Psychology Commons^™

Landmark Selection And Temporal-Spatial Integration: Macrospatial Abilities In Young Adults And Elderly Adults, Deans Haggerty

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Groups of young adults and elderly adults participated in a study examining age-related changes in macrospatial cognitive abilities. Perceptual differentiation/selection abilities were tested using a Landmark Selection task, while temporal-spatial integration abilities were explored through the use of a Scrambled Route task. In the Landmark Selection task, subjects viewed a slide presentation of a walk and then chose the landmarks which best represented the walk. For the Scrambled Route task, after viewing a slide presentation of a scrambled walk, subjects made distance estimations involving pairs of selected landmarks. Also included were self-assessment scales of spatial abilities and two psychometric tests …

Cognitive Influences On Flavor Discrimination: Training Novices For Beer Flavor Differentiation, Rosalynn M. Peron

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Four training techniques were employed to investigate the effects of increasing knowledge of beer flavor on novices' ability to differentiate among beers on the basis of taste. These techniques included (a) learning definitions of beer flavor terminology (Verbal Condition); (b) having additional experience with taste sensations (Taste Condition); (c) having a combination of the verbal and taste techniques (Verbal/Taste Condition); and (d) no training (Control Condition). After preliminary testing, 40 subjects (10 per training condition) were selected to participate in pre- and post-training tasks in which they rated similarity between beers, between beers and flavor-descriptive adjectives, and between flavor-descriptive adjectives. …

The Effects Of Expectancy, Task Importance And Self-Attention On Task Persistence, Jim Jewett

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study was designed to examine the relative power of control theory (Carver, 1979) and self-efficacy theory (Bandura, 1977) in predicting behavioral persistence. This study employed a 2 X 2 X 2 X 2 factorial design. One hundred and twelve undergraduate females were exposed to high and low levels of self-attention and task importance as well as positive and negative self-efficacy and outcome expectancies. Following failure on an anagram task subjects’ persistence in solving in insoluble design puzzle was assessed. Contrary to the hypotheses, the results suggested that self-efficacy expectancies, outcome expectancies, task importance and self-attention do not influence persistence …

Cultural Characteristics Of Learning And Perceptual Skills Of Southeast Alaskan Native 5-Year-Olds, Thomas J. Turkon

Dissertations and Theses

This study examined the use of cognitive skills by 5-year-old Alaskan Native children on a standardized testing instrument. The Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scales of Intelligence (WPPSI) were administered to 23 boys and 17 girls of predominantly Tlingit, Tsimshean, and Haida ancestry. A standardized parent interview was used to collect bio-demographic data. Mean scores for the sample displayed significant differences between the Performance and Verbal scales, with the strongest performance in the Spatial subtests, and lowest in the Sequential subtests. Scores were significantly associated with variables representing culture-specific self identity and behavior, but were most strongly associated with family size. …

The Effect Of Intuition On Creativity As Discussed By Several Individuals Of Creative Genius, Mary Jean Campbell

Institute for the Humanities Theses

When the term intuition came into psychological parlance less than a century ago, the argument began over whether intuition could affect creativity, and whether it, in fact, existed at all as part of cognitive process. This paper will begin with a discussion of the meaning of intuition and some of the implications of that term, address the difficulties inherent in relying on self-report for information, and then turn to the statements of several well-known creative individuals about the role of intuition or intuition-related phenomena in their work.

The selection of creative individuals will be limited to those who have attained …

A Comparison Of Measures Of Emotions From Written Reports Of Dreams And Waking Experiences, Edward D. Conklin

Dissertations and Theses

Various researchers have noted that emotions expressed in dream reports are infrequent and, more often, unpleasant. These observations are ambiguous for several reasons: (1) Empirical opinions differ markedly with regard to the structure of mentation across the continuum of waking and sleeping experience. (2) While the waking state is usually assumed as an implicit baseline, few studies have quantitatively compared waking and dream emotions. (3) Dream researchers have not thought about the basic nature of emotions or certain constraints which sleep physiology might impose upon emotions. In light of these assertions and considerations, an intrasubject comparison of emotions in reports …

Normative Data On The Auditory Memory Performance Of Three- And Four-Year Old Children As Measured By The Auditory Memory Test Package (Amtp), Patricia R. Davis

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to collect normative data on the auditory memory performance of three- and four-year old children as measured by the Auditory Memory Test Package (AMTP). Specifically, this investigation sought to answer one question: is the AMTP sensitive to age differences when administered to young children ages 3.0-4.11?

