (N=60) were randomly exposed to quad divergent situations over an open up period of time while given a canvas consisting of golf-club Chinese numeric characters to remember. After remembering the list of numbers they were tried on their guess of the numbers either in the same environment they were check up ont or in the alternative environment. Using a 22 between-subject designs synopsis it was found that take back was divulge in the matching frames. Additionally, numbers learned in a suave condition produced more(prenominal) erroneous beliefs during retract in a noisy condition, suggesting that accomplishment is worse when the environmental contexts be twin. These results suggest that the make of strike offting sound on memory recovery can be eliminated when a dissimilar instruction context is reinstated at runnel. These findings have grave implications for educational concerns.IntroductionThe theory of working memory poser considers the mind to have strictly limited attention resources in impact parallel steams of information, and can become overloaded when exposed to excessive beat of information. Early investigations of memory discovered that the context at reading and recall can have an impact on how well information is remembered, suggesting that information learned in one context is better remembered when similar context is reinstated during recall. Accordingly, in this context it has been established by prior studies that external stimuli much(prenominal) as background signal euphony would possibly interfere with cognitive processing. Previous researches that have time-tested recognition memory in an environmental context that is contrary from the learning context have produced inconsistent results. (Davidson, Powell, 1986 Banburry Berry, 1998) ob maked that background symphony enhance proletariat action on a chassis of tasks. However, (Saufley, OtakaBavaresco, 1985 Klatte, Bergstrom Lachmann, 2013) found that students exam act were not significantly better when learning and interrogatory took place in the same environmental context, compare to a different context.This aspect of memory has been known as context-dependent memory (CDM). The CDM has been broaden to different context an d have received some previous attentions in the literature, including olfactory stimuli (Pointer Bond, 1998 Cann Ross, 1989), alcohol states (Eich, 1980), and scrutiny environment (Godden Baddeley, 1975), among many other context. Background melody has been shown to be another potential context under which CDM seems to occur. In a number of studies changes in context between learning and examination have produced a significant affect during recall,whereas, in other studies this effect has not been shown (GeiselmanGlenny, 1977 Geiselman Bjork, 1980 Russo, Ward, GeurtsScheres, 1999 Smith, Glenberg Bjork, 1978 Smith Vela, 2001 Godden Baddeley, 1975 Smith, 1985 Fernandez Alonso, 2001). Nevertheless while external stimulus ( much(prenominal) as music) appears to enhance individuals learning, it could be distracting to others. For instance, (Smith, 1985) examined the effect of background music on CDM. In which subjects were asked to learn a list of words under one of triple backgro und music conditions (Mozart piece, jazz selection or silent condition). He concluded that histrions who were exposed to the same musical context recalled significantly more words during testing. This tenders evidence that the idea of background music can serve as an effective retrieval cue for earlier learned substantive and does produce CDM effectuate.According to the literature cited above, individuals tend to recall information better when the environmental context matches from encoding to retrieval. This was supportedin a study conducted by (Grant, Bredahl, Clay, Ferrie, McDorman Dark, 1998). In this study, the participants were instructed to study lowlyingful information under either noisy or quiet conditions. Then, they were asked multiple-choice and short-answer suspicions on the previously learned material. A lessening in recall was noticed in participants whose noise level was mismatched during learning and testing compare to those whose noise-level was matched. T his suggests if the music contend through come forththe administration of the test and learning is the same, this will improves memory because similar background cues promote memory retrieval.Researches have as well as demonstrated the effect of background noise on task performance (Hygge, Evans Bullinger, 2002 Ylias and Heaven, 2003), underlining the harmful effects of noise as a distractoron an individuals performance. Banbury and Berry (1998) found that performance was lower in the front end of background noise (taped office noise) compare to quiet conditions during recall. similarly greater disruption was noticed when both learning and recall occurred in the same noisy environment. However, at that place has also been research contradicting these findings. Avila,Furnham and McClelland (2011) found no significant difference in task performance in the presence background noise.The present study considers the effects of background environment on learning and recognition of Ch inese numeric characters. Three research questions are addressed. The first question is whether learning context affect recall. The second research question is whether testing context affect recall. And finally, the third research question that was addressed is to see whether there is an interaction between learning contexts and testing context. Also, in line with