Digital Commons Network^™

How Do Voters Remember Flip-Flopping? Memorial And Social Consequences Of Change Recollection, Adam Lewis Putnam

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents 3 experiments that explore how people notice and remember a politician’s change in position. Subjects read position statements made by politicians at two different debates; sometimes the politicians were consistent across debates, sometimes they changed positions, and sometimes they only addressed an issue at Debate 2. Subjects recalled the positions from Debate 2 and reported whether they thought the politician had changed positions on that issue. The results showed that changing positions made it more difficult for people to remember a politician’s most recent position; however, recollecting that a change occurred eliminated that memory deficit. Experiment 1 …

Stories In Mind – The Relationship Between The Narratological Categories Of Order And Time And The Reader’S Cognitive Structures As Exemplified In Büchner’S Play Woyzeck, Marc Breetzke

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Variable Semantic Input And Novel First-Language Vocabulary Learning, Nichole Runge

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Vocabulary learning involves mapping a word form to a semantic meaning. An individual asked to learn the Spanish word for “apple,” for example, must map a new word form (manzana) onto the appropriate semantic representation. Previous studies have found that acoustic variability of word forms can improve second language vocabulary acquisition (Barcroft & Sommers, 2005; Sommers & Barcroft, 2007). The current experiments investigated whether variable semantic input could have a similar beneficial effect on first language vocabulary learning. Participants learned low-frequency English vocabulary words and their definitions. Half of the words were shown with the same verbatim definition …

When Can We Trust Our Memories? Quantitative And Qualitative Indicators Of Recognition Accuracy, Kurt Andrew Desoto

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, I present a quartet of experiments that studied confidence ratings and remember/know/guess judgments as indicators of recognition accuracy. The goal of these experiments was to examine the validity of these quantitative and qualitative measures of metacognitive monitoring and to interpret them using the continuous dual-process model of signal detection (Wixted & Mickes, 2010).

In Experiment 1, subjects heard or read items belonging to categorized lists and took an old/new recognition test over studied and new items while making remember/know/guess judgments after each recognition decision. Consistent with prior literature, remember judgments were more likely to be accurate than …

Regulation Of Mtor And Erk Signaling In The Amygdala Through Proteolytic Modulation Of Pp2a Activity Following Auditory Fear Learning, David Sylvan Reis

Theses and Dissertations

The consolidation of fear memories is known to depend on a number of critical cellular processes including de novo protein synthesis and 26S proteasome-dependent protein degradation following auditory fear conditioning (Jarome et al., 2011; Kwapis et al., 2011). Early work has suggested that protein degradation, mediated by the ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS), may regulate the requirement for de novo protein synthesis during memory consolidation (Jarome & Helmstetter, 2014). However, the precise way in which the UPS is able to regulate mechanisms of protein synthesis remain unclear. In the present set of experiments, we investigated the role of the protein phosphatase …

Effects Of Instructor Attractiveness On Classroom Learning, Richard Shane Westfall

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Although there have been multiple studies examining the effects of physical attractiveness on a variety of human interactions, one domain has been largely overlooked. The current thesis examined the effect of teacher attractiveness on a learning task. Specifically participants were exposed to a photograph that they believed was their instructor while listening to an audio lecture. Upon completion of the lecture participants then completed a forced choice recognition task covering material from the lecture. I hypothesized that participants would perform significantly better on the learning task when they perceived their instructor to be high in physical attractiveness. Neither the gender …

Climbing The Taxonomy Ladder With Help From The Keyword Method, My Quoc Vu

MSU Graduate Theses

The keyword method is a mnemonic device used to improve memory. The purpose of this study is to examine whether the keyword method can facilitate higher-order learning and whether the interactive image component of the keyword method is necessary. Participants were asked to study 18 psychologists and their concepts. Undergraduates were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: an own best method control group, and three variations of the keyword method. The variations in the keyword method were related to the "interactive image” aspect of that strategy. The dependent measures measured whether the keyword method can facilitate higher order-learning levels …

