This thesis explores the evolution of intelligence research and its contextualization within historical biases. Using a meta-analysis approach, the study examines word frequencies in academic literature spanning from the 1930s to the 2010s to identify shifting trends in intelligence discourse. Eleven search terms related to intelligence were analyzed to interpret changes in academic focus over time. The findings reveal significant shifts influenced by historical events, societal movements, and advancements in technology and methodology. From the prominence of IQ measures during World War II to the rise of cognitive science in the 1960s and the emergence of emotional intelligence in the 2000s, each decade reflects distinct patterns in intelligence research. Moreover, the study highlights the importance of contextualizing intelligence within broader sociocultural contexts and challenging entrenched biases. By critically examining historical influences, this research underscores the imperative for more inclusive and equitable approaches to understanding human cognition.

The primary motivation for this research was to study the effect of presentation format on acquisition time, recall, and preference. While the main focus was on the relative difference between iconic and textual representations, the independent variables include: presentation format (icon, text and mixed), experience (low, medium, and high), command set (basic, enhanced) and session (primary and secondary recall) . Dependent measures include: acquisition time, response times (primary and secondary recall), and response errors (primary and secondary recall). To assess the presence of functional differences between the independent variables, the ANOVA procedure was applied to each set of dependent measure data. Where appropriate, significant effects were subsequently investigated via application the Newman-Keuls post hoc test procedure. Finally, subject preference measures were correlated with dependent measure data to determine how they were related. The findings associated with each analysis are detailed below. A significant effect was obtained for the main effect of format using acquisition time as the dependent variable. Thus, indicating that acquisition time was influenced by the presentation format of select word processing commands. No other acquisition effects were found to be significant. An ANOVA utilizing response time as the dependent variable supported the hypothesis that presentation format affects average primary response time (p < .01). Additionally, the interaction of the main effects of format and setblock achieved significance (p < .01). Format, setblock and the interaction of the two main effects produce significant (p < .01) average differences in terms of response errors. Therefore, the hypothesis that format and setblock significantly affect the number of response errors was supported. Comparison of the ANOVA summary tables for both response time and errors for primary and secondary tasks indicate that in general, the effects that held significance in the primary recall tasks also achieved (or perhaps more correctly maintained) significance in the secondary recall task. Specifically, using response time as the dependent variable, significance was achieved for the main effects of format (p < .01), and setblock (p < .01), and for the interaction of experience and setblock (p < .05). Finally, using response errors as the dependent variable, the format by setblock interaction was determined to be significant (p < .01). The results support the hypothesis that the number of secondary recall percent correct responses is affected by format and setblock. Subject preference data was utilized to determine the correlation between preference and: average acquisition time, average primary recall response time, average primary recall response errors, average secondary recall response time, and average recall response errors. The correlations achieved indicate that preference is not a particularly useful indicator of performance. In an attempt to summarize the results and findings of the study, the following recommendations/observations are set forth: • With the exception of novices, word processing experience does not dramatically influence the time required to learn or recall stimuli. Similarly, experience does not affect the number of response errors made. • Word processing systems which require subjects to learn and recall exact command sets benefit from enhanced text or enhanced text with graphics. • In applications where a precise verbal response is required, or where differences between functions is subtle, use of an accepted term in conjunction with a graphic is the preferred method. • In general, preference appears to be a poor predictor of performance. Therefore, preference should not be the only basis for deciding on command set formats. However, when subject preference is the primary driver, enhanced text commands should be used. The next preferred approach is the mixed enhanced command set. / Master of Science

