Memory Lane

Overview

Objectives/Goals The objective of my project was to determine whether adults remember information better by hearing it spoken, or by hearing it sung in a familiar tune. I believe that the adults will remember the information better after hearing it sung in a familiar tune. Methods/Materials Six random combinations of numbers and letters, each consisting of seven numbers and seven letters, were recorded onto a CD. Three of the combinations were spoken and three were sung to the tune of "Joy to the World." Twelve people, six male and six female all between the ages of twenty and seventy-five, had each combination played for them three times. After waiting an additional one minute, each test subjects' memory was tested as they repeated back what they could remember in sequence. Then the results were carefully recorded. Results The results showed that, on average, the test subjects remembered the information better after hearing it spoken. The females did better than the males on the spoken segment, but the males did better than the females on the sung segment. Although the test subjects under fifty years of age scored higher on both segments, the test subjects over fifty years of age did significantly better on the spoken segment vs. the sung segment. Conclusions/Discussion Results indicated that the test subjects remembered the information better after hearing it spoken rather than sung. Therefore, my hypothesis was not supported.

Competition history

• CSEF 2006 Behavioral Sciences · Entry J0306

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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