Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri--Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 40-45). Also available on the Internet.

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The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of item distance, which is defined as the absolute number of words separating a single item from the other items of the category, upon clustering of the removed items. By studying clustering, psychologists hope to gain knowledge of the effect of organization on memory.

Much of the research investigating color as an image characteristic for enhancing recognition memory has focused on comparisons between black-and-white images and full color images. These comparisons have only recently been extended to differentiate how color impacts learners of different cognitive style and in particular how color influences field dependency. Learners predisposed to field-dependence continually demonstrate a lower capacity than field-independent learners in terms of performance tasks where organizing or restructuring visual information is required. By using color as a mechanism to highlight objects within a visual field, we potentially increase figure-ground separation, which may help facilitate learning for field-dependents in instances where visual information is present. Thus this study undertook to examine the effects highlight color offers as a means of addressing individual learner differences. Undergraduate students were identified on the field-dependence-independence continuum using the Group Embedded Figures Test. Each student then received an instructional lesson on the anatomy of the heart where images were presented in one of four color variations; black-and-white, full realistic color, realistic highlight color, or contrived highlight color. All participants were given two tests following the instructional lesson, one for identification and the other for terminology. Test scores for the two tests indicated no differences for any variation of the color variable. Field-independents were observed to outperform field-dependents in all instances for both tests. / Ph. D.

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This thesis details an experiment designed to study the effectiveness of auditory (AP) and visual (VP) presentation modes in the free recall situation.

Masters Research - Master of Medical Science / Introduction: Between 6-10% of women attending breast screening are recalled to investigate an unclear area on the mammogram. Image quality is known to affect image interpretation and it has been suggested that the number of recalls could be reduced with improved image quality. Aim: This study aimed to investigate the effect image quality has on recall rates, to assess reader consistency using the PGMI classification system and to establish factors leading to recall. Materials and Methods: A six member panel assessed 904 sets of images (698 recalled; 206 non-recalled) through a BreastScreening Program during three separate phases (pilot, main and non-recall). The pilot study was conducted without additional training in PGMI. Levels of agreement and Kappa statistics were calculated to assess intra- and inter-consistency. The percentage of and reasons for inadequate images was calculated; while a case-control study was conducted to establish factors increasing the likelihood of a client being recalled. Results: The level of agreement between panel members significantly increased from the pilot to the main study (45.5% to 57.7%) before decreasing slightly for the non-recall (57.7% to 52.2%). Overall, 3.3% of the 904 sets of images were classed as inadequate; the most common PGMI reason was exposure (31%); the left MLO was considered the most common inadequate projection (30%), with more privately produced (66%) images considered inadequate compared to public images (34%). Inadequate image quality did not hinder the cancer detection rates. The case-control component demonstrated current and previous HRT use, increased breast density, better image quality and images being taken at a public site all contributed to a client being recalled. Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrated that inadequate image quality was not a major factor leading to recall; although twice the number of recalled images were considered inadequate compared to the non-recalled images. The use of the PGMI classification system is highly subjective, with low levels of agreement amongst users. The use of HRT, breast density, imaging site and image quality all contribute to a client being recalled.

A vast literature and our own common sense tell us that free recall (i.e., recalling information without hints) is harder and less successful than cued recall (i.e., recalling information with hints). In this dissertation, I argue that in past work free and cued recall has not been directly comparable because cued recall procedures encourage guessing and the nature of the cues promotes accurate guesses. These biases often inflate cued recall performance above free recall, creating the illusion that cued recall is superior to free recall. To control for these issues, I introduce the recognized recall procedure. Recognized recall requires subjects to produce a word on every test trial and subsequently to recognize those produced words as “old” or “new.” Across eight experiments with recognized recall, it is demonstrated that cueing does help subjects produce more studied words than in free recall, however, subjects are often unable to recognize those extra words produced. Worse yet, false memories are observed to rise in all cases of cueing. Three subsequent experiments demonstrate that cueing fails to improve recall consistently because cues do not always cue the same meaning of the word as was encoded at study. A final experiment demonstrates that free associates of studied words produced by subjects can be highly effective at improving memory if used as cues at test. It is concluded that cues can improve memory if they are specific to the study episode but can often lead to a rise in false memories. Thus, in terms of consistently optimizing accurate recall while minimizing false memories, free recall may actually be superior to cued recall.

This study used a 3 (positive vs. neutral vs. negative) ¡Ñ 2 (VCD story vs. written story) ¡Ñ2 (male vs. female) experimental design to estimate the effects of information input and emotion on fifth grader¡¦s memory recall and comprehension performance. Six classes of fifth graders were selected from two public elementary schools in Kaohsiung city and were randomly assigned to one of the experimental conditions explored whether the participants recall different amounts of information and correctly recall the information for VCD story and written story of different emotional orientation (positive, neutral, and negative). Students were randomly assigned to six experimental conditions by class. The data collected from the participants were analyzed statistically with a one-way ANOVA and a three-way MANOVA. According to the result of one-way ANOVA, there were no significant differences in Chinese language exam among the six classes: this result indicated that the reading ability among these six classes is equal. According to the result of three-way MANOVA, there was no significant interaction between information input, emotion and gender was found. With regard to the free recall test, the interaction between emotion and gender is significant on main idea recall. The simple main effects of emotion at male is significant, the students who received the positive or negative emotional input had a better performance on main idea recall. The simple main effects of gender at positive emotion is significant, boys had a better performance on main idea recall than girls. The main effect of information input is significant on main idea recall, and student who read a written story had a IX better performance on main idea recall. The main effect of emotion was significant on the total recall, the idea unit recall, and the main idea recall; students who received the positive or negative emotional input had a better performance on the total recall, the idea unit recall, and the main idea recall. With regard to the comprehension test, the main effect of information was not significant on the percent correct of the whole comprehension test. However, the main effect of emotion was significant on the percent correct of literal and critical comprehension; moreover, students receiving the positive or negative emotional information had a better performance on the percent correct of literal and critical comprehension. In conclusion, written story can help children to recall the main idea of a story better: furthermore, the information with positive or negative emotion can improve students¡¦ memory recall and comprehension. Therefore, teachers and parents should choose information on input appropriately. Also, they should choose teaching material with more emotional stimulus in order to improve students¡¦ memory and comprehension.

This thesis is a pilot study of ongoing research concerning the nature of impairments in adults with language learning disorders. The current study assessed lexical-semantic organization in14 adults with language learning disorders (LLD), ages 18;9 to 24;3 and 14 adults with no history of language impairment (TD) matched for age, gender, and education with a list recall task adapted from Watson, Balota, and Roediger (2001). All adults were enrolled in a four-year university. No significant differences were found on accuracy of list recall in LLD and TD. Similar to previous research, list recall for semantically- related words was higher in accuracy than for phonologically- related words for both LLD and TD participants. All participants were more likely to accurately recall the words at the beginning and at end of the lists. The LLD group showed a positive correlation between oral language and phonological processing performance with accuracy of recall. These results suggest that adults with language learning disorders who are enrolled in a four-year university are able to implement strategies that compensate for any language difference that may exist. Also, the similarities in patterns and accuracy of list recall suggest similar lexical-semantic organization in adults with LLD and TD. / text