Brescia Psychology Undergraduate Honours Theses

Date of Award

Spring 4-2019

Program

Psychology

Supervisor

Anne Barnfield

Abstract

This study examines the impact of multitasking on memory. Specifically, how the relatedness of a medium affects learning. The media used for the purposes of the current study were documentaries. The study consisted of 36 students recruited from Brescia University College. Participants completed a set of questionnaires which included their demographics, academic information, computer/internet usage, and their perceived ability to multitask. They then completed a reading comprehension task while the documentary was played in the background. Although there was no significant effect, participants scored higher on the first part of the multiple-choice test which suggests that they understood the general idea of the passage. Contrary to the hypothesis, no significant effect was found on participant’s performance and video similarity while students media multitasked. Further research could examine the effect of multitasking across different cultures and ethnic backgrounds.

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