It is the purpose of the present study to attempt to obtain reminiscence with paired-associate nonsense syllables, and to determine a "forgetting curve" based on a continuous measure of retention. Reminiscence is defined as an improvement in retention after learning, without intervening practice, as shown by some measure of ability to recall. The experiment is designed to give an empirical demonstration of reminiscence phenomena as predicted by the rote learning theory system of C. L. Hull, and the experimental work of C. I. Hovland. Hull's prediction of an initial increase in the amount retained after learning follows from a "differential forgetting" theory in which correct responses acquire decrement in strength at a slower rate than do incorrect responses: the result is that near-correct responses at the termination of learning temporarily reach supra-threshold strength during the early stages of retention, and "reminiscence" results. The majority of rote learning studies have used lists of single nonsense syllables presented in a serial order. Reminiscence effects have been found in some of the latter studies but have not been found with paired-associate materials presented in a random order on successive trials. In the present experiment the stimulus materials are paired-associate nonsense syllables presented in a serial order; the anticipation method of learning is used; the criterion of learning is 6/9 correct anticipations; two groups of 16 Ss each are employed - an immediate recall group, and a delayed recall group; the interpolated interval between learning and the first recall measure for the delayed recall group is two minutes; and successive measures of retention are obtained on Ss in both recall groups such that the time between reaching the learning criterion and the last recall trial is six minutes. From the results, a serial effect is demonstrated during learning and it is expected that this will enhance the possibility of reminiscence. With analyses of the data in terms of group indices, individual indices, and item indices, no difference between retention measures is found which could be called reminiscence. Successive trial retention measures are compared between the two recall groups. The Hullian theory predicts a general decrement in retention performance on successive trials following any reminiscence effect. The results show that overlearning of some responses results in a stereotypy of retention responses which obscures reduction in strength of the less well learned responses and results in no significant decline in retention on successive trials. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

This study investigated the effects of headings and text organization on grade 5 through 10 students' written recall of expository prose passages written in a classification/description mode. Emphasis was placed on the results from students in grades 7 and 8. This study was a component of a three part study. The other two parallel studies emphasized grades 5 and 6 (Stables, 1985) and 9 and 10 (Gibbs, 1985). Each subject read and recalled two passages: one written at his or her grade level and one written at a low readability level. Performance on the written recalls from passages with headings and without headings was examined on the basis of the number of superordinate and subordinate ideas recalled, the superordinate and subordinate organization, and the format. Developmental trends were investigated by including the data from the two parallel studies (Gibbs, 1985; Stables, 1985). There was some evidence that headings had a significant positive effect on the number of superordinate ideas recalled from a passage of low readability. Some significant differences indicated negative effects by headings. The majority of differences, however, were not significant. Developmental trends in grades 5 through 10 were noted in the number of ideas recalled on a low readability passage and the format used on the written recalls. Implications for instruction and suggestions for further research are discussed. / Education, Faculty of / Language and Literacy Education (LLED), Department of / Graduate