Perception Of Structure In Novel Music, Andrea R. Halpern

Faculty Journal Articles

Two experiments demonstrated the way in which musicians and nonmusicians process realistic music encountered for the first time. A set of tunes whose members were related to each other by a number of specific musical relationships was constructed. In experiment I, subjects gave similarity judgments of all pairs of tunes, which were analyzed by the ADD-TREE clustering program. Musicians and nonmusicians gave essentially equivalent results: Tunes with different rhythms were rated as being very dissimilar, whereas tunes identical except for being in a major versus a minor mode were rated as being highly similar. In Experiment 2, subjects learned to …

Mental Representations, Noam Chomsky

Syracuse Scholar (1979-1991)

Knowledge of language (and probably much else) can properly be regarded as a system of mental representations and operations to form and modify them. In these terms, many problems concerning language and knowledge can be reasonably approached, sometimes solved, though many mysteries remain, and prospects are opened to incorporate this inquiry within the natural sciences.

Children's Representation Of Spatial Information, Rebecca L. Beard

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The present study utilized a multi-dimensional approach to examine children's communication of spatial information. Sixty male and female elementary school children, ages 6-7, 9-10, and 11-12, learned a route through a pedestrian maze with four color-coded inter sections and animal photographs to serve as landmarks. After learning the route to a specified criterion level, the children were required to complete three remaining tasks: a verbal recall task, a nonverbal reconstruction task, and a route reversal task. For each task the children were asked to provide a reason for their directional choice at each intersection. Analyses indicated developmental differences in performance …

The Wind; Flight, Gale Stam

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Study Of Factors Affecting Cognitive Style In Mexican-American Children, Anne Kelter Gehrig

Dissertations and Theses

In recent years cognitive style has become the focus of much educational research. Many educators believe that instructional effectiveness can be maximized by utilizing the student's preferred cognitive style as a springboard for introducing new concepts as well as by restructuring educational practices so that the child learns to deal effectively with diverse cognitive styles. Early research on cognitive style focused solely on behavioral indicators. Today many researchers acknowledge that, in order to understand cognitive style, one must examine brain processing, as different styles of thinking result from the manner in which each hemisphere of the brain processes information.

This …

Stimulus Control Exerted By Remember Cues Over Processing In Pigeons’ Short-Term Memory, Patricia E. Hernandez Torres

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The aim of the present research was to provide further evidence regarding the role of remember cues on pigeon short-term memory. The first two experiments were conducted to determine whether, using a single cuing procedure, control over delayed matching-to-sample (DMTS) performance could be demonstrated by establishing a no cue condition as an implicit cue to forget. In Experiment 1, subjects were provided with training in a procedure where both forget cue (F) and no cues indicated the omission of the comparison stimuli at the end of the delay interval. In Experiment 2, naive subjects were trained with remember (R) and …

Affective Perspective-Taking And Sympathy In Young Children, Mary Driver Leinbach

Dissertations and Theses

The present study focused upon both behavioral and cognitive aspects of sympathetic responses in preschool children. Subjects, 36 boys and girls aged 33-75 months, were seen at their regular day care center. An attempt was made to promote comforting behavior through the use of a peer model both alone and accompanied by an adult's inductive statement regarding the consequences of a sympathetic response; a six year-old girl served as the sympathetic model and as an apparently injured victim in need of comforting. In addition, age- and sex-related relationships for the measures of social cognition, affective perspective-taking and knowledge of strategies …

Incidental And Intentional Recall Of Item Names And Spatial Locations, Lois Ann Scovel

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Recent studies have indicated that there are no differences between the incidental and intentional recall of spatial location; whereas, intentional recall is superior to incidental recall of verbal information. In order to examine the variables that affect recall, second graders, fifth graders and adults were instructed to learn the location or the name of seven highly discriminable or less discriminable objects presented in a spatial array. Analysis of names recalled indicated that high discriminability enhanced recall, and that intent to learn facilitated recall, particularly for adult males. Recall increased with age, and females recalled more names than did males. Analysis …

