It is the purpose of the present study to attempt to obtain reminiscence with paired-associate nonsense syllables, and to determine a "forgetting curve" based on a continuous measure of retention. Reminiscence is defined as an improvement in retention after learning, without intervening practice, as shown by some measure of ability to recall. The experiment is designed to give an empirical demonstration of reminiscence phenomena as predicted by the rote learning theory system of C. L. Hull, and the experimental work of C. I. Hovland. Hull's prediction of an initial increase in the amount retained after learning follows from a "differential forgetting" theory in which correct responses acquire decrement in strength at a slower rate than do incorrect responses: the result is that near-correct responses at the termination of learning temporarily reach supra-threshold strength during the early stages of retention, and "reminiscence" results. The majority of rote learning studies have used lists of single nonsense syllables presented in a serial order. Reminiscence effects have been found in some of the latter studies but have not been found with paired-associate materials presented in a random order on successive trials. In the present experiment the stimulus materials are paired-associate nonsense syllables presented in a serial order; the anticipation method of learning is used; the criterion of learning is 6/9 correct anticipations; two groups of 16 Ss each are employed - an immediate recall group, and a delayed recall group; the interpolated interval between learning and the first recall measure for the delayed recall group is two minutes; and successive measures of retention are obtained on Ss in both recall groups such that the time between reaching the learning criterion and the last recall trial is six minutes. From the results, a serial effect is demonstrated during learning and it is expected that this will enhance the possibility of reminiscence. With analyses of the data in terms of group indices, individual indices, and item indices, no difference between retention measures is found which could be called reminiscence. Successive trial retention measures are compared between the two recall groups. The Hullian theory predicts a general decrement in retention performance on successive trials following any reminiscence effect. The results show that overlearning of some responses results in a stereotypy of retention responses which obscures reduction in strength of the less well learned responses and results in no significant decline in retention on successive trials. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

This study investigated the effects of headings and text organization on grade 5 through 10 students' written recall of expository prose passages written in a classification/description mode. Emphasis was placed on the results from students in grades 7 and 8. This study was a component of a three part study. The other two parallel studies emphasized grades 5 and 6 (Stables, 1985) and 9 and 10 (Gibbs, 1985). Each subject read and recalled two passages: one written at his or her grade level and one written at a low readability level. Performance on the written recalls from passages with headings and without headings was examined on the basis of the number of superordinate and subordinate ideas recalled, the superordinate and subordinate organization, and the format. Developmental trends were investigated by including the data from the two parallel studies (Gibbs, 1985; Stables, 1985). There was some evidence that headings had a significant positive effect on the number of superordinate ideas recalled from a passage of low readability. Some significant differences indicated negative effects by headings. The majority of differences, however, were not significant. Developmental trends in grades 5 through 10 were noted in the number of ideas recalled on a low readability passage and the format used on the written recalls. Implications for instruction and suggestions for further research are discussed. / Education, Faculty of / Language and Literacy Education (LLED), Department of / Graduate

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Elderly subjects are known to perform less well than young subjects on laboratory tests of recall from episodic memory. Although the elderly report increased difficulty in recalling information from semantic memory, experimental attempts to demonstrate this deficit are equivocal. It is suggested that studies which use multiple choice tests to measure recall from semantic memory fail to find age-related deficits because the tests provide cues to aid in recall, a procedure known to reduce age-related differences in recall from episodic memory. When time to retrieve a single item of information from semantic memory is measured, some studies show an age-related deficit while others do not. When episodic recall is tested using categorized lists, the elderly show recall deficits largely because they access fewer categories than do young subjects. Semantic cues increase the number of categories recalled by the elderly subjects more than for young subjects in such tasks, Since studies with young subjects show that recall both from categorized lists and from a taxonomic category (a semantic recall task) proceeds via temporal clusters of related items, it was hypothesized that elderly subjects would show increased difficulty in accessing clusters of related items in a semantic recall task, just as they do in recall of categorized lists. Further, it was hypothesized that semantic cues would reduce the time taken by the elderly to access sequential clusters of information from semantic memory. In one experiment, healthy, well-educated young (ages 19-21) and old (ages 67-72) subjects were required to perform a Bousfield task: to generate examples from two taxonomic categories, foods and animals, for 15 minutes. The slope-difference algorithm, a procedure developed by Gruenewald and Lockhead, was used to categorize each subject's inter- item times (IIT's) into times between temporal clusters (BIIT's) and times between items within temporal clusters (WIIT). In a second experiment, a group of old subjects were given semantic differential labels as cues for recall on one of their two experimental trials. Results for the first experiment showed no age effect on mean BUT, number of clusters, or average cluster size for recall of food items. There were also no age effects during the first 5 minutes of recall of animals. Later in the task old subjects had longer mean BIIT's for animals than did young subjects. The differences appeared to result because old subjects tended to report primarily mammals, while young subjects reported birds, fish, reptiles/amphibians, and insects as well, A trend toward slower mean WIIT's for old subjects was attributed to slower vocalization rates. Thus, Experiment 1 failed to demonstrate age- related differences in time to access successive clusters of related items in semantic memory or in the rate at which items in a cluster are emitted. Higher repetition rates observed for the old subjects do support an age-related deficit in recognition. In the second experiment, only half the subjects reported that the semantic -differential cues were helpful in finding new items. No effect of cuing was observed for the food category. Cuing did significantly reduce mean BIIT for animals during the last 5 minutes of recall. However, the actual effect of cuing on number of clusters produced was minimal. It was suggested that more practice with the cues might have led to higher cue usage and a greater impact on BIIT. / This thesis was digitized as part of a project begun in 2014 to increase the number of Duke psychology theses available online. The digitization project was spearheaded by Ciara Healy.

Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries