This study examined the effectiveness of embedded picture mnemonic alphabet cards on the acquisition of letter name and letter sound knowledge with at-risk kindergarten students in a rural Texas public school. The study compared student achievement against a zero baseline when the student(s) are trained using a dissassociated picture mnemonic to an embedded picture mnemonic. A secondary area of investigation was the “Degree of Difficulty in Learning Letter Names” theory proposed by Treiman, Tincoff, Rodriguez, Mouzaki, & Francis. The theory states that consonant letter names can be divided into three categories based on phoneme characteristics: Easy to learn letters have a consonant-vowel pattern (the letter name for “D” is /d/ /e/); hard letters have a converse pattern of vowel-consonant (the letter name for “M” is /e/ /m/); and the other category has no phoneme pattern reflective to the letter name (the letter name “W” is “double” “you”). Students were randomly selected to either the treatment or the control group and after a ten-day (two week) training period, the students were given one week with no intervention then administered a posttest, followed by another week with no intervention followed by a post-posttest. The purpose for this assessment design was to determine if the training had an effect on long-term memory. Results revealed that children taught with the embedded picture mnemonics learned more letter name associations than did the control group. The embedded picture mnemonic had a positive effect on long term memory reflecting an increase from a moderate effect sizes for letter naming (d = .69) on the first week post test to a large effect size for letter naming (d =1.12) on the second week post test. The results also revealed inconclusive support for Treiman’s et al. (1998) degree of difficulty in learning letter names theory.

Students in high school have a need to be able to remember a lot of information during their years of schooling. The purpose of this study was to investigate if mnemonic techniques could help the participating students to become more efficient in recalling new English vocabulary. If the results were to indicate an increase in efficiency with either of the two techniques selected, it would make a case for using this technique in foreign- and second language learning contexts. The students who participated were taught the reminiscent technique and the loci method because these techniques focus on connecting vocabulary to existing memories, thus enabling encodement to long-term memory. Research within second language studies recommends using mnemonic techniques as a help to retrieve words. The students’ recall of vocabulary was tested after an introduction to each technique. They were given three initial tests containing 15 new English words each, a total of 45 words. The first such set tested the efficiency of the students’ own techniques, while the second and third set tested the reminiscent technique and loci method, respectively. After a period of three weeks there was a final test on all the 45 new words at once, testing the possible encodement to long-term memory. The most interesting results were found regarding the percentages of lowest difference in "decrease of retrieval rate" of each vocabulary item between the first initial tests and the final test. The smaller the decrease could indicate a stronger encodement to long-term memory. The top two recalled words were linked to the reminiscent technique and the one in third place to the loci method. Thus, there was some indication that these helped to achieve a stronger encodement to long-term memory. However, when comparing the total number of recalled words, the students’ own technique came out as the winner.

<p> Different instructions for associating concrete nouns were given in a paired-associate learning situation. Material was varied to produce different types of interference against which to evaluate the effectiveness of the different instructions.</p> <p> The major findings were: (1) Specific instructions for association produced fewer errors than no specific instructions on the first list a subject learned. (2) After the first list, only the instructions which asked the learner to produce a logical scene from the nouns produced fewer errors than non-specific instructions. (3) Specific instructions did not interact with material.</p> <p> Little evidence was found that the significant instructional effects were due to the specific characteristics of the learners' mediations. These effects were more plausibly attributed to such general mechanisms as either giving the mediations during learning or having learning time occupied with irrelevant activity.</p> / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

No description available.

The research and body of work collected in this document address the relationship of my memories to specific physical visual forms. These representations form the basis of how the mind structures relationships between specific objects and memories. Through reflection associations are created that activate the mind to recall these memories via mnemonic visual references. These mnemonic references are objects of familiarity that create a concrete relationship between form and memory experiences.

