Thesis (Ph. D.)--Illinois State University, 1987. / Title from title page screen, viewed July 25, 2005. Dissertation Committee: Ronald L. Laymon (chair), Robert L. Arnold, Ronald S. Halinski, Larry D. Kennedy, Mary Ann Lynn. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 66-67) and abstract. Also available in print.

The role of various sources of proactive and retroactive interference in Delayed-Matching-to-Sample (DMTS) performance of five capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) was examined in a series of four experiments. The DMTS trials were presented in a semi-automated Wisconsin General Test Apparatus (WGTA) with junk objects serving as stimuli. The first experiment assessed the effects of delay interval (10 or 40 seconds), sample reward (present or absent), and nature of delay interval stimulation (dark or illuminated) on DMTS performance when sample and choice stimuli are drawn from a large pool of stimuli. Performance was better when the sample response was rewarded than when it was not. Correct responding was initially more frequent after dark delays than after illuminated delays; however, with continued training the effects of delay interval illumination disappeared. There was no significant difference in performance with a 10 second and a 40 second delay interval. The second experiment consisted of two replications of Experiment I: one with the sample and choice stimuli drawn from a large pool (480) of objects and the other with stimuli drawn from a small pool (2) of objects. When stimuli were drawn from the small pool of objects, performance was markedly poorer than when stimuli were drawn from the large pool. A significant delay interval effect was observed in the small pool task, but as in Experiment I no such effect was observed when stimuli were drawn from a large pool. Performance was poorer on the small pool condition when the delay interval was illuminated than when the houselights were extinguished. However, unlike the effect observed in Experiment I, illuminated delay performance decrements persisted after continued training. No illumination effect was observed for the large pool replication of Experiment II. In both the large and small pool replications, performance was again inferior after nonrewarded sample responses than after rewarded sample responses. Experiment III was designed to test the hypothesis that animals learn to use delay interval stimuli as cues to remember sample stimuli. After extended training on the small stimulus pool condition with delay intervals illuminated, a number of probe trials were presented. On probe trials, the stimuli previously displayed to the subjects during the delay interval (a yellow and white opaque screen) and the stimuli previously displayed during the intertrial interval (a black opaque screen) were reversed. Contrary to the predictions of the retention-cue hypothesis, DMTS performance was no lower on probe trials than on control trials. The final experiment was designed to test the hypothesis that emotionally significant events occurring after the sample presentation period can disrupt DMTS performance by displacing the sample stimulus trace from a limited capacity memory store. In order to insure that the effects of the independent variable not be obscured by floor effect, an intermediate sized (52) pool of objects was used in this experiment. After a pretraining phase, a number of probe trials were presented with a novel sample incentive. As predicted, performance was significantly poorer when the type of incentive was unexpected than when it was expected. These results were interpreted as evidence that animals are more sensitive to the effects of retroactive interference when proactive interference is high (small stimulus pool) than when it is low (large stimulus pool). It was also suggested that emotional reactions can serve as powerful sources of retroactive interference in DMTS performance. These effects occur regardless of whether the emotional response is negative (sample nonreward) or positive (novel sample reward).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 131-139).

Background: Prospective memory (ProM) consists of remembering that some action needs to be performed in the future and when (detecting the Intent Trigger), and what the action is (Recalling the Content of the trigger). The Intent Trigger is bound by a forward association to the Content Recall, and the Content Recall has a backward association to the intent Trigger. In situations which present multiple, interleaving ProM tasks to operators it is not known how subsequently-presented ProM tasks interfere with the associations between the Intent Trigger and Content Recall of the original ProM task. Objective: The current study investigated the effect of presenting multiple, interleaved ProM tasks on timely detection of the Intent Trigger and accurate Recall of the Content of the original ProM task. Method: Participants encoded a ProM task (AB) in an air traffic control simulation. They then were interrupted with a second ProM task. The ProM interruption task was different from the original ProM task in either the Intent Trigger (AB, CB), Content Recall (AB, AD), or both Intent Trigger and Content Recall (i.e., a new ProM task, AB, CD). A control condition involved interrupting the participant with a weather report. Results: Detection of the Intent Trigger was significantly worse after a ProM interruption as compared to a weather interruption; a similar pattern of results, but with marginal significance, was also found for Content Recall. Additionally, a ProM task that interfered with backward association (AB, CB) was no better or worse than doing two unrelated ProM tasks (AB, CD) on the detection of the Intent Trigger. However, a task that presented a new forward association (AB, AD) was worse than performing two unrelated ProM tasks (AB, CD) on Recall of the Content. The results are discussed in the context of designing memory aids to support interleaved ProM tasks in dynamic environments.

