The prevalence of high nonverbal reasoning strength among children from low income, culturally diverse backgrounds challenges the education community to provide effective instruction for these students (Briggs et al., 2008; Koshy & Robinson, 2006; Olszewski-Kubilius, 2007; Robinson et al., 1997; VanTassel-Baska, 2003b; VanTassel-Baska, Feng, & Evans, 2007). Research on the well-being and progress of young gifted students confirms that stimulating material resources, association with intellectual peers, and formal educational interventions designed to optimize students' strengths improves the educational outlook for these students (Bittker, 1991; Campbell et al., 2001; Clasen, 2006; Corno et al., 2002; Morelock & Morrison, 1999; Ramey & Ramey, 2004; Robinson et al., 1997; Sarouphim, 1999; VanTassel-Baska, 2006; VanTassel-Baska et al., 2002; VanTassel-Baska, 2007). In this study, a Vygotskian perspective provided the framework for an instructional intervention (Vygotsky 1978 version, 1986 version, 1994 version). Consistent with the perspective, the intervention included intellectual scaffolding to support conscious thought and formal learning in science, and encouragement of individual learning in the zone of proximal development.;The researcher undertook this study to determine if the use of instructional strategies capitalizing on nonverbal reasoning strength would improve achievement in science learning with a William and Mary life sciences curriculum unit. A six week, 24 hour program in a southeastern Virginia urban district provided the venue for the study. Second graders from Title I schools who scored above the 80th percentile on the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) nonverbal battery and significantly lower on verbal and quantitative batteries qualified for the program. Twenty-three students participated, resulting in a treatment group of 13 students and a comparison group of 10 students.;The nature of the intervention was a William and Mary Life Sciences unit modified for the treatment group. Treatment group teachers used enhanced instructional activities that incorporated the use of scientific symbols, active rehearsals of new knowledge, visual mental models, and descriptive writing, as recommended by Lohman and Hagen (2003) and others (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000).;Results of unit assessments indicated that both the treatment and comparison groups showed statistically significant increases in concept attainment ( p < .001). However, the treatment group showed significantly higher mean scores than the comparison group in concept attainment (p < .05). Neither treatment nor comparison groups showed significant gains for scientific reasoning over time; however, the treatment group scored significantly higher in scientific reasoning than comparison students (p < .001). Both groups significantly increased their content knowledge (p < .05); and the treatment group made significantly greater gains from pre- to post-assessment (p < .05).;The findings suggest that students who are exposed to high-quality research-based instructional units tailored to and aligned with their cognitive strength in nonverbal reasoning may show gains in science learning. Future research should employ larger samples, randomly assigned, to strengthen results and improve the ability to generalize the findings to school districts with similar populations of students with strong nonverbal reasoning skills from culturally diverse, low income backgrounds.

Older adults tend to under-utilize digital technology and online services that can yield substantial benefits to their health and wellbeing. Addressing this problem requires determining robust and consistent predictors of older adults' technology use. Also, few studies have examined older adults who are elite users of digital technology, who may provide insights into how individuals can prepare to become competent users of future technologies as they age. To address these gaps in the technology and aging literature, this dissertation offers (1) large-scale machine learning analyses, (2) longitudinal perspectives, (3) age group comparisons across the adult life span, (4) the novel recruitment of elite, older users of digital technology, and (5) the development and validation of a technology use scale focused on current innovations. In Study 1, data from the Health and Retirement Study were used. Machine learning classified Internet users versus non-users with an accuracy of ~80%. Across a 14-year span, results largely supported current models of aging and technology use. Age, cognition, and socioeconomics emerged as the most robust and consistent predictors of Internet use from competition with hundreds of variables. In Study 2, the outcome variable was expanded to include nine domains of technology use. Elite, older users exhibited many markers of successful aging, including higher levels of cognition, socioeconomics, and self-efficacy. Across studies, results suggested that skills needed to engage with technology at a basic level differ slightly from those needed to reach higher levels of technology use. Specifically, poor episodic long-term memory may pose a barrier to basic technology use among older adults (e.g., assessing the Internet), while better short-term memory is required to achieve elite-level technology use. These results highlight the potential value of exposure to new technology at a younger age – when there are fewer barriers of entry (e.g., cognitive limitations) and a foundation of technology use principles can be developed and built upon across adulthood.

