There is a transitional period between preschool and first grade during which children develop from reliance on instructions to self-sufficient, spontaneous retrieval. Past research has revealed that retrieval instructions are vital to preschoolers' retention of paired-associates. Preschool and kindergarten children were presented with a mixed-list of 20 paired-associate pictures to learn. Ten of the 20 pairs depicted 2 nouns as interacting in an uncommon or bizarre (funny) manner with one another whereas the other 10 pictures depicted component nouns as normally (nonfunnily) interacting. Type and timing of instructions to learn the paired-associates were manipulated. Funny-group subjects were provided with encoding instructions highlighting the silliness quality of the pictures. Nonfunny-group subjects were provided with encoding instructions which concentrated on the interactive aspects of the pictures. A control group was told to remember the pictures “really hard.” For the former two instructional groups, half of each group served as a control during test-time. These control groups were told to try really hard to remember the pictures. The experimental halves of these groups were given elaborative retrieval instructions at test-time, dependent upon their r e encoding instructions. Reference to the funny pictures was provided for half the Funny group whereas reference to the normal interaction was given to half the Nonfunny group. This study revealed that elaborative instructions do not enhance memory for paired-associates over non-elaborative or control instructions. These preschoolers did not exhibit retrieval deficiencies though control retrieval instructions may have provided sufficient information to enhance memory. As well, non bizarre (nonfunny) interactive pictures were remembered better than bizarre (funny) interactive pictures. / M.S.

何偉傑. / 呈交日期: 2000年9月. / 論文(哲學博士)--香港中文大學, 2001. / 參考文獻 (p. 335-360) / 中英文摘要. / Cheng jiao ri qi: 2000 nian 9 yue. / Available also through the Internet via Dissertations & theses @ Chinese University of Hong Kong. / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / He Weijie. / Lun wen (Zhe xue bo shi)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue, 2001. / Can kao wen xian (p. 335-360) / Zhong Ying wen zhai yao.

Models of reading comprehension using the working memory paradigm have been formulated from studies using adult readers. Although there appear to be differences in working memory skills between beginner and mature readers, and normal and reading disabled children, the exact role of working memory in reading is still unclear. This study examined the role of working memory in the development of reading in children. A study ~v Baddeley, Logie, Nimmo-Smith, and Brereton (1985) was modified for this purpose to accommodate factors relevant to reading development in children

With 10% of the population being infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), South Africa has the highest number of infections in the world (StatsSA, 2013). HIV results in cognitive and motor deficits in children as the severe compromise of the immune system leads to neurodevelopmental dysfunction peri-natally (Ruel, Boivin, Boal, Bangirana, Charlebois, & Havlir, 2011). Neurocognitive deficits affect overall general intellectual abilities and include difficulties with attention and speed of information processing, verbal language, executive –abstraction, complex-perceptual motor function, memory and motor and sensory function (Dawes & Grant, 2007). Developmentally, it is evident that working memory provides a crucial interface between perception, attention, memory and action (Baddeley, 1996; Baddeley 2003). Therefore the purpose of the study was to investigate the working memory profiles of both an HIV positive children and a control sample, on cognitive tasks (Automated Working Memory Assessment), general intellect tasks (Raven’s Colored Progressive Matrices) and language competence tasks (Sentence Repetition Test). The current study compared 26 HIV positive children (mean age = 6.58 years) to 26 matched controls (mean age = 6.73 years). It was found that both non-verbal IQ and language proficiency were correlated to HIV status and thus were used as covariates in the study. MANCOVA’s were conducted on the data and produced findings that showed that there were only significant differences in visuo-spatial short-term memory between the two groups. Furthermore, it was also found that there were significant differences between the groups on nonverbal IQ and language proficiency. Therefore, the results showed that HIV may have an overall effect on non-verbal ability and language proficiency and a few aspects of working memory such as visuo-spatial short-term memory. Together with future studies focused on larger sample sizes and children who are not currently on HAART, early developmental interventions can be formulated to assist South African HIV-infected children so that the neurocognitive effects are lessened and their overall lifestyle is improved.

The current study assessed whether the accuracy of children’s self-reports of events experienced differs as a function of age and how the question is asked. Additional factors like metamemory and distractibility were assessed. Primary-school students (M= 7.7 years) and middle-school students (M = 9.7 years) completed two different versions of an event frequency measure, two times, at one week intervals. In one of the measures of event frequency, no memory prompts were provided (uncued questionnaire condition), while in the other measure, recall categories for aiding recollections were provided (cued questionnaire condition). Participants’ self-reported event frequencies for the cued and uncued questionnaires were compared with trained observers’ event frequencies for the cued and uncued conditions. Older children reported event frequency more accurately than younger participants. Participants also reported events with greater accuracy with the aid of memory prompts than without, an effect that was especially strong among the younger children. Neither metamemory nor distractibility was accountable for the differences within age groups. The findings suggest that age-related improvements in accuracy of event frequency across the transition into adolescence may, in part, be due to improvements in the ability to recall and recount those events in the absence of memory cues. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Thesis (M.A.)--The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2008. / Directed by Stuart Marcovitch; submitted to the Dept. of Psychology. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Jan. 28, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 38-43).

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The purpose of this investigation was to compare the performances on the Wide Range Assessment of Memory and Learning (WRAML; Sheslow & Adams, 1990) of children with different developmental and neurological disorders. The primary question was whether the WRAML subtests significantly differentiate among children with Developmental Reading Disorders (RD; n = 44), with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD; n = 37), with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI; n = 30), and without developmental or neurological disabilities (n = 103). Archival data from the TBI Project at James Whitcomb Riley Hospital for Children and from the Division of Psychology at Alfred I. duPont Institute was analyzed. The results of a discriminant functions analysis indicated that significant differences among the groups do exist on the WRAML and that the groups were discriminated from one another by three distinct types of tasks (i.e., functions): rote memory, verbal learning, and meaningful memory. Furthermore, based on WRAML performance alone, participants had a 63% chance of being classified into their proper diagnostic group. In addition to supporting the use of multi-dimensional tasks to assess memory, the results of this study have clinical relevance for developing diagnosis-specific recommendations for memory and learning problems. / Department of Educational Psychology

Three reaction time experiments were conducted to determine when and how memory for the normal left-right orientation of letters is mediated by the developing brain. In each experiment, participants identified forward and backward letters presented unilaterally to each visual field and thus to each hemisphere (VF-H). / The main findings were as follows: (1) For the five-year-olds, no VF-H differences were found in the speed of identifying either forward or backward letters or in the difference in speed between forward and backward letters. (2) The seven-year-olds identified forward letters faster than backward letters in the right visual field-left hemisphere (RVF-LH) with the contralateral, right hand, and the boys, unlike the girls, also showed this difference in the left visual field-right hemisphere (LVF-RH) independent of the responding hand. (3) Performance of the nine-year-olds was similar to that of the seven-year-olds. (4) Adults identified forward letters faster than backward letters in the RVF-LH with each hand, whereas in the LVF-RH this difference was found for the ipsilateral, right but not for the contralateral, left hand. / Support was provided for the Corballis-Beale (1976) hypothesis, and discussion centered on the implications of the results for the development of cerebral lateralization of memory for the normal left-right orientation of letters in normal and reading disabled children.

Thesis (M. Ed.(Educational psychology))-University of Pretoria, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 88-96) Available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.