Effects Of 17Β-Estradiol On Learning And Memory And Strategy Use During A Hole Board Spatial Navigation Task In Aged Male Rats, Megan Berthiaume

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Treatment with 17β- estradiol has been shown to ameliorate age related deficits in spatial learning and memory as well as to promote the use of an allocentric strategy during spatial navigation. While the majority of research using 17β- estradiol has been done using females rodents, there have been studies showing an improvement in spatial learning and memory and promoted use of allocentric strategies in spatial navigation in males as well. In males testosterone (T) is metabolized into estradiol by aromatase. As circulating levels of T decline with aging there is less available T to be metabolized into estradiol. The current …

Examination Of The Effects Of Mild Hearing Loss On Memory Using The Wide-Range Assessment Of Learning And Memory – Second Edition (Wraml2), Heather Paige-Deming

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

The current study examined whether young adults with mild hearing loss around 1000 Hz would differ from normal hearing participants in their performance on a standardized memory and learning instrument used in the field of psychology (i.e., WRAML2; Sheslow & Adams, 2003). Participants were 46 normal hearing individuals and 23 individuals with mild hearing loss. Hearing participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups (hearing control, 23 decibel loss, and 37 decibel loss). All 4 groups completed the WRAML2 under standardized conditions. Based on the effortful hypothesis, it was anticipated that individuals with hearing impairment would show deficits on …

Neural Correlates Of Episodic Memory Formation In Children And Adults, Lingfei Tang

Wayne State University Theses

The medial temporal lobe (MTL) and prefrontal cortex (PFC) are two key brain regions that support episodic memory formation in both children and adults, but the functional developmental of these regions remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the development of neural correlates of episodic memory formation using functional MRI with a subsequent memory paradigm, administered to a cross-sectional sample of 83 children and adults. We found that MTL subregions showed an age-related increase in activation supporting memory formation of complex scenes. In addition, a functionally defined scene-sensitive region in the posterior MTL also showed similar increase and predicted better …

Exploration Of The Wechsler Memory Scale Fourth Edition And Measures Of Executive Function Combined Components Model, Isaac Tourgeman

Theses and Dissertations

While memory is the faculty that affords us learning, adaptation and development, it is our executive function that oversees, manages and organizes these abilities. Still, there is limited research on the interaction between memory and executive function. The present study investigated this relationship through Principal Components Analysis. Performances on accepted measures of memory and executive function were evaluated in an adult clinical sample. Components were retained using three criteria: a predetermined four-component structure, eigenvalues exceeding a value of one, and parallel analysis. Results demonstrated that a four-component model most accurately represented the data. Analyses also revealed that measures of immediate …

Age Related Decline In Memory: Examining The Mediation Effect Of Processing, Executive Functioning And Intelligence In Normal Adults, Jada J. Stewart

Theses and Dissertations

Multiple mediation analyses that collectively examine the prominent theories of cognitive aging (i.e., Common Cause, Processing, and Executive Decline Hypotheses) along with other cognitive domains that are sensitive to aging are rare. Moreover, having identified that cognition begins to decline as early as 30 years old, few studies have examined the mechanisms that underlie memory change among younger aging individuals. As a result, it is unclear whether relevant mediating variables have been excluded from early research on age-related memory decline, or to what extent rehabilitative strategies are applicable as early interventions for maintaining cognitive functioning into late life.

The present …

Engagement In Activities And Cognitive Functioning Among Older Adults In The Health And Retirement Study, Pamela Emily May

Wayne State University Dissertations

The goal of this dissertation is to examine the effect of cognitive and social activities on cognitive performance and health conditions in a national sample of older adults from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). This dissertation first aimed to identify longitudinal relations between activity frequency and cognitive functioning. Two hypotheses were tested, baseline activity frequency predicts change in cognitive functioning over time, and baseline cognitive performance predicts change in activity frequency over time. The dissertation’s second aim was to identify links between activity frequency and cognitive trajectories. The third aim was to identify longitudinal relations between activity frequency and …

