Which additional result would best strengthen the researchers' conclusion?

A small study asked two groups of students to learn a list of word pairs in the evening. One group slept normally that night. The other stayed awake all night. Both groups then had two normal nights of sleep, and three days after learning, both were tested. The group that had slept on the first night recalled noticeably more pairs. The researchers concluded that sleep soon after learning plays a special role in fixing new memories, rather than sleep in general being good for recall. They cautioned that the sample was small and made up entirely of young adults, so the result should be treated as a lead for larger studies rather than as a rule.

Answer and explanation

Correct answer: A. A larger study with people of many ages that found the same difference in recall

  1. Step 1: The cautions concern sample size and age range. Step 2. Replicating the finding in a larger and more varied sample addresses both. Answer: a larger, more varied replication. Why not the others: Beliefs and repeated use of the same students do not remove the limits; sleeping after the test would not support the claim about timing after learning.

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