Unfair questions?

[Dark Templar]

I've noticed a couple of unfair multiple choice questions in past VCAA exams. There was the fMRI one in the mid-year but that was debatable. I have come across one where the "right" answer was wrong and even the VCAA explanation was wrong. I added the bolding.

Sinead listened to a list of 20 words. She was asked to recall the list 10 minutes later.
Sinead was more likely to remember items from

A. both the beginning and end of the list.
B. the middle of the list.
C. only the beginning of the list.
D. only the end of the list

VCAA said the answer was C. Their explanation was something along the lines of "Students who answered 'A' showed a lack of understanding of the recency effect. After 10 minutes the last item on the list would no longer be in short term memory and the recency effect would no longer be in effect."

I chose A and I still believe the answer to be A. If there was no distractor task after learning the list of words then Sinead would most likely have encoded the last item on the list into LTM as it would remain in STM without immediately getting knocked out by more words. If there was a distractor task the item would have been knocked out of STM before she could encode it to LTM. However, there is no mention of a distractor task in the question.

31% answered 'C' and 64% answered 'A'.

What do you think? Have I missed something? My Psychology teacher didn't seem to understand what I was talking about.

[vexx]

This doen't make sense, are you sure you didn't mean the correct answer was C?
As after 10minutes of learning something you should only remember the items at the begging of the list.
This is due to them being rehersed enough to be transferred to LTM, whereas the items at the end of the list that were in STM, are now no longer in STM and have been lost.

So the correct answer is "only the beginning of the list"
are you sure you didn't mix up the question?

[kat148]

^ I thought so too...

which year was this exam from?

[Dark Templar]

As I explained before, once the list is finished and the last item has just entered STM, and the participant isn't given a distractor task they are likely to encode that item into LTM and thus remember it 10 minutes later.

The only reason they wouldn't is if they were given a distractor task which wasn't specified in the question.

This is from 2007.

[vexx]

As I explained before, once the list is finished and the last item has just entered STM, and the participant isn't given a distractor task they are likely to encode that item into LTM and thus remember it 10 minutes later.

The only reason they wouldn't is if they were given a distractor task which wasn't specified in the question.

This is from 2007.

they will only transfer the end of the list if it specifies they have continued to rehearse it.
since nothing of this has been said, then it can be assumed that after 20~30seconds, the end of the list was lost from memory.

[hpak]

Yeah it's definitely C.

Delaying recall is enough to eliminate the recency effect. Delaying recall even for 30 seconds is enough to eliminate the recency effect, because it exceeds the duration of STM. The distracter task is just something they use in memory experiments to ensure some participants don't rehearse the information to transfer it into LTM (thereby causing slightly higher recall than would of otherwise existed.)

[Dark Templar]

But we rehearse automatically unless prevented from doing so don't we?

[vexx]

But we rehearse automatically unless prevented from doing so.

not necessarily. we may be thinking about these words at the end of the list, but after 30 seconds we may lose interest or it may be lost from memory regardless if we were thinking about it or not. not everything from STM or encoded to LTM. it was just thought out and then lost. so it wasn't transferred to LTM.

[Dark Templar]

But we rehearse automatically unless prevented from doing so.

not necessarily. we may be thinking about these words at the end of the list, but after 30 seconds we may lose interest or it may be lost from memory regardless if we were thinking about it or not. not everything from STM or encoded to LTM. it was just thought out and then lost. so it wasn't transferred to LTM.

If we know we're being tested then we're likely to pay attention to the last word of the list if it is still in STM.

[c23]

i just checked
Q14 2007 VCAA
the answer is C
which makes sense since it is recalling AFTER 10 minutes which would cause the primacy effect as a delay would show a greater recall of words at the beginning of the list as they are more likely to be rehearsed thus transferred into LTM

[Dark Templar]

Yeah we know they marked C as correct.

Edit: After some looking around it seems that a couple of sources agree with me but the majority either disagree or don't delve in that far. At least I know what VCAA thinks. Thanks for your help everyone!

[vexx]

Dark Templar, i know that you want to try and think deeply about this, but it's very simple.
In the VCAA papers they will ask you one of two things for this.

Learning a list of words:
* If tested right after, End AND Beginning of list will be recalled
* If tested more than 30seconds after, ONLY Beginning of list will be recalled.

Remember this, it's the only questions you'll get on it in multiple choice!

[c23]

oh sorry lol when i read your post said the answer was D

so isn't it logical that the answer is C? :S

[Dark Templar]

Oh god. Yeah I meant C! Sorry everyone!

I never meant D!

[c23]

Dark Templar, i know that you want to try and think deeply about this, but it's very simple.
In the VCAA papers they will ask you one of two things for this.

Learning a list of words:
* If tested right after, End AND Beginning of list will be recalled
* If tested more than 30seconds after, ONLY Beginning of list will be recalled.

Remember this, it's the only questions you'll get on it in multiple choice!

isn't it when your tested RIGHT AFTER that the recall of words at the end of the list is greater? :/