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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
The Influence Of Word Frequency And Aging On Lexical Access, Emily Rebecca Cohen-Shikora
The Influence Of Word Frequency And Aging On Lexical Access, Emily Rebecca Cohen-Shikora
Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Visual word recognition has been a central area of psychological inquiry over the past century. The current dissertation examines how visual word recognition changes as a function of age by focusing on the influence of word frequency, or how commonly a word is encountered. Word frequency is arguably the strongest predictor of visual word recognition performance across a variety of language tasks, and the most influential factor in models of language processing. All models of visual word recognition include a strong role for word frequency but often assume different underlying mechanisms, which produce differing predictions for age changes. Although there …
Variable Semantic Input And Novel First-Language Vocabulary Learning, Nichole Runge
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 …
Effects Of An Interdisciplinary Gerontology Course On First-Year Undergraduate Students, Christine Caroline Merz
Effects Of An Interdisciplinary Gerontology Course On First-Year Undergraduate Students, Christine Caroline Merz
Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This study evaluated the impact of an interdisciplinary course on aging designed to improve attitudes toward older adults and aging, and generate interest in aging-related careers. Main outcomes included knowledge of older adults and aging, attitudes toward older adults and aging, and anxiety about personal aging. Participants included first-year undergraduate students enrolled in the course (curricular intervention group) and first-year undergraduate students not enrolled in the course (control group). Data were collected at the beginning and end of one semester. At the end of the semester curricular intervention students had increased in their knowledge about aging and showed more positive …