Audio and Visual Digit Span Test

Cole GilbertCentral Catholic High School

9th Grade

Problem

Do people remember things better by hearing

or seeing them?

Digit Span Test

• This test was created by J. Jacobs in 1887 to test the memory span of his students.

• From then on it has been an important tool in the study of short term memory.

• It has been recreated many times and many different variations have been done on it.

Short Term Memory

• Function of the brain allowing one to forget unimportant information and pass on important information to be stored.

• Due to the constant influx of new information short term memory is one of the most important processes of the brain

Visual Memory• Allows interpretation of the visual

field.

• Received through the occipital lobe.

• Attaches to the prefrontal cortex for transmission of memory.

Auditory Memory

• Brain interpretation of the audio field.

• Collected in the auditory cortex.

• Attaches to the prefrontal cortex for memory transmission.

Learning

• Various approaches to remembering.

• Chunking; breaking up information into smaller, easier to remember segments

Purpose

The purpose of this experiment is to test if people remember better by hearing things or by seeing things.

HypothesesSubjects will remember more information by auditory recall than by visual recall.

Null: There will be no significant variation in recall between auditory and visual stimuli.

Materials• Table to record results.

• Seven sets of random numbers that range from four digits long to ten digits long. Each set increase in length by one digit.

• A different seven sets of random numbers that range from four digits long to ten digits long. Each set increase in length by one digit.

• Twenty freshman subjects CCHS.

• Quiet Room

• Stopwatch

Procedure for Auditory

• The test the proctor read the first string of numbers aloud to the subject.

• The proctor waited thirty seconds.

• Subject was asked to orally repeat the string of numbers.

• The process was repeated with a new set of random numbers which increased by one digit each time until the subject revealed a mistake in sequence or number

Procedure for Visual• The test proctor gave the subject a piece of paper with

the string of numbers on it.

• The subject got fifteen seconds to look at the number.

• The subject then handed the paper back to the proctor.

• They waited thirty seconds.

• The subject then repeated the number they saw back to the proctor orally.

• This process was repeated with a new set of random numbers until revealed a mistake in sequence or number

Example String

6319

Auditory and Visual Results

by Subject

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 200

2.25

4.5

6.75

9

11.25

Blue=AuditoryGreen=Visual

Number

Correct of

Digits Correct

Individual Subjects

Average Auditory and Visual Results

All Subjects4.95

5.225

5.5

5.775

6.05

6.325

6.6

Blue=AuditoryGreen=Visual

Average Number of Digits Correct

ANOVA Analysis of Mean Scores

• ANOVA analysis compares variation be-tween two groups

• Reject null if p value is below 0.05

• Calculated p value=0.120511

• 0.120511>0.05 the difference is INSIGNIF-ICANT

Conclusions

• The null hypothesis was accepted because the p value was above 0.05. However the visual had a better overall average than the auditory.

Extensions

• More test subjects

• Using a tape for the audio test for less variation

• Have four random sets of numbers for both auditory and visual tests

Limita-tions

• To few sub-jects

• More than two sets of tests

• Too much variation in the auditory test.

References • Baddeley, Alan D. Your Memory, a User's Guide. London:

Prion, 1993. Print.

• Fuster, Joaquin M. Memory in the Cerebral Cortex: An Empirical Approach to Neural Networks in the Human and Nonhuman Primate. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1995. Print.

• Houston, John P. Fundamentals of Learning and Memory. New York: Academic, 1981. Print.

• Merriam Webster's Encyclopedia Dictionary. Springfield: Federon Street, 2002. Print.

• "Parts of the Brain - Memory & the Brain - The Human Memory." Parts of the Brain - Memory & the Brain - The Human Memory. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2014. <http://www.human-memory.net/brain_parts.html>.