"CellSong" is a computer aided instructional (CAI) science module designed to help students recall information about cellular physiology. The program is designed to teach middle school learners the music mnemonic "Cell's Organelles" (© 1995 Karl Kimmel) in order to facilitate the recall of the targeted biological information. In addition to music, a computer animation is synched to the five minute music file to provide visual reinforcement for the song's lyrics. Two male teachers, from two different rural southern schools (mTeacher and sTeacher) implemented the "CellSong" module in their classes. Students in mTeacher's class consisted of 12 fifth grade biology students. The other group was initially composed of all of sTeacher's sixth grade science classes (n=38). This group was divided into the regular three classes on its second exposure to the program. The students filled out attitude surveys after five exposures to the program. All the sixth grade students took an aided recall tests immediately after the fifth exposure to the program. Thirteen of the sixth graders took the same test (retest) after seven days. Although the test scores were generally low, students who took the retest tended to be able recall the same items that they had recalled the week before. The fifth grade class took one recall test four days after their last exposure to the program and scored higher than the sixth grade from the other school. These students were more favorable in their responses on the attitudinal survey. Students in the fifth grade class (and female students in the sixth grade classes) tended to enjoy the module and music mnemonic strategy. The sixth grade boys reported not enjoying it. / Ph. D.

Cognitive aging has profound effects on the hippocampus, a brain region that is critical for episodic memory formation and spatial navigation. Accurate episodic memory formation requires pattern separation, a neurocomputational process that orthogonalizes similar stimulus input into distinct neural representations and can be examined using behavioral mnemonic discrimination paradigms in humans. Age-related impairment in hippocampally-dependent cognition emphasizes the importance of identifying modulators of hippocampal plasticity. Critically, studies in older adults have demonstrated that greater cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is associated with greater volume of the hippocampus, mitigated age-related decline in spatial mnemonic discrimination, and better visuospatial memory. Nonetheless, how CRF modulates the underlying structural and functional neural correlates of mnemonic discrimination and spatial navigation in cognitive aging remains unknown. Therefore, the overall objective of this dissertation was to examine CRF as a modulator of hippocampal memory system structure and function, specifically regarding the hippocampally-dependent processes of mnemonic discrimination and spatial navigation, in cognitively healthy older adults. In a series of three experiments, we tested the central hypothesis that CRF enhances hippocampal plasticity and modulates the underlying neural correlates of mnemonic discrimination and spatial navigation in older adults. Data for these three experiments came from two studies. In the first, young adults (ages 18-35 years) and older adults (ages 55-85 years) underwent high-resolution fMRI to examine hippocampal subfield blood-oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signal during mnemonic discrimination. In the second, older adults (ages 60-80 years) underwent whole-brain, high-resolution fMRI to examine whole-brain BOLD signal during spatial navigation. In both studies, participants performed a submaximal treadmill test to estimate CRF and underwent high-resolution structural MRI to measure hippocampal subfield volumes as markers of neuroplasticity in the hippocampus. The primary goal of Experiment 1 was to examine the prediction that CRF is positively associated with mnemonic discrimination task performance and dentate gyrus (DG)/CA3 volume in older adults, given that these hippocampal subfields are thought to support pattern separation. Contrary to our initial prediction, we did not observe a relationship between CRF and mnemonic discrimination task performance or CRF and DG/CA3 volume. Instead, we observed a significant positive relationship between CRF and the volume of another hippocampal subfield, the bilateral subiculum, in older adult women, but not men. The primary goal of Experiment 2 was to examine the prediction that mnemonic discrimination-related BOLD signal in the hippocampal subfields is modulated by aging and CRF in young and older adults. In line with our initial prediction, there was a significant difference between young and older adults in right DG/CA2-3 BOLD signal during mnemonic discrimination task performance. Most importantly, CRF significantly modulated bilateral subiculum BOLD signal in an opposing fashion in young and older adults. The primary goal of Experiment 3 was to extend the current study beyond the function of the hippocampus in isolation and to examine whole-brain activation in association with an ecologically valid task that engages a large network of brain regions including but not limited to the hippocampus. We predicted that CRF modulates BOLD signal activation patterns driven by the employed spatial navigation task, specifically in brain regions in the frontal, parietal, and temporal cortices, and the cerebellum, given that the previously published literature in older adults has suggested that CRF enhances structural integrity in these regions in addition to the hippocampus. Our results demonstrated that CRF is significantly positively associated with BOLD signal in the right cerebellum lobule VIIa Crus I and Crus II, a region that has been implicated in sequence-based navigation. And, consistent with our results from Experiment 2, this relationship was observed in older adult women. Importantly, the findings of these experiments highlight novel targets of fitness-related neuroplasticity in the older adult brain, including the subiculum subfield of the hippocampus and the cerebellum lobule VIIa Crus I and Crus II. Furthermore, these findings underscore the importance of examining sex as a modulating factor of fitness-related neuroplasticity.