The Early Career Of James Mark Baldwin, 1881-1893 A Bibliography And An Introduction, Karin E. Wetmore

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis will be an historical project dealing with the early career of James Mark Baldwin, a very important figure in the development of modern experimental psychology out of the older philosophical psychology in the third quarter of the nineteenth century. The paper will focus on clarifying the specific details of Baldwin's early career and psychological work. This aim addresses the current need in the work of the history of psychology to establish an accurate picture of the historical events. This recovery and reconstruction of the historical data is pre-requisite to the more complete historical task. Gathering the raw historical …

The Relationship Of Cognitive Complexity-Simplicity To Occupational Role Perception, Raymond Boetcher

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The present research investigates the relationship of cognitive complexity-simplicity to consensus in occupational role perception between subordinate and. supervisor. The research literature indicates that role consensus for specified positions is seldom found, and. that such disparities are well-documented for various educational roles. A sample of elementary school teachers and their immediate supervisors from three southeastern Virginia school systems were administered the Role Dimension Profile Scale in order to measure the importance of various behavioral role statements. Average ratings per role dimension were computed and difference scores were obtained. for each individual teacher and his or her supervisor. Teachers were divided …

Work Personality As A Factor In Evaluating The Work Potential Of The Mentally Retarded, Janet L. Scally

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis focused on the development of a Work Personality Scale and the systematic study of how this aspect of the mentally retarded person is related to his or her intelligence and dexterity skill level.

Pigeon Short-Term Memory: The Effects Of Intertrial Interval Duration And Illumination In A Successive Delayed Matching-To-Sample Procedure, Vic Grossi

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The aim of this research was to examine the effects of illumination and intertrial interval duration on pigeon short-term memory, using a successive matching-to-sample procedure. In phrase one the retention interval was manipulated individually for each bird. During the second phase, a correction procedure was implemented in order to reduce the number of responses made to non-match comparison stimuli. In the third phase, the birds were returned to a common baseline, in order to observe what effect elimination of the correction procedure had on the bird’s performance. In the final phase of the research, after achieving stable performance in the …

A Cognitive-Behavioral Approach To The Control Of Dream Content, Gary Nick Dean Lehto

Dissertations and Theses

A cognitive-behavioral technique for developing dream control was examined. Twenty paid subjects were randomly assigned to either an attention-placebo control group or a cognitive-behavioral training group. Subjects met in the respective groups for a total of three hours of "training." Subjects in the actual training group were presented with a self-instruction sequence to practice and use in attempting to manipulate dream content. The control group subjects met to only discuss dreams and dreaming and were given no specific instruction in content control. After completion of the training, each subject individually spent two consecutive nights in a sleep laboratory. The first …

The Cognitive Structure Of The Psychometrically Gifted In The Analysis Of Piagetian Formal Operations, Charles Joseph Justice

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated a six-variable model of the cognitive structure of psychometrically gifted adolescents. In this model, Concept Attainment and Problem Finding were the dependent variables, and IQ, Achievement Motivation, Anxiety, and Innovation were the independent variables. Previous research suggests that emotional or affective variables such as Achievement Motivation, Anxiety, and Innovation strongly influence the type of problem solving necessary in Piagetian formal operational thinking. Research also indicates that the formal operational stage is a necessary but insufficient condition for a type of cognitive process termed "Problem Finding." Thus, Problem Finding was suggested as a fifth stage of cognitive development. …

Yet Another Look At Depth Of Processing, Marilyn Graves

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

A review of the depth of processing literature revealed that the major criticism of the approach was that no independent measure of depth of processing had teen used. The present study was designed to compare the effects of three standard depth of processing tasks to a free -association baseline --the baseline constitutes an independent measure of depth of processing. Structural, phonemic, and semantic tasks were manipulated in the study and subjects were given cues or prompters as an aid in recall. Cues were taken from a list of target words used by Bahrick (1969). Bahrick's norms constituted a free -association …

The Ability Of Young Children To Recognize Facial Photographs Of Young Children, Young Adults, And Senior Citizens, Barbara Bell Bruff

