This study investigated attributes of picture processing within a priming paradigm. Prime and target pictures were paired to create physical identity, name identity, and unrelated conditions. The primes were tachistoscopically presented both above and below naming threshold. In addition, interstimulus intervals (ISIs) of 90- and 490 msec were employed. Subjects were required to name the target pictures as quickly as possible. In the above threshold priming condition at both ISIs the physical identity pairs produced the greatest response facilitation, followed by the name identity pairs. In the below threshold priming condition, the only significant effect occurred at the 90 msec ISI, where the name identity condition showed response facilitation. The results are discussed in the contexts of attentional and automatic processing and the Warren and Morton (1982) revised logogen model.

The purpose of the study was to determine if preference level of a class from which a student was removed would affect performance on an abbreviated psycho-educational test battery. It also examined the effect of a student's cognitive style on performance on the test battery.Subjects were 76 seventh-grade students. On the base of a double median spilt of time and error sores from the MFFT, 37 of these students had been identified as reflective and 39 as impulsive. The students were randomly assigned to be removed from either their favorite or least favorite class. The students were then removed from the assigned class and individually administered an abbreviated psycho-educational test battery by a certified psychometrist/psychol.ogist.The three null hypotheses were tested using a multivariate analysis of variance with univariate F-ratios to further investigate significant differences. The .01 level of significance was used.There was no significant difference found between performances of those students removed from preferred classes and those students removed from non-preferred classes. Reflective students, however, performed better on a linear com-posite of achievement, ability, and visual-motor tests. When this relationship was examined further, reflective students were found -to do better on the math and reading achievement and visual-motor tests, but not on the subtests measuring verbal intelligence.The results of this study suggested that school psychologists, teachers, and others who interpret the results of achievement tests need to be cautious. Errors on these kinds of tests have been frequently interpreted in the past to be indicative of low ability. Rather, errors may be explained by a student's tendency to respond hastily, and thus inaccurately.

Advances in the field of neonatal-perinatal medicine and interventions of the 1960's have resulted in decreased mortality rates for infants suffering a variety of perinatal insults. However, it has been estimated that 25% of the survivors of high risk births will go on to have serious lifetime diabilities (Behrman, 1977). Resulting neurological morbidity may be expressed in major cognitive disabilities (i.e., cerebral palsy, mental retardation, learning disorders and the like). Early identification of these children seems Parmalee, Sigman, & Beckwith, 1982). However, the prediction of neurological outcomes remains problematic.Recognizing the psychometric concerns associated with. perinatal risk measures currently used (Crawford, 1965: Bobbin, 1963: Wenar, 1963), the Transition Scale was created as a potentially reliable measure of perinatal risks observed at the time of birth. With a sample of 116 newborn subjects, the present investigation evaluated the stability and underlying constructs of the newly created measure. In addition, comparisons were made with information obtained critical to prevention and early intervention (Cohen, from the medical chart (i.e., Apgar Score).The percentage of agreement between the two independent raters for individual items of the Transition Scale ranged from .95 to 1.00, with the overall interrater agreement calculated as .98. Similarly, an examination of the agreement between each individual rater's responses and the medical chart information revealed percentages ranging from .90 to 1.00, with overall percentages of .96 and .97. Furthermore, the results of a factor analysis indicated that the Transition Scale offers substantial construct validity.Overall, the present investigation recommends the Transition Scale as a reliable research instrument with potential clinical utility. In addition, an examination of the underlying constructs of the measure point to the potential of the Transition Scale as a valid predictor of neurological morbidity. Further research using a high risk sample of infants is recommended. / Department of Educational Psychology

Older adults who maintain their cognitive skills and abilities are able to live more independently than those whose skills have deteriorated. The costs (money, time, personnel) associated with providing cognitive stimulation programs to residents in long-term care homes often prohibit the delivery of these programs. The present study explored the efficacy of using volunteers to administer a stimulation program in two long-term care homes. The program focused on stimulating reasoning, attention, and memory abilities using uncomplicated, pen-and-paper exercises. Thirty-six resident participants and 16 volunteer participants were randomly assigned to one of two parallel groups, either the control or stimulation group. For eight weeks, three times each week, control group participants met for standard “friendly visits” (casual conversation between a resident and volunteer) and stimulation group participants met to work through a variety of exercises meant to stimulate the cognitive abilities of residents. Results were analyzed using a 2-way ANOVA and indicated statistically significant Group x Time interactions for Verbal Memory, Non-Verbal Memory, Learning, and in a screening test for verbal fluency. Volunteers completed a post-study questionnaire which indicated that the volunteers in the stimulation group found their skills-based interactions more stimulating for residents. Therefore this study demonstrates that a volunteer-administered cognitive stimulation program can provide measurable gains in the cognitive abilities of older adults. Further studies concerning the role of volunteers in the maintenance of the cognitive abilities of older adults are recommended. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2014-05-29 07:07:01.042