The use of portable digital devices in the United States is increasing. With this increase in digital technology use comes an increase in interruptions between digital users. This study explores whether interruptions caused by a digital device evoke an emotion from members of the Millennial generation. In addition, this research aims to determine whether an interruption during a task causes a reduction in task efficiency amongst Millennials. The findings from this study can provide corporations and educational institutions with information about how portable digital technologies might affect the productivity of Millennial employees and students. / Department of Telecommunications

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1984 A425 / Master of Science

We investigated the concurrent effects of arousal and encoding specificity as related to background music on associative memory accuracy. Extant literature suggested these factors affect memory, but their combined effect in musical stimuli was not clear and may affect memory differentially for young and older adults. Specifically, we sought to determine if music can be used as a mnemonic device to overcome the associative memory deficits typically experienced by healthy older adults. We used a paired-associates memory task in which young and older adults listened to either highly or lowly arousing music or to silence while simultaneously studying same gender face-name pairs. Participants' memory was then tested for these pairs while listening to either the same or different music selections. We found that young adults' memory performance was not affected by any of the music listening conditions. Music listening, however, was detrimental for older adults. Specifically, their memory performance was worse for all music conditions, particularly if the music was highly arousing. Young adults' pattern of results was not reflected in their subjective ratings of helpfulness; they felt that all music was helpful to their performance yet there was no indication of this in the results. Older adults were more aware of the detriment of music on their performance, rating some highly arousing music as less helpful than silence. We discuss possible reasons for this pattern and conclude that these results are most consistent with the theory that older adults' failure to inhibit processing of distracting task-irrelevant information, in this case background music, contributes to their elevated memory failures.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Illinois State University, 1977. / Title from title page screen, viewed Dec. 17, 2004. Dissertation Committee: Creta Sabine (chair), Elwood Egelston, Ronald Laymon, Larry Kennedy, Ronald Halinski. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 110-115) and abstract. Also available in print.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Knowledge workers often suffer productivity loss because of unsuccessful interruption handling, which can lead to even more detrimental behaviors like "cyber-slacking" and procrastination. Many of the interruption management techniques proposed in the research literature focus on minimizing interruption occurrences. However, given the inevitability of internal and external interruptions in everyday life, it may be more practical to help people regulate how they respond to interruptions using persuasive technologies. The aim of this dissertation is to explore and evaluate the design of persuasive computer agents that encourage information workers to resume interrupted work. Based on a systematic review of interruptions in the workplace, theories of self-regulation, and theories guiding the design of persuasive technologies, this dissertation describes the creation of a prototype research platform, WiredIn. WiredIn enables researchers to explore a variety of interruption resumption support strategies on desktop computers. Two empirical studies that investigate the efficacy, attributes, and consequences of applying the paradigms embodied in WiredIn in controlled and real-life working environments are presented here. Both studies validate the effect of persuasive interventions on improving interruption management behaviors; the second study also provides design suggestions that can inform future work in supporting interruption management and multitasking.

Intrusions, or interruptions by others, are a common phenomenon in the modern workplace (Grove, 1983; Jett & George, 2003), particularly in the computing and information-technology (CIT) industry, as cross-specialty, and cross-team collaborations become more common (Beck et al., 2001). The present study examines the relationship between day-to-day intrusions (measured Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday) and strain reactions and perceived job performance over the week (measured on Thursday) among 150 CIT employees. Using a number of resource-based theories (i.e., Conservation of Resources, Ego Depletion Model, Cognitive Fatigue Model), I hypothesize that participants experiencing more frequent intrusions on a day-to-day basis will experience greater levels of overall strain reactions (i.e., fatigue, self-regulation failure, and cognitive failure), and lower levels of overall perceived job performance for the week. To test these hypotheses, I applied a micro-macro multi-wave design, such that intrusions were measured at the end of three consecutive workdays (Level-1 Predictors) and strain reactions and performance measured on the fourth day (Level-2 Outcomes). Using Structural Equation Modeling and the technique put forth by Croon and van Veldhoven (2007), I specified four models to test my hypotheses, wherein level-1 variables (i.e., day-to-day intrusions) predicted level-2 outcomes (i.e., week-level fatigue, self-regulation failure, cognitive failure, and perceived performance). I found that day-to-day intrusions were significantly positively associated with fatigue, self-regulation failure, and perceived performance. However, day-to-day intrusions were not significantly associated with cognitive failure. These results suggest that intrusions may consume time and self-regulatory resources but may not consume cognitive resources, and that although intrusions cause impairment from a physical and self-regulatory perspective, they may not inhibit cognitive functioning. Future research should further investigate the relationship between intrusions and cognitive functioning. The present study is one of the first to explicitly study intrusions and recognize it as a stressor that influences both strain and performance variables. This is critical as intrusions become a more prominent fixture in the American workplace. This study also contributes to our understanding of the use of micro-macro approaches to statistical analyses, and provides additional insight into how occupational health psychologists can test long-held assumptions; namely day-to-day stressors contribute to long-term strain.