Psychology 2134A/B Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Karl Popper, Short-Term Memory, Memory Span

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 2134A/B
• Professor: Sarah Smits- Bandstra

Document Summary

Theory a conceptual framework that explains a set of observations in such a way that it also makes predictions about future observations. Miller formed a theory that explained that working memory could be improved with the use of chunking: 7 chunks regardless of their size. Digit span task a procedure that assesses short term memory capacity by having research participants repeat lists of digits. Theories can only be tested if they make predictions. A prediction that is derived from a theory hypothesis. You can never prove a theory true, but you can prove it false. We follow the principle that a theory must make predictions that have the potential to be disconfirmed by data falsifiability criterion. The scientific method always has a starting point in the real world. The logical process of going from specific examples to general statements induction. The logical process of going from general statement to specific examples deduction.