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Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Theses/Dissertations

Cognition

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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Investigating Insensitivity To Prior Probabilities In Merger And Acquisition Decision Making, James A. Mcgaughan May 2021

Investigating Insensitivity To Prior Probabilities In Merger And Acquisition Decision Making, James A. Mcgaughan

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

In this dissertation I look at the high failure rates of Mergers and Acquisitions (M&As) and why there has been no discernible change in outcomes over the last several decades. Although we have greater access to data, sophisticated business intelligence (BI) and data analytics (DA) tools, and work by industry professionals and academics to improve the process, high failure rates have persisted. I explore the possibility that the representativeness heuristic could play a role, and specifically, the possibility that prior probabilities are being ignored in M&A evaluations. I use a mixed methods approach to explore the hypothesis that decision makers …


Key Generalization Of Recognition Memory For Melodies, Abigail Lincoln Kleinsmith Jan 2015

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, …