Psychological Research Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Psychological Research Report - Essay Example The number of items remembered was recorded down. The results from the data collected show that, external stimulus affect one’s memory performance with (P=.045). The human memory is severely affected by external distractions. Many will say that they make mistakes in a location with high noise. The amount of noise has much influence on the way the memory performs according to Douglas, et al. (2000). Distractions and in particular loud noise have varying affects on memory performance. Various studies have indicated that loud noise distractions have both positive and negative affect on memory performance depending on its frequency (Agnes, H 2004). Others have come with the conclusions that distractions have no effect on a memory’s performance. A larger number of studies involving tasks that primarily use short term memory has shown that exposure to loud noise significantly affect memory performance more (Baker et al. 1993). This is attributed to the fact that, distractions will act to avert the degree of concentration. To begin with, a study by Dwivedi’s (1988) proves that, loud noise distractions influence memory performance. In this experiment, students were required to memorize some English words as their teacher spelt them. The teacher repeated them for several times with a different music volumes playing and the number of those that a student could remember against the sound strength was recorded. Results indicated that high intensity noise was significantly detrimental in memory performance than low noise. In addition, Winkler, L et al. (1996) agreed with Dwivedi. They examined the effects of radio noise during class work where students were required to read and answer some simple questions with a radio on during class. The question was again administered to the same students with the radio on. On marking the question and comparing the two performances, it was evident to them that,