The task of analyzing a collection of documents generated over time is daunting. A natural way to ease the task is by summarizing documents into the topics that exist within these documents. The temporal aspect of topics can frame relevance based on when topics are introduced and when topics stop being mentioned. It creates trends and patterns that can be traced by individual key terms taken from the corpus. If trends are being established, there must be a way to visualize them through the key terms. Creating a visual system to support this analysis can help users quickly gain insights from the data, significantly easing the burden from the original analysis technique. However, creating a visual system for terms is not easy. Work has been done to develop word embeddings, allowing researchers to treat words like any number. This makes it possible to create simple charts based on word embeddings like scatter plots. However, these methods are inefficient due to loss of effectiveness with multiple time slices and point overlap. A visualization method that addresses these problems while also visualizing diachronic word embeddings in an interesting way with added semantic meaning is hard to find. These problems are managed through TimeLink. TimeLink is proposed as a dashboard system to help users gain insights from the movement of diachronic word embeddings. It comprises a Sankey diagram showing the path of a selected key term to a cluster in a time period. This local cluster is also mapped to a global topic based on an original corpus of documents from which the key terms are drawn. On the dashboard, different tools are given to users to aid in a focused analysis, such as filtering key terms and emphasizing specific clusters. TimeLink provides insightful visualizations focused on temporal word embeddings while maintaining the insights provided by global topic evolution, advancing our understanding of how topics evolve over time. / Master of Science / The task of analyzing documents collected over time is daunting. Grouping documents into topics can help frame relevancy based on when topics are introduced and hampered. The creation of topics also enables the ability to visualize trends and patterns. Creating a visual system to support this analysis can help users quickly gain insights from the data, significantly easing the burden from the original analysis technique of browsing individual documents. A visualization system for this analysis typically focuses on the terms that affect established topics. Some visualization methods, like scatter plots, implement this but can be inefficient due to loss of effectiveness as more data is introduced. TimeLink is proposed as a dashboard system to aid users in drawing insights from the development of terms over time. In addition to addressing problems in other visualizations, it visualizes the movement of terms intuitively and adds semantic meaning. TimeLink provides insightful visualizations focused on the movement of terms while maintaining the insights provided by global topic evolution, advancing our understanding of how topics evolve over time.

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Information processing has altered the structure of the traditional office. Typewriters are no longer a necessity to prepare written business communication. As a result of a metamorphosis from manual data manipulation to electronic data processing, microcomputers and their related peripheral equipment are becoming the key link in the information system. Increased usage of microcomputers and word processing software has been linked to decreased proficiency in detecting errors and in turn to decreased office productivity. Thus a number of questions arise including: Is it better to proofread from a hardcopy or a softcopy document? Does the color and contrast configuration of a video display terminal affect the operator's ability to proofread? The effect on the operator's ability to accurately detect errors in keyboarded text from different media has not been previously determined. This study was therefore completed to ascertain if a difference does exist. Seventy-two individuals enrolled in four word processing classes at a western North Carolina community college comprised the individuals participating in this study. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire, a pretest instrument, and one of four error detection instruments. The error detection instruments were presented in either a hardcopy or softcopy format. The softcopy format consisted of three video display terminal configurations. Analyses of covariance with pretest scores used as the covariate were used to compare the quantity and types of errors detected by error detection environment configurations. Based on the findings from the analyses of data the following conclusions were derived. 1. Postsecondary word processing students have difficulty in finding errors in hardcopy and softcopy documents. 2. Postsecondary word processing students' abilities to detect errors in keyboarded text were not affected by the error detection environment–hardcopy or softcopy–during a ten-minute error detection process. Therefore, the printing of a hardcopy of keyboarded text when detecting errors for a short time period is not necessary. 3. Postsecondary word processing students' abilities to detect errors in keyboarded text were not affected by the video display terminal configurations examined in this study. A video display terminal’s color configuration is not a factor in the error detecting process for a short time period-ten minutes. Therefore, the color configuration of a video display terminal should not be a major consideration when purchasing new video display terminals for instructional use. 4. As the spelling Verification feature of word processing software does not detect all types of errors, instruction is needed in detecting errors that cannot be detected by the software’s spelling Verification feature. / Ed. D.

Yes / Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) plays an important part in consumer purchase decision. The way consumers perceive the persuasiveness of eWOM message can affect their attitude, and purchase intention, and hence sales. Thus, the topic of persuasiveness of eWOM communications has received much attention from scholars. The objective of this paper is to provide a brief review of the existing literature related to the effectiveness of eWOM communications and offer an overview of the determinants of eWOM persuasiveness. This paper contributes to the existing eWOM literature by reviewing the existing studies on eWOM communications, identifying gaps in the current research and providing directions for future research.

