Searching under Cups for Clues about Memory: An Online Demonstration

An online demonstration, designed to enhance comprehension of Sternberg's (1966) short-term memory scanning task, involved rapidly searching under virtual cups for a ball. We randomly assigned students to 1 of 3 groups, all of whom read the same textbook description of Sternberg's work: A demonstration group used 3 search methods to look for balls under cups (analogous to searching items in memory), a graphing control group used 3 methods to click on buttons (both groups had equivalent practice examining reaction time graphs), and there was a text-only control. The demonstration group outperformed the controls on an online quiz.