Hannah Pohlmann Grade 9 Academy of Notre Dame de Namur

 Does one’s environment and age affect how well they study/memorize?

 Today:  January 25 th 2011

 Memory in General  Short-term (used in this experiment) ▪ Part of brain is the hippocampus, which is located inside the temporal lobes ▪ Things remembered (such as words) and then quickly forgotten ▪ Easily disrupted ▪ Information is converted into long-term from short term ▪ Amnesia if there isn’t enough time to convert

 Effects of Distraction on Memory–Tyler Jewett  Hypothesized that “the ability to recall words decreased as distraction increased”  Tested subjects by giving them a list of 20 simple 4-5 letter words  Given 1 minute to memorize  Sat in silence for 2 minutes  Then wrote down all remembered words in 2 minutes  Second time, the researcher read from the U.S. constitution during the memorization time ▪ During the 2 minutes between and the two minutes of recall, the researcher continued to read from the constitution  Ability to ignore increases with age ▪ Two test for adults and children ▪ Adults did about the same but children did worse with a distraction  ADHD processes the same but cannot remember as well  Students scored higher on single-task vs. duel-task tests

 CBS and Oxford  Do social factors and age affect memory? ▪ Memory/ Cognitive function is affected by lifestyle, family and other relationships, and a person’s feeling of control over their life ▪ The young, healthy, educated, and people who feel they have control over their life did the best ▪ Most memory is based in confidence

 WSJ and Wiley Online Library  Study involving 5 different music conditions  Memorized letter sequences  Music and random digits hampered results ▪ Preference made no difference  Did better with repeated digit and silence

 Philly. Com  Hearing half of a conversation distracts much more than a whole conversation  Followed dots and clicked on letters under both conditions  With letters there was 10% drop in corrects  Not words but the random occurrences that distract

 Science Direct  School near elevated train  Loud side of the building scored lower on reading skills  Insulated ceilings and walls were installed and both sides scored the same

 Access Excellence-Brenda Brown  Similar to my project  Light v. dark, cold, music  The researcher starts listing three words and adds a word each time until the subject cannot remember anymore

 If one’s environment and age changes, then how well they study or memorize will change too.

 Stopwatch  Informed consent permission slips  Volunteers  Lists of words  Music  TV  Chairs  Quiet rooms  Blank paper

 Wrote up 4 different lists of 30 words  Found 15 (or more) volunteers  Had volunteers memorize words for 2 minutes under different conditions  Using a different list every time  After each 2 minute interval, saw how many words the volunteers remember  Giving them 2-3 minutes to recall what they memorized and write it down on provided paper  Correct list  Checking for error and or any patterns in memorization  Compared results to see how the volunteers were affected

 Teens are the best  Teens and children were not effected by environment  TV effected adults  Quiet and Music-teens are better than children but children and adults are the same  TV-Teens are best  In a quiet, comfortable environment all ages were the same  Supports hypothesis  Results may have differed with a larger study  Subjects also got tired as the tests continued

 Those listening, Teachers, Parents, and the following websites:  Avril, Tom. "Half a conversation is worse than none." Philly.com. Philly.com, 27 Sept Web. 26 Jan  Bronzaft, Arline L. "The effect of a noise abatement program on reading ability." ScienceDirect. Elsevier, 8 July Web. 26 Jan  Brown, Brenda. "Effects of Environment on Memory." Access Excellence. National Health Musem, n.d. Web. 26 Jan  Jewett, Tyler. "Effects of Distraction on Memory." Associated Content. Yahoo, 26 Nov Web. 1 Feb

 Perham, Nick, and Joanne Vizard. "Can preference for background music mediate the irrelevant sound effect?" Wiely Online Library. JohnWiley & Sons, Ltd., Web. 26 Jan  Scott, Jerry. "Zits." Comic strip. chron. The Houston Chronicle, 25 Jan Web. 26 Jan  Singer-Vine, Jeremy. "Music Impairs Certain Acts of Memorization." The Wall Street Journal 9 Aug. 2010: 1. The Wall Street Journal. Web. 26 Jan  Stevens, Fred C.J., et al. "How ageing and social factors affect memory." CBS MoneyWatch.com. CBS Interactive Inc., July Web. 1 Feb