previous studies (Grant, Bredahl, Clay, Ferrie, McDorman Dark, 1998 Cann Ross, 1989 Smith, 1985), it was predicted that there would be an effect of context. It was evaluate that tasks performed in learn quiet-test quiet conditions would yield better results during recall than tasks performed in learn noisy-test noisy conditions, indicating that the background environment(Classical music) is a distracter to performance. The rationale for these predictions would be that background music could prevent full concentration on memory task this could be because extra information during testing could be distracting to participants .Additionally, percentage wrongful conduct scores were expected to be significantly higher in the quiet-noisy condition during learning and recall, suggesting that background noise contribute to lower performance in memory. Perhaps this could be due to the fact that attention will be drawn to the background music while learning, therefore, leading to poorer recall during testing. Finally, performance was predicted to be significantly higherin no background noise condition. The rationale for these results would be that according to prior studies the presence of background noiseand changed environment during recall could featherbed performance, potentially through distraction.MethodDesignThe first research question used a 22 between-subjects design to analyse the collected data. This was elect to determine whether differences exist between different background situations (quiet and noisy) and whether one is more effective than the other. The independent variable was context at lear ning, with two levels quiet and noisy. This addresses whether background music affects learning. The second research questions also used a between-subjects design. The independent variable was the context at testing, with two levels quiet and noisy. This addresses whether background music affects recall at testing. The third research question addresses whether there this a interaction between context at learning and testing. For all the research questions the dependent variable was the number of errors. This was measured by run the numbers of incorrect answers given by each participant.ParticipantsSixty participants (22 Males, 38 Females), ranging in age from 18 to 65 years old (M=29, SD=12. 1) participated in the study. The assemblages were randomly allocated from personal contacts of the researchers. Participants were divided into four groups each assigned to four different conditions. However, it is cardinal to note that any Chinese participants or anyone with a previous knowl edge of Chinese language were excluded from the study, due to the nature of the task.Materials (or Measures)The stimuli were the noise,which was played via Youtube throughout the study for a specific condition. Since classical music may cover a wide range of stylistic variances, the present study used Vivaldi The Four Seasonsthis was chosen as classical music is frequently heard in the radio and thus musical carriage would be familiar to the participants (VanWeelden, 2012). The test consisted of nine Chinese numeric characters,which were selected for the purpose of the study (appendix). In order to avoid practice destruction sheet (word search) was used, which was randomly selected on the Internet (appendix 7).ProcedureThe experiment was conducted in a room assigned by the researchers. Participants were given consent forms to fill out at the beginning of the study and were informed of their right to withdraw at any point (appendix 3,4). They were also given an instruction sheet, detailing what they were essential to do (appendix 2). The study was an independent-measure design. All sixty participants were assigned to four different conditions. Each condition consisted of 15 participants and depending on their groups they were exposed to either a quiet or a noisy room with classical music being played in the background. Also, depending on the conditions the researchers explained to the participants that music would be played while they were given a sheet with nine Chinese numeric characters to remember the meaning of (appendix 1). The participants were then given five minutes to remember the meaning of each numeric character. Then, in order to redirect participants attention and to avoid practice subjects were given a distraction task of a word search to complete under collar minutes. Then, they were asked to return to their respective room, depending on their conditions (quiet or noisy) and were allowed five minutes to observe the meanings of the same nin e Chinese characters on a separate testing sheet presenting with symbols but no meanings (appendix 6). At the end of the experiment participants were debriefed (appendix 5) and instructed in the same verbal and written manner throughout the experiment.ResultThe abbreviation conducted a 22 ANOVA with learn (quiet, noisy) and test (quiet, noisy) conditions as between-subject variables were conducted on the percentage error recall. This was done In order to determine whether recall would be higher when the learning and testing context were quiet in comparison to noisy, and whether recall would be better when learning and testing context matched compared to mismatched. The mean and standard deviation for recall scores are account in table 1.The results of the ANOVA confirmed that as predicted there was a significant of import effect of context at learningF(1,56)=6. 287, P=0. 015, such that participants made significantly more errors in a noisycondition than in a quiet condition (M=22 . 