No description available.

Durante o Reino Médio (c. 2040 1650 a.C), os escribas se autorreferenciaram como um grupo que não servia apenas aos interesses administrativos, mas também à demanda por um meio culto e educado da sociedade. Através deles, circulariam a propaganda real e doutrinação peculiares ao programa cultural daquele período para garantir a lealdade aos faraós. Entretanto, esse foi só mais um dos muitos aspectos e usos da literatura naquele contexto. O enaltecimento da realeza foi combinado ao caráter moralizador e à autorreferência do ofício dos escribas que compuseram os textos exortativos. Conhecidos como instruções, os textos literários em questão traziam referências da cultura oral egípcia que afirmava valores considerados positivos para a vida em sociedade e para o bom desenvolvimento do indivíduo. Mas também tratavam das tensões vividas em questões políticas e socioculturais. A escritura dos textos disseminou na memória cultural da sociedade egípcia referenciais identitários dos escribas que foram transmitidos através de gerações. A articulação entre manutenção das tradições da sociedade e a disseminação dos novos ideais régios se deu pela agência dos escribas, contribuindo para a atualização do seu status. / During the Middle Kingdom (ca. 2040 - 1650 B.C.), scribes self-referenced as a group serving not only administrative interests, but also the demand for a cultured and educated group of the society. Through them, they would circulate the royal propaganda and indoctrination peculiar to the periods cultural program in order to ensure loyalty to the pharaohs. However, this was just one of many aspects and uses of literature in that context. The uplifting of royalty was combined with the moral character and self-reference to the craft of the scribes that composed the exhortative texts. Known as instructions, the literary texts in question broght references to the Egyptian oral culture which affirmed values considered positive for life in society and for the individuals good development. But they also dealt with the tensions experienced in political and socio-cultural issues. The writing of the texts disseminated in the cultural memory of Egyptian society the identity references of the scribes that were transmitted through generations. The articulation between maintaining the traditions of society and the dissemination of the new royal ideals were given through the agency of the scribes, contributing to the update of their status.

Durante o Reino Médio (c. 2040 1650 a.C), os escribas se autorreferenciaram como um grupo que não servia apenas aos interesses administrativos, mas também à demanda por um meio culto e educado da sociedade. Através deles, circulariam a propaganda real e doutrinação peculiares ao programa cultural daquele período para garantir a lealdade aos faraós. Entretanto, esse foi só mais um dos muitos aspectos e usos da literatura naquele contexto. O enaltecimento da realeza foi combinado ao caráter moralizador e à autorreferência do ofício dos escribas que compuseram os textos exortativos. Conhecidos como instruções, os textos literários em questão traziam referências da cultura oral egípcia que afirmava valores considerados positivos para a vida em sociedade e para o bom desenvolvimento do indivíduo. Mas também tratavam das tensões vividas em questões políticas e socioculturais. A escritura dos textos disseminou na memória cultural da sociedade egípcia referenciais identitários dos escribas que foram transmitidos através de gerações. A articulação entre manutenção das tradições da sociedade e a disseminação dos novos ideais régios se deu pela agência dos escribas, contribuindo para a atualização do seu status. / During the Middle Kingdom (ca. 2040 - 1650 B.C.), scribes self-referenced as a group serving not only administrative interests, but also the demand for a cultured and educated group of the society. Through them, they would circulate the royal propaganda and indoctrination peculiar to the periods cultural program in order to ensure loyalty to the pharaohs. However, this was just one of many aspects and uses of literature in that context. The uplifting of royalty was combined with the moral character and self-reference to the craft of the scribes that composed the exhortative texts. Known as instructions, the literary texts in question broght references to the Egyptian oral culture which affirmed values considered positive for life in society and for the individuals good development. But they also dealt with the tensions experienced in political and socio-cultural issues. The writing of the texts disseminated in the cultural memory of Egyptian society the identity references of the scribes that were transmitted through generations. The articulation between maintaining the traditions of society and the dissemination of the new royal ideals were given through the agency of the scribes, contributing to the update of their status.