Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Effect Of Cognitive Load On Illusory Correlation, Jason Simpson

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study investigated two theories of illusory correlation in social judgment by examining how varying the level of cognitive load during encoding of social stimuli affected the amount of illusory correlation. If the level of illusory correlation increases in a monotonic relationship with increasing cognitive load, then this type of increase would provide evidence for the distinctiveness-based view of illusory correlation (Hamilton & GifFord, 1976); however, if levels of illusory correlation show a curvilinear relationship, this relationship would provide support for the differentiated meaning view (Haslam, McGarty, & Brown, 1996). Cognitive load was manipulated by having participants perform an auditory …

The Effect Of Age-Related Stereotypes On Memory Self-Efficacy And Memory Task-Performance Of Older Adults, Brenda Karns

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Forty-six older adults participated in a study to examine the hypothesis that there is a significant association between stereotypes of age-related memory decline and memory self-efficacy beliefs. It was also hypothesized that this relationship affects performance on measures of memory performance. A measure of age stereotype vulnerability was assessed along with two measures of memory self-efficacy, four measures of implicit, explicit, and working memory, and two measures of implicit and explicit sequential learning. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the relationships among stereotypes of age, memory self-efficacy, and subsequent performance on various tasks of memory and learning. Emphasis was …

Are The Cognitive Processes Underlying Practical Intelligence Redundant With Those Underlying Traditional Intelligence, Shari Rauscher

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

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Aging And Attentional Control In The Stroop Priming Task, Jennifer Naylor

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This experiment was conducted to examine whether older adults are capable of developing attentional strategies to reduce interference from irrelevant information. Sixty young and 60 older adults were asked to name the ink color of a non-black neutral word, which was presented adjacent to a color word or a neutral word (Lowe & Mitterer, 1982). Twelve young and 12 older adults were assigned to 1 of 5 list compositions. The first list consisted of 100% congruent items (ink color of a neutral word compatible with the color word), and 0% incongruent items (ink color of a neutral word incompatible with …

Aging And Stereoscopic Shape Perception, Thomas Dawson

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Past research on stereoscopic depth perception among the elderly has led to inconsistent findings. Some research on stereopsis and aging has found that younger and older adults are essentially the same in terms of their stereoscopic ability, while other research has found evidence of large differences. This past research has largely been limited to investigations of stereoacuity. The purpose of Experiment 1 was to extend this earlier research to compare how older and younger observers perceive the magnitude of stereoscopically defined depth intervals. Random-dot stereograms depicting sinusoidal surfaces were shown to seven younger (i.e., ages 30 and below) and six …

Zebrafish Retinal Development And The Effects Of Abnormal Light Rearing Conditions, Shannon Saszik

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Anatomical and physiological studies have shown that the zebrafish is a useful model of vertebrate visual function. Anatomy has shown that the zebrafish possess the traditional three cone types (S-, M-, and L- cones), and a fourth cone type that is sensitive to ultraviolet light (U-cones). Physiologically, the adult zebrafish appears to have a complex visual system with color opponent mechanisms. Anatomical results suggest that the zebrafish may be a good model of retinal development as well. The zebrafish retina develops in a sequential manner and is immature at hatch. Bilotta et al. (1996) also found that the retina was …

Iconic Memory And Aging: Effects Of Stimulus Duration, Stimulus Contrast, And Inter-Stimulus Interval, Andrew Lajoie

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Previous studies have shown that old adults perform more poorly on the classic Sperling partial report task than do young adults. In this study, the researcher examined whether age differences in performance could be accounted for by changes in visual and perceptual ability. Eighteen old adults (M = 70 years) and 18 young adults (M = 22 years) were administered whole and partial report trials with stimulus durations of 150 ms; a second group of 18 young adults was tested with stimulus durations of 30 ms. Stimuli were presented at two levels of contrast (98 and 44 percent) and the …

The Effects Of Practice On Stroop Inhibition: A Process Dissociation Approach, Emily Patterson