96 and M=11. 85 respectively). (See graph 1, solve 1). In addition, along with the prediction, there was not a significant main effect of context at test (p0. 05),noisy condition produced more error compare to quiet condition (M= 21. 48 and M=13. 33 respectively).And finally, there was not a statistically significant interaction effect between learning and testing context, F(1,56)=3. 381, P=0. 071. This means that context at learning had the same effect at both levels of the other IV, context at test.Table 1. Percentage memory recall during quiet and noisy test conditions following quiet and noisy learning conditions.Figure 1 Estimated mean log of errors scores in Chinese numeric character recall task of context at learning.DiscussionOur primary goal in this experiment was to examine the effect of background music on learning and recall. It was predicted that the detrimental influence of background music on memory retrieval would be lessened if the learning and retrieval environ ments matched. The present findings confirmed this prediction. The participants performed worse when the learning and testing context were dissimilar. This is in line with previous studies of frustrate memory retrieval following background noise (Dalshort ton Behm, 2007 Dobbs, Furnham McClelland, 2011). If, however, the learning and testing context were matched, this detrimental effect of stress disappeared. But, in confliction with some studies, the results provide no evidence for an interaction of background music and context effects in memory processes. Participants learned better in learn quiet-test quiet condition (M=11. 85), but did not necessarily recall higher when they were tested in a noisy condition (M=31. 11). Also, participants produced more errors in learn noisy-test noisy (M=14. 81) as opposed to learn noisy-test quiet condition (M=11. 85), suggesting that participants performed naughtily when the learning and test context were mismatched. This can be supported by many studies (Fernandez Alonso, 2001 Schwabe Wolf, 2009).Although we focused mainly on the manipulation of the environmental (i. e. , external) context, it is important to note that the presence or absence of other stimuli can also be conceptualised as a change in internal context. In this study internal stimulus such as personality trait, randy state and mood were not assessed during learning and recall. Also, mood, which can be touch by emotions and feelings, can improve or hinder with successful learning model of the engaged individual. Additionally, as mentioned before personality trait could be a factor that needs to be considered. The influence of music on memory performance has also been linked to personality types. A study piloted by Furnham and Bradley (1997) demonstratedthat pop music could be a distracter on the performance of introverts and extraverts. It was proposed that in the presence of music extravert would perform better than introverts. The findings hardened that when pop music was played recall was severely lessened for both introverts and extraverts. Also, it was shown that introverts recalled significantly lower than extraverts in the presence of pop music condition as well as introverts in the silent condition. Overall, introverts seemed to be good distracted in the presence of background noise. This researchexposed evidence that overall background noise, such as music, TV and background conversation could improve performance in complicated cognitive tasks for extraverts, while it will considerably impair introverts task performance (Furnham Bradley, 1997 Dobbs, Furnham McClelland, 2011).A possible confounding variable in between-subjects designs in this experiment could have been related to individual differences, in which the participants trait differed one group to another, for instance the participants in one group may be older, smarter, then the participants in another group. This was somehow controlled by gravid the exact same information to every participant and treated equally. Also, environmental variables may have affected the findings in which characteristics of the environment differed between groups, for lesson the groups were tested in different rooms, one group may be tested in a larger room and another group in a smaller room. However, we had no control over subsidization of individuals to groups, as the groups were randomly allocated. It is important to note that the Chinese numeric characters where foreign to the participants, these may have affected their recall regardless the condition their were set in, however, this needs to be taken into further consideration.A group of different ages were exposed to one task that had been designed to assess the participants ability ton how well they canremember unfamiliar Chinese characters. As Fernandez Alonso (2001) found that older participants recall better when they were tested in the same context, but no effects was shown for the younger p articipants. However, this had no impact on the direction of the data, but it makes the test less reliable.In summary, the results of the present experiment indicate that the detrimental effects of background music on memory retrieval can be prevented when the environmental context at learning and testing match. These findings have important implications for educational concerns, to find out whether the negative impact of background music on learning or testing will be trim if students are tested in the same room/context, instead of in an unfamiliar room.Word count 2194