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published_or_final_version / Educational Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

An earlier informal experiment by Hudson (1950) in which rats learned to avoid a bundle of pipe cleaners presented only following shock is replica.ted and extended. Five groups of 20 Ss each received a single shock each while taking a sucrose pellet from a novel striped panel, A black-out period ranging from 1 to 40 sec. began with the onset of the 3/4 sec. shock. During the black-out the striped panel (forward-order CS) was removed; immediately following the black-out, a rubber toy hedgehog descended into the apparatus, Following a short exposure to the toy hedgehog and an intervening 24 hr. in the home cage, S was observed in the apparatus with the toy hedgehog at one end and the striped panel at the other. Control groups received either shock without the toy hedgehog or the toy hedgehog without the shock. All behavior was video recorded. Significant differential avoidance of the toy hedgehog occurred in the short inter stimulus interval groups (1, 5, and 10 sec.), but not in the 40 seCc group or in the control groups. In further analyses, individual’s were classified as differentially avoiding either the toy hedgehog, the striped panel, the shock location, the opposite end of the apparatus or no identifiable stimulus, according to two schemes. In the first, the basis of classification was differences in time spent in a normal posture at the two ends of the apparatus relative to a distribution of such differences in the unshocked control group. In the other, a combined score derived from differences in four other classes of behavior was the basis of classification. In both analyses, significant numbers of Ss from the 1, 5, and 10 sec. groups were identified as avoiding the toy hedgehog, while insignificant numbers of Ss from the 40 sec. and control groups did so. Only insignificant numbers of Ss avoided the striped panel. The results demonstrate that the "backward" association of the toy hedgehog with the shock is a reliable and robust phenomenon that can occur despite a 10 sec. UCS-CS delay, a single trial procedure, a 24-hr. delay between shock and testing, and the availability of a potential forward - order CS. The results cannot readily be explained either in terms of an unconditioned response to the toy hedgehog or simple sensitization. Both logical considerations and experimental results in backward conditioning preclude describing these results in terms of stimulus cuing. The results are interpreted as a. demonstration of the ability of rats to perceive causal agent-effect relationships in certain specific situations. Support for conclusions drawn from the inference that rats can make causal agent-effect connections is taken from the areas of belongingness, stimulus selection in avoidance learning, delayed taste -avoidance learning, novelty, reflexive aggression, and species-specific defense reactions. Theoretical literature relevant to this inference and the broader question of what is learned is discussed. / 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.

The primary foci of the study were to determine the relationships among perceptual modality, temporality, and academic achievement, and to develop implications for the academic counseling of middle school students based on the findings. The sample was composed of 613 students enrolled in Prineville Junior High School. The Edmonds Learning Style Identification Exercise, the metronome, and the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills were the instruments used to collect data. Five statistical tools were used in the analysis of data. The findings at the .05 level of significance were as follows: 1. There were no significant differences in perceptual modality mean scores for the three temporal groups. 2. There were no significant relationships between sex and temporal grouping (slow, medium, fast). 3. A significant relationship existed between grade level and temporal group. There was a higher concentration of sixth graders in the slow temporal group. 4. There was a significant difference between sex and the perceptual modality score of visualization. Males scored significantly higher. For the other three perceptual modality scores and sex, there was no significant differences. 5. There was no significant difference for grade level and perceptual modality mean scores. 6. There was no interaction for grade level and sex on perceptual modality mean scores. 7. There were no significant relationships among perceptual modality scores within each temporal group. 8. There were no significant relationships among academic achievement scores, preferred temporal pace, and perceptual modality scores. Implications for the academic counseling of middle school students stressed the importance of using visual materials in the curriculum for males, and the varying of instructional pace to accommodate differences in students' temporal paces. / Graduation date: 1984

Procedural memory consolidation has been shown to enhance a variety of perceptual and motor skills during sleep. Only recently has this effect been investigated in trained musicians performing music. I tested the extent to which a music performance skill benefited from sleep-based consolidation overnight and whether this process may be inhibited when musicians learn two melodies in juxtaposition. 60 experienced musicians, all nonpianists, learned to perform either one or two 13-note piano melodies during evening training sessions. The musicians practiced each melody with their nondominant hand by repeating it from beginning to end during 12 30-second practice blocks alternating with 30-second rest intervals. All participants were retested on the target melody the following morning in three 30-second retest blocks alternating with 30-second rest intervals. Participants who learned only one melody in the evening showed overnight gains in the number of correct key presses per block (CKP/B) in the target melody at retest. Participants who learned the target melody and an additional melody at training showed no overnight gains in CKP/B in the target melody. Participants who learned both melodies and then immediately were retested on the target melody at training showed overnight gains in CKP/B in the morning retest of the target melody--gains similar to those observed among the participants who learned only the target melody at training; this group showed no decrement in the performance of the target melody in the retest at the end of training, which indicates that there were no immediate interference effects apparent in the target melody after having learned the second melody. These results show that experienced learners performing a familiar type of task, and one that includes auditory processing demands, benefit from overnight consolidation of procedural memories. These benefits may be inhibited, however, when musicians learn similar, competing tasks in juxtaposition. / text

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This is a study of the effect of pre-school bilingual experience on a child's later ability to use language to help himself to think and learn - his psycholinguistic ability. The existing literature on the effect of bilinguality on children's performance gives conflicting evidence. [...]

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