Experiment Help!

[smarty_pants]

Hey everyone!,

I would like some help on finding some memory tests on the internet that you know of that i could print out as i am doing an experiment for a Science Talent Competition that i would require some memory test that i could use for my testing. Also, if possible could you help me by giving me some ideas on how to make a good memory test? This would be well appreciated:cool:

[iNow]

What type of memory do you wish to study? If you want to study recall, then you can use lists of words, give subjects 5 or 10 minutes to review/memorize, then test them all after 30 or 60 minutes and see how well they do.

 

You could run the test whereby they have to write the words with no cues (straight recall), or you could run tests whereby they have to match words on a page (recognition).

 

If you want to study spatial memory, you would show them a map with names of places on it, and ask them after the alotted time to recall which name goes where... or, cut out the shapes and ask them to place the shapes back together.

 

Maybe you are interesting in visual memory, or facial recognition. You could flash through 15 or 20 similar photos of faces, wait the allotted time... then, throw in faces which weren't previously seen and ask them "have you seen this face, yes/no?"

 

You could do auditory memory, and play various bits of music... wait, play music later that they both have... and also... have not heard... and ask them whether they've heard it before.

 

 

Finally, you might want to measure false positives (they "remember" something they've not before encountered, or a stimulus you never even showed them), or you might want to measure false negatives (they don't remember something which they have been previously shown).

 

 

In short, it really depends on what you want to do with it, and what type of memory you're interested in measuring. Heck, I didn't even raise the concept of "muscle memory."

[smarty_pants]

i would like to test the straight recall of memory.

[iNow]

Okay, so all you need is a list of words. It's best to avoid those words all being similar, or too hard, but really all you need is a list of words. You then show that list to your participants, tell them they have 5 minutes to remember them as best they can, and you test them later.

 

There are free online tests, too. Just google terms like "Recall test word list" or something like that.

 

 

Also, lots of really useful stuff here:

http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/chmemory.html

[smarty_pants]

thank you so much. It was very helpful

[iNow]

I'm so glad it helped.

 

Good luck with your experiment. You'll have to let us all know how it turns out. Enjoy.

[smarty_pants]

sure:)