Yes / The aim of this research is to synthesise findings from previous studies by employing weight and meta-analysis to reconcile conflicting evidence and draw a “big picture” of eWOM factors influencing consumers’ intention to buy. By using the findings from 69 studies, this research identified best (e.g. argument quality, valence, eWOM usefulness, trust in message), promising (e.g. eWOM credibility, emotional trust, attitude towards website) and least effective (e.g. volume, existing eWOM, source credibility) predictors of intention to buy in eWOM research. Additionally, the effect size of each predictor was calculated by performing meta-analysis. For academics, understanding what influences consumers’ intention to buy will help set the agenda for future research directions; for practitioners, it will provide benefit in terms of practical guidance based on detailed analysis of specific factors influencing consumers’ intention to buy, which could enhance their marketing activities.

No / This SpringerBrief offers a state of the art analysis of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) communications and its role in marketing. The book begins with an overview of traditional word-of-mouth (WOM) and its evolution to eWOM. It discusses the differences between traditional and online WOM. The book examines why people engage in eWOM communications, but also how consumers evaluate its persuasiveness. It also looks at the effects of eWOM. The book identifies current gaps in the eWOM research, but also highlights future directions for this growing field. eWOM is an important marketing technique in brand communications, and it plays an important role in modern e-commerce. Marketers become extremely interested in enhancing the power of eWOM developing loyalty programs and building brands. Studying the effect of eWOM can be beneficial for companies. This book should be a good resource for scholars and practitioners that need to understand the pervasive effects of eWOM.

Yes / Pattern-related visual stress (PRVS) is a form of sensory hypersensitivity that some people experience when viewing high contrast repeating patterns, notably alternating dark and light stripes. Those susceptible to PRVS typically have a strong aversion to such stimuli, and this is often accompanied by experiences of visual discomfort and disturbance. The patterns most likely to elicit symptoms of PRVS have a square-wave grating configuration of spatial frequency ~3 cycles/degree. Such stimuli are characteristic of printed text in which lines of words and the spaces between them present a high contrast grating-like stimulus. Consequently, much printed reading material has the potential to elicit PRVS that may impair reading performance, and this problem appears to be common in individuals with reading difficulties including dyslexia. However, the manner in which PRVS affects reading ability is unknown. One possibility is that the early sensory visual stress may interfere with the later cognitive word recognition stage of the reading process, resulting in reading performance that is slower and/or less accurate. To explore the association of PRVS with word recognition ability, lexical decision performance (speed and accuracy) to words and pronounceable non-words was measured in two groups of adults, having low and high susceptibility to PRVS. Results showed that lexical decisions were generally faster but less accurate in high-PRVS, and also that high-PRVS participants made decisions significantly faster for words than for non-words, revealing a strong lexicality effect that was not present in low-PRVS. These findings are novel and, as yet, unconfirmed by other studies.

In linguistics, prosody encompasses the rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech, and this plays an important role in the language-learning process. This study seeks to understand this phenomenon further, providing novel language learning data with nursery rhymes as a vehicle to teach adults foreign words. Building on models of Dynamic Attending Theory and Phonological Short-Term Memory, it was theorized that the accuracy of foreign word learning is predicted by the prosodic cues present in the word’s learning context. This experiment included 3 tasks to explore this theory. Task 1 tested how accurately the participant processed the beat of a musical sequence. In Task 2, participants learned foreign words in a nursery rhyme context. Finally, in Task 3, participants were asked to identify which words they recognized from a large list of foreign words. Results showed a significant effect for prosodic cues’ influence on word memory. Specifically, temporal and rhythmic cues hierarchically facilitate phonological short-term memory, as represented in this paper’s proposed theoretical model. A potential link was also found between individual rhythmic ability and memory of foreign words. Overall, the present thesis offers a theoretical understanding of the use of nursery rhymes during adult foreign language learning / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / In linguistics, prosody encompasses the rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech, which plays an important role in the language-learning process. When adults don't have the meaning of words to rely on, they often use these rhythmic cues to remember them better. This research involved three tasks: processing the beat of music, learning foreign words through nursery rhymes, and then recognizing those words from a list. The results showed that rhythmic and timing cues are helpful for remembering words. Also, individuals with better rhythmic skills may demonstrate better word memory. This study suggests that using nursery rhymes could be an effective tool for teaching adults new languages.