published_or_final_version / Psychology / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

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In Part I of this thesis, recognition of natural scenes was tested in 72 patients with unilateral frontal- or temporal-lobe excisions and 32 normal control subjects (NC). The occurrence of a novel scene in the midst of a series of other scenes normally induces forgetting of the scene that had preceded the novel one. This phenomenon was not observed following right frontal- and right temporal-lobe lesions, and was only partially present after left temporal-lobe excisions that included the hippocampus (LTH). These brain regions were thus seen as part of a circuit that codes novel stimuli. In Part 2, recall of lists of words was examined in 77 patients and 12 normal control subjects. Both the left frontal-lobe (LF) and LTH groups recalled fewer words overall than the other groups; their performance was normal, however, when the words were pre-organized into categories and when category labels were supplied during test. In another experiment it was demonstrated that the LF group was impaired when category exemplars were provided together with the category labels, the LTH group being unaffected in this condition. It was concluded that left frontal-lobe lesions may affect retrieval mechanisms.

Changes in memory and the nature of the mnemonic trace are a source of never-ending interest, as well as of physiological importance, to the investigator. To date, no satisfactory solution has been provided as to exactly what occurs within the trace itself when increasing errors of memory are manifested with the passage of time. Traditionally there have been two opposing theories - one, supported by G. E. Müller, which maintains that forgetting consists principally of an increasing indefiniteness of the trace, and the other, originated by Wulf, who concluded, from studies pursued under Koffka’s direction, that the trace tends, not towards vagueness, but towards “better figures”. That is, in certain instances, such as in the perception of an irregular figure, the unstable organization of forces within the trace itself will tend towards equilibrium overriding the influence of external events upon it. (Wulf himself distinguished three sources of error, “normalizing”, “emphasizing” and “autonomous changes”, but Koffka later reduced these to two, namely “external influence” and “spontaneous change”). Not only this, the tendency towards stability which is manifested in increased symmetry, tendency to close a gap, sharpening, etc., will be progressive in time. [...]

Typescript (photocopy) / v, 146 leaves : ill. ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Psychology, 1982

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Texas at El Paso, 2007. / Title from title screen. Vita. CD-ROM. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Nevada, Reno, 2006. / "August, 2006." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 36-37). Online version available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--McMaster University, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 131-139). Also available via World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of Tennessee, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 49-55).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2008. / Title from first page of PDF file (viewed July 24, 2008). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 123-127).