Environmental Distractions and Cognitive Load: The Differing Effects Across Gender and Memory
Presentation Type
Poster Presentation
Mentor/Supervising Professor Name
Garcia, Melissa
Abstract (Description of Research)
Memory holds a critical position of importance when related to everyday functioning, especially within academics, yet memory performance can often be altered by outside factors, such as one’s environment. This study looks to examine how auditory distractions can impact memory among undergraduate college students, while also citing encoding differences related to gender. It's hypothesized that students exposed to audible environmental distraction will score differently in memory performance than those who aren’t exposed to any variations in their environment.
34 undergraduate students (17 male, 17 female) from Southern Adventist University willcomplete memory tests under both distracting and non-distracting conditions, with memory scores being analyzed using a repeated-measures, mixed-design ANOVA to evaluate the impact of distraction and to examine how gender differences interact with encoding differences during recall. Results will show that distraction causes a difference via lower memory scores in comparison to no distraction, whereas the gender of the participant will play a role in the score difference.
These findings will aim to build a better understanding of how the environment can impact memory encoding capabilities, particularly short-term memory, among college students.
Environmental Distractions and Cognitive Load: The Differing Effects Across Gender and Memory
Memory holds a critical position of importance when related to everyday functioning, especially within academics, yet memory performance can often be altered by outside factors, such as one’s environment. This study looks to examine how auditory distractions can impact memory among undergraduate college students, while also citing encoding differences related to gender. It's hypothesized that students exposed to audible environmental distraction will score differently in memory performance than those who aren’t exposed to any variations in their environment.
34 undergraduate students (17 male, 17 female) from Southern Adventist University willcomplete memory tests under both distracting and non-distracting conditions, with memory scores being analyzed using a repeated-measures, mixed-design ANOVA to evaluate the impact of distraction and to examine how gender differences interact with encoding differences during recall. Results will show that distraction causes a difference via lower memory scores in comparison to no distraction, whereas the gender of the participant will play a role in the score difference.
These findings will aim to build a better understanding of how the environment can impact memory encoding capabilities, particularly short-term memory, among college students.