Clutter Confusion

Overview

Objectives/Goals Purpose: It is our goal to determine the effects of clutter on memory. We have designed a word test to be given to test subjects to determine the effects of cluttury on memory. Our objective is to determine how changes in environment and background effect memory retention and/or loss. Investigative Question: Do cluttered backgounds help or distract the memory? Hypothesis: We think that the busy background will distract the subjects, and they will remember fewer words. Methods/Materials Materials: Subjects (80), notebooks, pencils, list of 20 words on a blank sheet of paper, same list of words on a cluttered piece of paper, stopwatch. Methods: Test 40 subjects (control group). Give each subject 30 seconds to memeorize words on a blank piece of paper; take away the list and allow 60 seconds to write down rmembered words. Repeat process to 40 subjects in the experimental group, but with a list of words on the cluttered piece of paper. Results (Number of words remembered) Experimental group: 6.90, Control group: 7.42. Conclusions/Discussion 7% more words were remembered by the control group. We think the cluttered page caused interference with the experimental group's ability to memorize words. Our conclusion is that clutter confuses a person's ability to remember what they see and interferes with the ability to memorize.

Competition history

• CSEF 2002 Behavioral Sciences · Entry J0304

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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