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University of New Hampshire

Theses/Dissertations

2004

Cognitive

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The Advantage For Name -Designated Characters During Reading, Kelly A. Peracchi Jan 2004

The Advantage For Name -Designated Characters During Reading, Kelly A. Peracchi

Doctoral Dissertations

When two characters are mentioned in a text, one referred to by a title (e.g., professor) and one referred to by a proper name (e.g., Christopher), the character referred to by the name is more accessible in memory. Although there has been a lot of research documenting the advantages that name-designated characters have over title-designated characters, most of it has done so using very short texts. The experiments reported in this dissertation utilized longer passages of text to examine whether certain variables that are known to affect accessibility, such as order of mention, number of mentions, elaboration, and distance, will …


Linking Focus And Context In Three-Dimensional Multiscale Environments, Matthew D. Plumlee Jan 2004

Linking Focus And Context In Three-Dimensional Multiscale Environments, Matthew D. Plumlee

Doctoral Dissertations

The central question behind this dissertation is this: In what ways can 3D multiscale spatial information be presented in an interactive computer graphics environment, such that a human observer can better comprehend it? Toward answering this question, a two-pronged approach is employed that consists of practice within computer user-interface design, and theory grounded in perceptual psychology, bound together by an approach to the question in terms of focus and context as they apply to human attention. The major practical contribution of this dissertation is the development of a novel set of techniques for linking 3D windows to various kinds of …


The Venetian Blind Effect: Contrast Disparity Modulation In Irradiation Stereoscopy, Eugene T. Filley Jan 2004

The Venetian Blind Effect: Contrast Disparity Modulation In Irradiation Stereoscopy, Eugene T. Filley

Doctoral Dissertations

In Experiment 1 we measured contrast disparity thresholds for the perception of slant in the venetian blind effect for a square-wave carrier spatial frequency of 3.14 c/deg and square-wave modulation spatial frequencies of 0.26, 0.39, 0.79, and 1.57 c/deg.

In Experiment 2 we increased the spatial frequencies. We measured contrast disparity thresholds for the perception of slant for a square-wave carrier spatial frequency of 5.24 c/deg and square-wave modulation spatial frequencies of 0.33, 0.65, 1.31, and 2.62 c/deg.

In Experiment 3 we returned to the spatial frequencies of Experiment 1 but used sine-wave modulation. We measured contrast disparity thresholds for …


Self-Efficacy And Allocation Of Effort During Reading Among Older And Younger Adults, Danielle D. Gagne Jan 2004

Self-Efficacy And Allocation Of Effort During Reading Among Older And Younger Adults, Danielle D. Gagne

Doctoral Dissertations

Recent research in social cognition suggests one's self-efficacy beliefs regarding one's cognitive abilities can influence the effort expended on cognitive tasks (Bandura, 1989; 1997; Cavanaugh & Greene, 1990; Dunlosky & Hertzog, 1998), which may affect performance. This project was conducted to examine the relationship between age, self-efficacy beliefs, text difficulty, resource allocation to text comprehension processes, and memory for text. 82 younger adults and 74 older adults completed the Metamemory in Adulthood Questionnaire (MIA; Dixon, Hultsch & Hertzog, 1988), Reading Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (RSEQ), and Media Consumption Habits Questionnaire. Using the on-line word-by-word moving window method, participants read 24 two-sentence passages …