Cortisol Levels And Voltage Conditions Of College Students, Adriana Steffens

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

There is a limited research base on low voltage brain conditions, which are characterized by electrical activity being measured at below 20 microvolts. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between saliva cortisol levels and voltage using an EGG in a college student population. Illuminating this relationship is important to inform how low voltage conditions can affect daily memory and cognitive functioning of undergraduate college students that may be a result of stress. The college student population may be vulnerable to the low voltage condition because of stress from the transition between teenage and adult life and …

The Effects Of Emotion And Action On Binding In Memory, Kacie Mennie

LSU Master's Theses

The ability to successfully bind features and objects at different levels of abstraction is important for everyday functioning of memory. The current study examined how actions and emotional arousal influence item recognition and between-item binding across two experiments. According to the Arousal-Biased Competition Theory (ABC; Mather and Sutherland, 2011), binding can be enhanced by emotional arousal, depending upon what is the focus of attention within a scene. In the current study, participants viewed a series of slides, each of which depicted a person performing an action with an object, as well as an object that is not interacted with. All …

The Effects Of Task Demands And Word Frequency On Language Source Encoding, Elva Natalia Strobach Oronoz

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Source memory effects have been relatively unexplored in bilingual memory. Bilinguals have to perform certain source encoding operations to successfully determine the appropriate language from context. These operations have not been examined from a long-term memory perspective, and are not incorporated into models of source monitoring. Further, language source information is not incorporated into the major models of bilingual language processing. Five experiments examined bilingualsâ?? language source monitoring for low- and high-frequency words in English and Spanish. Each experiment placed different processing demands on participants. In Experiment 1, participants studied a mixed-language word list, then were subsequently tested for language …

Key Generalization Of Recognition Memory For Melodies, Abigail Lincoln Kleinsmith

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

People easily recognize a melody in a previously unheard key, but they also retain some key-specific information. I tested the hypothesis that individuals compare novel melodies to a memory “prototype” representing the central tendency of experienced exemplars. Participants were familiarized with a monotonic eight-note melody in two closely separated keys and tested for discrimination of that melody from others. Test and foil melodies included ones that were the “average” of pitch heights and ones that were more distant in pitch height. Hit rates and discriminability (d') were better for physically closer keys than for harmonically related keys. In follow-up experiments, …

The Effect Of Emotion On Associative And Item Memory, Priyanga Jeyarathnarajah

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Numerous studies to date have demonstrated superior memory for emotional compared to neutral stimuli (Kensinger & Corkin, 2004; Bennion et al., 2013). This finding, although relatively stable across the item memory literature, becomes less consistent when examined in tasks measuring memory for associative or source information (Chiu et al., 2013). For this reason, the present study set out to examine how emotional content (negative, positive and neutral word pairs) influences memory in two distinct associative and item recognition tasks: associative identification (AI), associative reinstatement (AR), paired-item recognition, and single-item recognition. In measuring the influence of emotion on associations using an …

“Where Did I Learn That?” Exploring The Similarity Effect And Children’S Use Of Memory Cues For Source Monitoring, Leanne E. Bird

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

An individual’s ability to accurately monitor source (attribute known or remembered information to its particular source or origin) develops gradually throughout childhood. Along with task difficulty (i.e., delay between encoding and retrieval), source similarity is among the utmost hindrance to individuals’ ability to accurately monitor source; specifically, the greater the similarity between sources the more difficult source monitoring judgments have been found to be, and the smaller similarity between sources (i.e., the greater number of differences between sources) the more accurate source monitoring judgments have been found to be. The similarity effect has been said to apply to all age …

Examining Memory Consolidation And Reconsolidation In An Appetitive Pavlovian Task, Jonathan J. Chow

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Memory plays an important role in defining how one behaves. The neurobiological mechanisms of memory have been studied extensively in animal models and the NMDA glutamate receptor has been identified to play an important role in the consolidation and reconsolidation of appetitive memories. Certain memories, depending on what was learned, can function differently and can be more difficult to disrupt based on a number of factors. Currently, no study has examined whether or not a reward-predictive stimulus attributed with incentive value is more difficult to disrupt than a stimulus that functions as a general reward-predictor. To determine the role of …