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The purpose of the study was to explore the construct validity of the Durrell subtest Visual Memory of Words: Intermediate. The study was designed to investigate whether the Durrell Visual Memory of Words: Intermediate measures visual memory, as it is purported or includes a measure of an auditory-visual integration process in short-term memory. The study was conducted in four stages: Stage One described the paradigm for the study and identified tests to represent the constructs, of auditory memory, visual memory and auditory-visual integration. Stage Two of the study required administering two tests of auditory discrimination and three tests of auditory-visual integration, individually to 60 grade four students. The sample was stratified by age, gender and reading level. The results of Stage Two led to the development of a new paradigm for the study and the retention of two measures of auditory-visual integration for use in further exploratory studies. In Stage Three of the study two tests each of auditory memory, visual memory and auditory-visual integration were administered to 22 grade four students, controlling for test order effect. The same six tests were given to 120 grade five students during Stage Four of the study. The data were subjected to test, item and multiple regression analysis. Results of the test and item analysis indicated the California Phonics-Visua1 and the: G-F-W Auditory Memory were too easy for the grade five age students. Multiple regression analysis of the data revealed 55 percent of the variance of the Durrell Visual Memory of Words; Intermediate was accounted for by general reading ability plus tests of auditory memory, visual memory and auditory-visual integration. It was concluded that there was sufficient evidence from the exploratory study to raise the question of whether the Durrell Visual Memory of Words: Intermediate, does in fact contain a measure of auditory-visual integration. Some implications and suggestions for further research were stated. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

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The time required to identify a common object depends on several factors, especially pre-existing knowledge and episodic representations newly established as a result of a prior study. My research examined how these factors contribute to identification of objects (both studied and non-studied) and to performance on explicit memory tests. The overall goal was to explore the link between memory and object perception. One series of experiments examined influences due to object orientation in the plane of the page. Subjects were shown color photos of objects, and memory was assessed either with an old/new recognition test or with a test that required them to identify objects that were slowly faded in on a computer monitor. The critical variables were the type of photo — each showing either an object with a predominant or cardinal orientation (e.g., helicopter) or a non-cardinal object (e.g., pencil), and the orientation at which the photos were displayed at study and at test (e.g., rotated 0°, 120°, or 240°). For non-studied targets, identification test performance showed a large effect due to display orientation, but only for cardinal objects. For studied targets, study-to-test changes in orientation influenced priming for both non-cardinal and cardinal objects, but orientation specific priming effects (larger priming when study and test orientations matched rather than mismatched) were much larger with cardinal than non-cardinal objects, especially, when their display orientation, at test was unusual (i.e., 120°, 240°). A second series of experiments examined influences due to object size (size of an object presented alone) and relative size (size of an object relative to another object). Size manipulations had a large effect on identification of non-studied objects but study-to- test changes in size had only a minimal effect on priming. In contrast, study1to-test changes in relative size influenced recognition decision speed which is an index of priming. The combined findings suggest that both semantic and episodic representations behave as if they coded orientation but only for cardinal objects. They also suggest that episodic representations code relative size but not size information. The findings are explained by the instance views of memory.

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