Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / This study examined the relationship between delay of response in problem-solving and ability to integrate color and form on a perceptual task. It was an attempt to relate a perceptual process to a personality variable, and thus make meaningful certain individual differences in perceiving in terms of more general principles of ego controls. [TRUNCATED]

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Next to practice itself, feedback provided to a learner from an external source such as a coach or therapist is considered the most important factor facilitating skill acquisition. Past research has suggested that punishment and reward feedback have dissociable effects on learning and retention, respectively. However, other studies have suggested a more reliable effect of punishment feedback while failing to replicate the benefit of reward on retention. This discrepancy across experiments may be the result of seemingly innocuous methodological differences. Here, I ran a pre-registered online experiment to test the replicability of the supposed dissociable effects of punishment and reward on learning during training and retention, respectively. Participants were randomly assigned to receive either punishment feedback (n = 34) or reward feedback (n = 34) during the training period as they learned a repeating 12-element sequence in a serial reaction time task. Feedback consisted of participants either seeing a red (Punishment group) or green (Reward group) box flash on their computer screen and, unbeknownst to them, either a corresponding loss (Punishment group) or gain (Reward group) of points from their starting total. Participants were informed that a good final point score (i.e., the higher the better) could earn them extra entries into a gift card lottery. Contrary to what much of the literature has found, our results revealed no statistically significant differences between groups in either the training or retention phases of the experiment. In conclusion, the findings of this experiment failed to replicate the previously found dissociable effects of punishment and reward feedback on learning and retention, respectively. The data instead suggests that providing participants with punishment or reward feedback may affect learning and retention in a similar manner. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / The information that you get from your senses, along with the comments and criticisms given to you by others, are all forms of feedback that may or may not be available in your environment. Feedback can often be given to you in the form of a punishment or a reward in an effort to facilitate your performance of a motor skill, such as learning to juggle a soccer ball. In this thesis, I explored whether punishment and reward feedback have dissociable effects on the way people learn and retain a new motor skill. Some individuals received punishment feedback by seeing a red box flash on their screen and losing points, while others received reward feedback by seeing a green box flash on their screen and gaining points. Although the participants learned the new motor skill in the experiment, the results showed that reward and punishment feedback did not differentially impact motor learning. These results suggest that either reward or punishment feedback may be a useful feedback strategy for promoting motor learning.

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between video game playing habits, specifically frequency of video game playing sessions, length of video game playing sessions, and type of video game played, and reaction time (RT) in males and females of different age groups. The population consisted of volunteer participants (N = 28). Participants were asked to answer a questionnaire inquiring about their video game playing habits. After completing the questionnaire participants were tested on a choice reaction time apparatus. A Three-Way ANOVA was used to calculate the level of significance between mean reaction time scores (MRTS) and video game playing habits. The results showed that there was no significant relationship between MRTS and video game playing habits.

This study separated participants into four different conditions based on a 2 (blocked or random study trials) x 2 (blocked or random test trials) between-subjects design. Using the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm the researcher investigated whether or not false memories were produced at the time of study or the time of test. According to the paradigm, participants who view a series of categorical words (mad, fear, hate, rage, temper) are thought to semantically associate critical lures (anger), as a part of the list presented, more frequently than participants who see a string of unrelated terms. The production of false memory is commonly accredited to the priming effect and the relationships among categorical terms. The current study explored whether manipulating blocked versus random word lists had an effect on false memory rates and further examined the conditions under which false memories are produced, in order to gain a better understanding of the phenomenon. Participants' responses were assessed based on their recall under either blocked or random conditions in both the study and test phases. Using measures of recognition and reaction time (RT), the results indicate that false memories are created primarily during original study and not during · the test of recognition. However, although the highest rates of false memories occurred during the blocked-study condition, the fastest reaction times for false memories were seen during blocked-test. These findings can contribute to the theoretical understanding of the origin of false memory. After comparing false memory rates and reaction times, concluding whether or not the mind exclusively produces these memories during the encoding process has yet to be determined.

<p> The binary choice Fast Guess Model of Ollman and Yellott was generalized to a multiple choice model and six subjects were run in a choice reaction time task to test the model. Stimulus set sizes of two, four and six were used and response accuracy and speed motivation was manipulated through specific instructions which were changed from trial to trial. Three different motivational instructions were used. In all cases, subjects were to respond with maximum accuracy but were also told on each trial to either disregard the duration of their response, respond within 440 milliseconds or respond within 300 milliseconds.</p> <p> The generalized Fast Guess Model was rejected because response time parameters of the SCR state were found to change across response accuracy-speed motivation instructions and across stimulus set sizes. Implications of these results for other classes of models were also discussed.</p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The aging population and increase of ambulatory surgeries have greatly increased strain on surgical and post-surgical staff that decreases the safety of care. Our overall goal is to find ways to decrease the time of anesthetic recovery to allow for more efficient post-surgical treatment. The specific aims of this study were to assess the correlations between neurocognitive recovery measures of attention and vigilance to brain dynamics. We analyzed reaction time via auditory psychomotor vigilance testing (aPVT) testing and the Richmond agitation-sedation scale (RASS) scores in 145 patients prior to and preceding surgery. Intraoperative electroencephalogram was also recorded for 115 of those patients. Data was analyzed to associate aPVT performance to recovery time and intraoperative brain dynamics. We found an association coefficient between reaction time and RASS recovery of 0.022 (p-value = 0.0001) showing a significant association. Further, we found age to be a significant confounding variable (p=0.04421) and included this in our association model. Lastly, there was no significant association found between intraoperative burst suppression and reaction time values (p=0.497). Overall, aPVT was found to be a robust test to assess recovery timeline in peri-operative anesthesia care unit patients. These results highlighted the potential use of an objective metric to track neurocognitive recovery after anesthesia, especially in elderly patients undergoing surgery.

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Classical item analysis (CIA) entails summarizing items based on two key attributes: item difficulty and item discrimination, defined as the proportion of examinees answering correctly and the difference in correctness between high and low scorers. Recent insights reveal a direct link between these measures and aspects of signal detection theory (SDT) in item analysis, offering modifications to traditional metrics and introducing new ones to identify problematic items (DeCarlo, 2023). The SDT approach involves extending Luce's choice model (1959) using a mixture framework, with mixing occurring within examinees rather than across them, reflecting varying latent knowledge states (know or don't know) across items. This implies a 'true' split (know/don't know) enabling straightforward discrimination and difficulty measures, lending theoretical support to the conventional item splitting approach. DeCarlo (2023) demonstrated improved measures and item screening using simple median splits, motivating this study to explore enhanced measures via refined splits. This study builds on these findings, refining CIA and SDT measures by integrating additional information like response time and item scores using latent class and cluster models.