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Two studies were performed to investigate the effects of age and practice on Stroop inhibition. The first experiment examined the influence of age on the ability to ignore the meaning of words on Stroop items. Fifteen younger and 15 older adults were asked to name the color of congruent, incongruent, and control items appearing on a computer screen. Participants' interference and facilitation scores, error rates, and color and word process dissociation estimates were computed. The results indicate that older adults experienced more interference and facilitation than the younger adults and produced more errors than the younger adults on items where …

An Investigation Of Peripheral Localization Errors In Older Adults, Eric Stephens

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In a typical useful field of view (UFOV) paradigm, an observer must correctly identify a center target while simultaneously localizing a peripheral target. Previous research has shown that many older adults have difficulty locating the peripheral target in the UFOV paradigm when compared to younger adults (Sekuler & Ball, 1986; Scialfa, Kline, & Lyman, 1987; Ball, Beard, Roenker, Miller, & Griggs, 1988; Ball, Roenker, & Bruni, 1990; Scialfa, Thomas, & Joffe, 1994). However, the reason for this difficulty is not clearly understood. The purpose of this study was to test two potential explanations for the difficulty that some older adults …

Aging And The Truth Effect In Validity Judgment, Sue Lindsey

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

It is sometimes necessary to make validity judgments about information with which we are unfamiliar, because we have no factual knowledge about the event. Under these circumstances, subjective evidence, such as whether the statement has been seen or heard in the past, may be used to judge validity. Previous research has shown that the repetition of unfamiliar, but plausible statements increases the judged validity of the statements. In other words, the more one hears a particular statement, the more one believes it to be true. The present study has been designed to explore this "truth effect." The first experiment examined …

The Effects Of Constant, Force-Drop And Variable Duration Training On Increasing The Useful Field Of View, Kathleen Marie O'Connor

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The Useful Field of View (UFOV) is the entire area in which information can be gathered without moving the head or eyes. It is generally found that the size of the UFOV shrinks with age. Additionally, research has shown that simple practice on the UFOV task can increase the size of the UFOV. However, simple practice may not be the most effective strategy for increasing the UFOV. The present study examined whether training directed toward a specific basis of UFOV loss (slower speed of processing) is more effective than simple practice at increasing field size.

Individuals received one or three …

Eliminating Sex Bias Through Rater Cognitive Processes Training, Carter Ard

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The success of Rater Cognitive Processes Training as a strategy for eliminating sex bias in ratings of performance in a physically demanding job was investigated in the present study. One hundred undergraduate students from a mid -sized regional university served as subjects. The independent variables were type of training and sex of the ratee. resulting in a two by two factorial design. The dependent variable was the performance ratings assigned by the subjects. Subjects in the experimental condition were trained to recognize the important dimensions of performance for the lob of feed handler and received one Practice/feedback session. Subjects in …

Head Start Four And Five Year Old Children’S Attitudes Toward School As They Are Related To Achievement, Eugene Smith

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this study was to determine if there existed significant relationships between 4 and 5 year old children’s attitude toward school, their classroom teacher’s perception of their attitude toward school, length of time in school, sex, or a composite of these with their achievement on the Pre-School Attainment Record. A random sample of 55 Head Start children completed three instruments. The instruments used in this study were a revised Children’s Attitude Toward School Scale (CATSS-R), (Beere, 1970) The Pre-School Attainment Record (PAR), (Doll, 1966) and the Teachers Rating of Attitude of Children Toward School (TRACTS). The results of …

Developmental Study Of The Mueller-Lyer Illusion Under Conditions Of Restricted Exposure Time & Task Interference, Jerald Clampitt

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The present study brought together two lines of research in an attempt to explain some issues in perceptual development. The first pertained to the Mueller-Lyer illusion which tends to decrease with age. Piaaet attributed this change to increased perceptual activities, such as eye movements in the older subjects. Pollack related it to changes in the physical structure of the eye. Grice attributed the charge partially to cognitive processes, and partially to perceptual activities. Second, the concept of iconic memory was reviewed. Grice had employed the concept of iconic memory in an attempt to relate the age related changes in illusions …