Scientific Method 2



Topic: Visual memory vs. auditory memory.

Question: Do people have better memory visually or auditory?

Background information:
- Memory for both humans and most of the other creatures is mostly often built on senses. If we didn't have the feeling of the presence of consciousness, it would probably be impossible to create and store memories. In order for our brains to work properly and be able to store memory, it first has to be fed with bits of information from both visual and auditory. Every time we hear or see things, it enters our consciousness its either accepted or rejected. When it is accepted, the information is processed to the brain and stored as memories. When it is rejected information, its soon forgotten.
http://www.content4reprint.com/personal-development/advice/remembering-with-the-ears-and-eyes-auditory-versus-visual-memory.htm

- According to the website, there's two types of memories. Short-term memory and long-term memory. People who have short-term usually forget things either from a few seconds or a few minutes. Examples of short term memory is when you are trying to recall a telephone number that was heard a few seconds earlier, the name of a person who has just been introduced, or the substance of the remarks just made by a teacher in class, you are calling on short-term memory. Long-term memory is the exact opposite. People who have long-term memory, can remember things that last from a minute or so to weeks, or even years. Examples of long-term memory is when you can recall general information about the world that you learned on previous occasions, memory for specific past experiences, specific rules previously learned, etc.

- For centuries, it was believed that memory can be improved. The Greeks, and later the Romans, created some of the most prodigious memories that not even the civilized world has ever even seen. The Greeks and the Romans lived in a time where they couldn't take notes or anything like that because there was no paper, computers, etc. They had to remember a lot of things, even if it was worth pages they still would have had to if it were to be important. Memory then was one of the most important disciplines of oratory which was a type of art at the time. Speeches were told from recalls of memories. Memory was also very important to the lawyers and poets. If they were gonna be in court or going to present a poem, they had to remember it by heart.
http://www.learninginfo.org/memory.htm

- According to the website, both auditory memory and visual memory can be short-termed. For example, if you ask someone for an address and you hear the reply, your brain would probably remember it at the time but would soon forget it. If you really needed to remember it, you would probably try to memorize it but that would take you some time. Sometimes you can remember things for a few seconds, minutes, or hours. At other times you could remember things from days, to weeks, to even months or years. It's the same with visual memory. For most of us, reading a poem, for example, temporarily commits it to memory. After just a few minutes or hours, certain words will be forgotten. A longer period can completely wipe away the memory of the poem.
http://www.easymemorytraining.com/auditory-versus-visual-memory/

Hypothesis:
I hypothesize that people remember things more when reading it. I hypothesize this because usually when someone tells me something, I wouldn't usually remember that something more often then if someone were to send me an email telling me to remember something. I hypothesized this based on me personally. I'm sure it will be different for others. That's the purpose of this experiment.

Materials:
The materials I will be using in able to preform the following procedure are, index cards with something written on them. For example, I will be using numbers. I will also need volunteers to be tested in my experiments.

Procedure:
  1. First, I will get a couple of index cards and write nine random numbers on them.
  2. Then I will gather volunteers and test them one by one.
  3. The first test I'll have them do is the auditory test. I will read the nine numbers on the index card twice slowly to them.
  4. Then I'll have them try to recall any of the numbers I said, in order.
  5. I will then write down the data and have them take the second and final test. The visual test.
  6. For this test, I will give them the index card with the nine numbers on them and have them look at it for about 30 seconds.
  7. After the 30 seconds is up, I will then have them recall any of the numbers on them without looking at the card.
  8. Finally, I will record the data in which they remembered the numbers better when I said it aloud to them or when they read it. .



Experiment: Do the experiment.

Data/Results:
Visual vs. Auditory test:

Correct for Visual
Correct for Auditory
Did better in
Person 1
5
4
Visual
Person 2
8
6
Visual
Person 3
7
7
Equal
Person 4
8
8
Equal
Person 5
8
8
Equal
Person 6
6
7
Auditory
Person 7
6
5
Visual
Person 8
9
6
Visual
Person 9
9
4
Visual
Person 10
7
4
Visual
Person 11
7
5
Visual
Person 12
9
3
Visual
Person 13
3
3
Equal
Person 14
8
5
Visual
Person 15
6
9
Auditory
Person 16
9
6
Visual
Person 17
9
4
Visual
Person 18
9
5
Visual
Person 19
9
5
Visual
Person 20
9
7
Visual
Person 21
9
7
Visual
Person 22
3
0
Visual
Person 23
3
7
Auditory
Person 24
8
5
Visual
Person 25
7
8
Auditory
Person 26
9
6
Visual
Person 27
9
6
Visual
Person 28
9
7
Visual
Person 29
5
2
Visual
Person 30
9
5
Visual

Conclusion:
My question was, do people remember things better visually or auditory? In my experiments, I tested 30 different people in total. 22 out of 30 people tested that they remembered the numbers better when they saw the numbers visually. 4 out of 30 people tested that they remembered the numbers better when heard from auditory. The remaining 4 out of 30 people tested that they can remember things better when seen visually and when heard from auditory. I hypothesized that people would remember things better when they see it visually. It turns out that I hypothesized correctly. My tests proved it. The majority people that I tested can remember things more visually. My hypothesis was correct.