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

A review of the literature on facial recognition including a description of its development from birth to old age, hypothesized reasons for its unique development, and factors which affect it, reveals the need for facial recognition studies involving the young child. Twenty children (10 males, 10 females) at each of three ages (3, 5, and 7 years) were presented with 30 pictures of persons of both sexes from three age groups (3-7, 18-25, and 50 years and above). A testing procedure followed in which each child was asked to pick out the test picture from a photo album page with …

Effects Of Sleep Loss On Information-Processing In An Absolute Judgment Task As A Function Of Task Difficulty, Frieda O'Steen Carlton

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The effects of 36 hours of sleep loss on information-processing were assessed in an absolute judgment task. Of the 24 subjects employed, 12 served in the sleep-loss (experimental) and control conditions, respectively. All subjects were tested individually for a total of ten sessions; the control group was tested on ten consecutive days, whereas the experimental subjects were tested every four hours over a 36-hour period of sleep loss, and at a recovery session following approximately 12 hours of rest and recovery. The task required subjects to make absolute judgments of the size of two small circles of light and to …

Effects Of Practice On The Rate Of Gain Of Information In A Paper And Pencil Task, Dennis Howard Jones

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Investigations into the effects of practice on choice reaction time (CRT) performance and the rate of gain of information have produced confusing and often contradictory results. This seems to stem from the fact that (1) a small number of subjects were utilized and (2) there were an insufficient number of experimental conditions. In the present experiments, the author has developed a Reaction Time Battery (RTB) that allows a large group of subjects to be tested efficiently and economically. Using three levels of stimulus uncertainty (1, 2, or 3 bits) factorial to two levels of S-R compatibility (low and high), Experiment …

Comparison Of Two Receptive Language Tests (Ppvt And Tacl) Used With The Developmentally Delayed, Paul H. Lamb

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this investigation was to compare the results as recorded in mental ages of the PPVT and TACL when used with developmentally delayed children. One aspect was to observe how well the mean mental age from each test would compare with the mean mental age obtained from psychometric testing (WISC-R or SB-LM results). Another aspect was to determine how well the data from the PPVT and from the TACL would correlate with the psychometric testing results.

The Retention And Maintenance Of An Information Processing Skill, Jerry Willard Hedge

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

In the performance of most skilled activities, there are definite limits to the proficiency attainable by an individual. These limits and how they affect the retention and maintenance of a skill are of major interest to performance-- assessment research. While much is known about verbal and motor skill retention, very little research has focused on the long~term retention and maintenance of information processing skills. The purpose of the present investigation was to determine the extent to which the information processing skills involved in a typical choice reaction time (CRT) task are retained and maintained over periods of two to eight …

Influence Of Gender Appropriateness Of Sex-Role And Occupational Preferences On Evaluations Of A Competent Person, Robert D. Johnson, David R. Shaffer

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

Previous research has found that while masculine sex-role preferences are more highly valued, persons holding gender consistent sex-role preferences generally are rated as more attractive. The present study explores the interactive effect of gender consistent/inconsistent sex-role preferences and congruent/incongruent occupational choices on evaluations of a person from varying perspectives. Statistical analysis of the data revealed (1) people holding masculine sex-role preferences are perceived to have a higher motivation to succeed, and to be more competent; (2)from the perspective of friend and potential employee, persons holding gender consistent sex-role preferences are perceived as more attractive; (3) from the perspective of potential …

Normative Data On The Auditory Memory Test Battery, Mary Clare Mountain

Dissertations and Theses

This study examined the means and standard deviations for the Auditory Memory Test Battery (Burford, 1976) using a sample of normal second, third, and fourth grade children. The study also compared span and sequence scores, low and high SES scores, and an individual's test scores with teacher judgment of intelligence group. A brief examination of the AMTB as used with LD children was also performed but not included in the statistical analysis.

Recall And Recognition Memory Under Varying Conditions Of Hypnotically Suggested Amnesia, Christopher R. Meagher

Dissertations and Theses

Posthypnotic amnesia has been systematically investigated in the past and subsequently alluded to as either role enacted behavior or evidence for an altered state of consciousness. Recall and recognition have been tested during posthypnotic amnesia and as in normal memory functioning, recognition performance has been found to be usually superior to recall performance. In order to gain further understanding of the circumstances which facilitate amnesic behavior, an experiment was carried out which was designed to vary the usual manner in which recall and recognition memory are observed during posthypnotic amnesia.