People who suffer from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) eventually lose all voluntary muscle control. In the late stages of the disease, traditional augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices fail to provide adequate levels of communication. Brain-computer interface (BCI) technology has provided effective communication after all other AAC devices have failed. Nonetheless, EEG-based BCI devices may also fail for people with late-stage ALS due to loss of voluntary eye movement. Specifically, some people may suffer from random eye movement (nystagmus) and/or drooping of the eyelids (ptosis). Presently, it is unclear in the literature whether BCI operation requires voluntary control of eye movement. The current study attempts to simulate involuntary random eye movement in able-bodied individuals employing the P300-based BCI. To simulate involuntary random eye movement, the stimuli shift in the X and Y dimensions. Stimulus movement ‘Jitter’ occurs between each stimulus presentation in increments of 1-5 pixels (Jitter 1), 5-10 pixels (Jitter 2), 10-15 pixels-(Jitter 3), or a no movement control condition. Data collected from a previous study using 22 participants compared the control condition to Jitter 1 and Jitter 2 indicated higher accuracy for control and Jitter 1 than Jitter 2. No significant differences were found in accuracy, selections per minute, or bitrate. Waveform analysis indicated significantly higher P300 amplitude for the control condition and Jitter 1 than Jitter 2. Preference survey scores showed a preference for Jitter 1 as compared to control and Jitter 2. This finding was unexpected and may be due to the slight movement of Jitter 1 forcing participants to be vigilant, but not distracted. Based on our finding in this study, the current study examines the amount of pixel movement that could lead to reductions in performance. Participants completed a control condition and the three levels of Jitter in a counter-balanced design. Preliminary data for the current study was collected from 15 participants. No significant differences were observed between the three conditions in measures of BCI accuracy, selections per minute, and bitrate. Furthermore, preference survey scores indicated no significant difference in condition preference. Based on the findings of the first study, as well as the data collected so far in the current study, it appears that random movement does not have a significant impact on the ability of healthy participants to operate the BCI system. This could indicate that individuals with random eye movement should be able to operate the system with high rates of accuracy.

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Much research has focused on the age at which young children are able to use 2- and 3-dimensional stimuli to represent the environment. At 2½ years of age, children do not pass scale-model tasks (using scale models to find a hidden toy in a full-scale room), possibly because they lack dual representation (the ability to understand that model furnishings can simultaneously be both concrete toys and symbols). Experiment 1a of this dissertation tested whether failure on model-tasks by 2½-year-old children is due to an inability to match model furnishings to their full-scale referents. Experiment 1b tested whether children's experience with objects as toys interferes with their ability to use those objects as symbols. Children aged 2½ watched an experimenter hide a small toy in an unfamiliar model and were allowed to search the full-scale apparatus for the large toy hidden in the corresponding location. Children were unable to use the unfamiliar model, indicating that failure on model tasks is due to an inability to use dual representation. Little is known about the ability of monkeys to solve similar symbolic representation tasks. This dissertation tested rhesus monkeys on three types of task. Monkeys were required to use photographs (Experiment 2) or video images (Experiment 3) to guide their search for a hidden object (a rubber ball or food reward) on a familiar apparatus. In Experiment 4, monkeys were shown the location of a ball on a familiar 4-door apparatus and were allowed to search for a replica ball hidden in the corresponding location on an identical board (1:1 ratio scale model). In Experiments 2 and 3 some monkeys were able to use 2-dimensional stimuli to solve spatial problems (i.e., finding the hidden ball or food on the apparatus). In Experiment 4, rhesus monkeys as a group successfully used a full-sized replica of a familiar apparatus to search in the correct location for a rubber ball. These data provide important insight into the ability of rhesus monkeys to represent their environments using 2- and 3-dimensional stimuli, and may allow for the better formation of animal models of human cognitive development.

Memory is a salient area of functioning in adulthood known to be influenced by beliefs about performance. Past socio-cognitive research has shown considerable support for the effect of positive feedback and/or self-efficacy on memory performance. The present study used hierarchical linear regressions and path analysis to examine whether self-efficacy would mediate the relationship between identity processes (i.e., individual differences in self-concept) and memory performance. The present study also investigated whether the proposed mediated relationship between identity processes, self-efficacy, and memory performance was moderated by feedback condition. 98 community-dwelling adults (M=70.05, 60-90) were randomly assigned to the three feedback conditions: Positive Feedback (N=33), No Feedback (N=32), Neutral Feedback (N=33). Contrary to expectation, identity processes were not related to memory performance. Path analyses results showed that positive feedback strengthened the relationship between self-efficacy and memory performance when compared to the neutral and no feedback group. The findings support the utility of using positive feedback as a means to enhance the positive effect of self-efficacy on memory performance with older adults.