The two purposes of this study were to examine the relationship between the field-independent/field-dependent cognitive style, self-esteem, and attitude toward school in slow-learning third grade children and to determine if teacher knowledge of the personality characteristics and educational implications of this cognitive style would influence the self-esteem and attitude toward school of these children. The study was conducted within schools receiving supplemental instructional resources under Title I of Public Law 89-10 (Special Educational Needs of Educationally Deprived Children).Twelve teachers and those of their students whose scores on the Otis-Lennon Mental Abilities Test were between 70 and 90 were included in the study. The teachers' level of field-independence/field-dependence was determined by the use of the Embedded Figures Test and the Block Design Subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. The children's level of field-independence/field-dependence was determined by the use of the Children's Embedded Figures Test and the Block Design Subtest of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - Revised (WISC-R). The Self-Appraisal Inventory (Primary Level) and the School Sentiment Index(Primary Level) were used to determine the children's self-esteem and attitude toward school. These two instruments were given before and after a 12-week treatment program.The relationship between field-independence/field-dependence and self-esteem was investigated by computing the children's average Z score for the Children's Embedded Figures Test and the WISC-R Block Design Subtest and then correlating these average scores with the scores obtained on the Self-Appraisal Inventory (Primary Level). The relationship between field-independence/field-dependence and attitude toward school was also investigated by correlating the children's average Z scores for the measures of field-independence/field-dependence with the scores they obtained on the School Sentiment Index (Primary Level).The influence of teacher knowledge of the personality characteristics and educational implications of field-independence/field-dependence on self-esteem and attitude school was investigated with a research design which controlled for experimental arrangements and positive teacher expectancy. Four intact groups (three classrooms per group) were used. To control for experimental arrangements, teachers in two of the groups received information concerning the field-independent/field-dependent cognitive style and were given the cognitive style of the slowlearning children in their classes who were participating in the study. Teachers in the other two groups were used as controls and received irrelevant information about the neurological impress method of remedial reading instruction. All of the teachers were asked to apply the information they had received in their teaching. To control for the effects of positive teacher expectancy, the information provided to teachers in one of the two relevant treatment groups was presented in a way designed to create a positive expectancy. The information provided to the teachers in the remaining relevant and irrelevant groups was present in a way designed to create a neutral expectancy. Data was analyzed using a three-factor analysis of variance with repeated measures on one factor. The two non-repeated factors were teacher knowledge and teacher expectancy. The pre and post treatment scores obtained on the Self-Appraisal Inventory (Primary Level) and the School Sentiment Index (Primary Level) served as the repeated measures.This study did not detect any correlation between the level of field-independence/field-dependence and self-esteem or between the level of field-independence/field-dependence and attitude toward school in slow-learning 3rd grade children. Nor did it demonstrate that teacher knowledge of the personality characteristics and educational implications of field-independence/field-dependence have any influence on the self-esteem and attitude toward school of these children.

Relatively few studies have considered how changes in health are associated with changes in cognition in aging populations. Even fewer have investigated the similarities and differences of the health-cognition link evidenced across independent longitudinal studies of aging that differ in country and birth cohort. The main objective of the current research is to evaluate aging-related cognitive change in the context of physical health conditions and to compare patterns and synthesize results across several longitudinal studies of aging. This cross-study evaluation is based on data from three longitudinal studies of aging: 1) the OCTO-Twin Study, a longitudinal investigation of same-sex twin pairs drawn from the population-based Swedish Twin Registry (N = 702; 67% female; mean age is 83.5), 2) the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a study of middle-aged and older adults in the U.S. (N = 21,364; 57% female; mean age is 65.8), and 3) the English Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSA), a study of middle-aged and older adults in the U.K. (N = 11,397; 54% female; mean age is 65.3). Data were analyzed using latent growth curve (LGC) analysis to evaluate 1) the impact of diagnosed health conditions and 2) the additive impact of comorbidity on level and rate of change in distinct cognitive outcomes. Our findings indicate that particular health conditions significantly impact initial status and rate of change in cognition, but do so differently across longitudinal studies of aging. The argument is made that the inclusion of health in our predictive models is essential as we try to parse out the effects of pathological aging vs. normative age-related change in cognition. The results of this study show the importance of replication in longitudinal research and for contrasting patterns of effects across independent studies in order to build a cumulative basis for further understanding of the dynamics among aging, health, and cognition in populations that differ in cohort, culture, and country. / Graduate

This thesis explores various aspects of children's understanding of similarity and difference and of the terms 'same' and 'different'. Understanding of 'same' appeared to be good but there was some evidence that it might not be complete. Understanding of 'different' was clearly inferior to that of 'same' and some children misinterpreted it as meaning 'same', this being supported by an experiment looking at interpretations of 'same', 'different' and a nonsense word, following Carey. Awareness of similarity and difference was investigated in several experiments. Subjects were required to give a similarity or a difference between two items, either named or pictured, in experiments developed from Claparede's work; they had to select from an array of items one either the same as or different from a target item and to justify that choice; and they had to judge whether two items were the same or not or were different or not in an experiment similar to one devised by Vurpillot. The children found more difficulty with similarity than with difference. It was suggested that similarity was typically handled in a holistic fashion, by a process of analogy, while difference was treated by analysis into component parts. The ability to analyse similarity developed with age. If similarity is not analysed into component points, these points cannot be mentioned in responses. An information-processing model of awareness was used to explain perseverative responses and the giving of differences when similarities were requested. It was suggested that these resulted in part from a failure to make transitions in awareness between different levels appropriately.

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The developmental trajectory of basic numerical skills and sequential processing was systematically investigated among a sample of 5 to 11-year-old typically developing boys. Performance was defined in terms of reaction times and error rates during novel computerized tasks that measured sequential and numerical concepts related to cardinality and ordinal knowledge. Analyses revealed that fast and accurate performance was attributable to children at older ages. At younger ages, task manipulations exclusively related to ordinal relationships demonstrated a significant influence over error rates. Furthermore, nonverbal intelligence predicted a significant amount of the variance related to an understanding of the ordinal properties of numbers. The findings support developmental theory regarding age-related changes in early mathematical performance and extend pedagogical research concerning the cognitive capacities that contribute to approximate numerical knowledge.