Emotional design elements have recently been added to the research in cognitive load and multimedia learning (Um et al., 2012). One aspect of eliciting positive emotions is to use anthropomorphic design, which has been found to increase learning performance (Um et al., 2012; Plass et al., 2014; Park et al., 2015; Schneider et al., 2018). The current research aimed to investigate three design factors in three studies: anthropomorphism in verbal and visual design, single-frame or multi-frame illustrations, and realism of the anthropomorphic visual design. The first study confirmed that the anthropomorphic verbal and visual materials were perceived as anthropomorphic by the target population. In the second and third study, college students were tested on their learning performance, affective status, intrinsic motivation, metacognitive abilities, and cognitive load levels. The second study investigated whether learning from single-frame or multi-frame illustrations along with verbal presentation of information would impact learning performance, cognitive load, metacognition, affective and motivational experiences. The role of spatial ability was also considered. Results indicated no significant differences among the groups. However, higher spatial ability resulted in higher intrinsic motivation for individuals studying with single-frame but not multi-frame illustrations. Additionally, lower spatial ability led to higher metacognition. In the third study, realism (no anthropomorphism, low fidelity, and high fidelity) of the humanlike visual illustrations and anthropomorphic language were studied. College students' learning performances were measured by comprehension and transfer tests, and intrinsic motivation, affect, and cognitive load levels were measured by self-report measurements. Overall, it was found that the humanlike visual design and the degree of fidelity of the visual design did not impact learning performance, affective status, and motivation. However, the number of interesting details (seductive details) remembered about the anthropomorphic design elements mediated the relationship between the type of design and learning performance. Using anthropomorphic language along with realistic illustrations resulted in higher seductive details recall performance, which in turn, predicted higher learning performance on both transfer and comprehension tests. Results were discussed considering Cognitive Load Theory and Cognitive-Affective Theory of Learning with Media.

This research examined how information regarding a robot teammate's reliability and the consequences for mistakes made by a robot in its task influence reliance on the robot by a human teammate. Of interest in this research was the notion of appropriate reliance: relying on a robot teammate's decisions when it is performing well and not relying on its decisions when it is performing poorly. An experiment was conducted in which participants interacted with an autonomous robot teammate while performing a cordon and search operation within a virtual reality simulation environment. Participants were responsible for monitoring the perimeter of a search area while their robot teammate searched the area for target objects. The robot's reliability shifted between 90% (good) or 10% (poor) based on the environment it was currently searching. Participants were assigned to one of four experimental groups that differed according to: (a) the information they were provided about the robot teammate's reliability and which factors influenced it (minimal information or complete information), and (b) the specific consequences for the robot missing target objects during its search (low risk or high risk). Findings indicated that participants provided with complete reliability information relied more appropriately on the robot's decisions (i.e., participants relied more when the robot performed well and relied less when it was performing poorly) than participants who did not receive this information. Appropriate reliance was not, however, affected by the consequences for mistakes made on the robot's task. These results provide support for the notion that informing individuals of the factors influencing a robot's reliability helps them to rely more appropriately on its decisions.

The growth of the World Wide Web has prompted many businesses to develop electronic commerce (e-commerce) as a domain where consumers can conveniently purchase their products (Chittaro& Ranon, 2002). Marketing and Human - Computer Interaction (HCI) research has focused on the ways interactivity can improve purchasing experience. One particular technique is through the use of computer models of products known as visual object representations (Ozok& Komlodi, 2009). Research on visual product representations is focused on models of objects typically purchased in a store, such as clothing and electronics, which can usually be manipulated and rotated as desired (Ozok& Komlodi, 2009). There seems to be a gap in the literature regarding computer models for which consumers actually do not have an established mental models. Computerized walk-through models allow users to virtually navigate a space as well as to view a model of a living space from different orientations. An experiment was conducted on 100 participants to investigate computerized walk-through models and the role the type of model and workload plays in the amount of knowledge gained about the layout and consumer preference. Participants navigated a computerized walk-through model or a two dimensional picture set of a hotel room (low complexity) or apartment (high complexity) .Then they completed a series of surveys. Results indicate that two-dimensional models were best for learning the layout of a high complexity model and that three-dimensional models were better for learning the layout of a low complexity model. Results have implications for virtual model use in education and the military.

Highly emotionally negative pictures and sexually erotic pictures have been shown to distract human attention during an attentional blink task. The current study examined how participants performed in an attentional blink task that used gender-specific (i.e., bitch and testicles) and gender-neutral taboo words (i.e., bullshit) as distracters. Taboo words elicited an attentional blink at Lag 6 and female taboo words elicited more attentional blinks than male or neutral taboo words. Participants also missed a large number of targets during Lag 2 and Lag 10. There were no gender differences in attentional blink. Participants exhibited greater memory recall for taboo words over filler words. These finding suggest that taboo words affect human attention and are processed for later recall.