Elderly subjects are known to perform less well than young subjects on laboratory tests of recall from episodic memory. Although the elderly report increased difficulty in recalling information from semantic memory, experimental attempts to demonstrate this deficit are equivocal. It is suggested that studies which use multiple choice tests to measure recall from semantic memory fail to find age-related deficits because the tests provide cues to aid in recall, a procedure known to reduce age-related differences in recall from episodic memory. When time to retrieve a single item of information from semantic memory is measured, some studies show an age-related deficit while others do not. When episodic recall is tested using categorized lists, the elderly show recall deficits largely because they access fewer categories than do young subjects. Semantic cues increase the number of categories recalled by the elderly subjects more than for young subjects in such tasks, Since studies with young subjects show that recall both from categorized lists and from a taxonomic category (a semantic recall task) proceeds via temporal clusters of related items, it was hypothesized that elderly subjects would show increased difficulty in accessing clusters of related items in a semantic recall task, just as they do in recall of categorized lists. Further, it was hypothesized that semantic cues would reduce the time taken by the elderly to access sequential clusters of information from semantic memory. In one experiment, healthy, well-educated young (ages 19-21) and old (ages 67-72) subjects were required to perform a Bousfield task: to generate examples from two taxonomic categories, foods and animals, for 15 minutes. The slope-difference algorithm, a procedure developed by Gruenewald and Lockhead, was used to categorize each subject's inter- item times (IIT's) into times between temporal clusters (BIIT's) and times between items within temporal clusters (WIIT). In a second experiment, a group of old subjects were given semantic differential labels as cues for recall on one of their two experimental trials. Results for the first experiment showed no age effect on mean BUT, number of clusters, or average cluster size for recall of food items. There were also no age effects during the first 5 minutes of recall of animals. Later in the task old subjects had longer mean BIIT's for animals than did young subjects. The differences appeared to result because old subjects tended to report primarily mammals, while young subjects reported birds, fish, reptiles/amphibians, and insects as well, A trend toward slower mean WIIT's for old subjects was attributed to slower vocalization rates. Thus, Experiment 1 failed to demonstrate age- related differences in time to access successive clusters of related items in semantic memory or in the rate at which items in a cluster are emitted. Higher repetition rates observed for the old subjects do support an age-related deficit in recognition. In the second experiment, only half the subjects reported that the semantic -differential cues were helpful in finding new items. No effect of cuing was observed for the food category. Cuing did significantly reduce mean BIIT for animals during the last 5 minutes of recall. However, the actual effect of cuing on number of clusters produced was minimal. It was suggested that more practice with the cues might have led to higher cue usage and a greater impact on BIIT. / This thesis was digitized as part of a project begun in 2014 to increase the number of Duke psychology theses available online. The digitization project was spearheaded by Ciara Healy.

Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

The research presented in this thesis was designed to investigate the effects of co-witness information on the accuracy and completeness of eyewitness memory. Co-witness information is defined as information that one eyewitness conveys to another about an event that they both observed. Very little research has focused on co-witness discussion, so the first two studies surveyed real eyewitnesses and police officers to determine how often witnesses discuss the event with one another. The results from these surveys suggested that co-witnesses commonly talk about the event with each other and this outcome provided a clear justification for studying the effects of co-witness discussion on memory. Previous research on co-witness discussion has reached inconsistent conclusions, and the possibility exists that these discrepancies are due to methodological differences. Therefore, this research aimed to determine whether co-witness discussion helps or hinders individual recall, and to investigate this within a closely defined methodological set. In a series of five experiments, participants were shown a crime video and then asked to discuss the video in groups (some of which received experimentally induced misinformation from a cowitness). Following the discussion, participants were asked to give their individual accounts of what happened. These experiments showed that exposure to postevent information from a co-witness can cause people to incorporate this information into their individual testimonies, regardless of the accuracy of the information. This phenomenon has become known as 'memory conformity'. Relevant theories were tested in order to contribute to knowledge regarding the causes of memory conformity. Furthermore, the experiments also aimed to establish whether it is possible to mediate any negative effects of co-witness discussion by employing our theoretical understanding of the causes of memory conformity. Five approaches were utilized in an attempt to reduce the negative effects of co-witness discussion: warnings about possible misinformation, source monitoring, free recall, confidence ratings, and 'remember/know judgments' (Tulving, 1985). Some evidence was found to suggest that when using 'remember/know judgments' it may be possible to distinguish 'real' memories from information obtained from a co-witness. These results are discussed in terms of theoretical and practical implications.

The introduction of the Evidence Amendment Act (1989) in New Zealand allowed for children�s evidence to be videotaped and to be presented in court at a later time as evidence-in-chief. Typically, children see these tapes for the first time in court when they are required to be present for cross-examination, frequently months, or even years, after the evidence was recorded. From a theoretical perspective, allowing children to view a pre-recorded interview may be potentially beneficial, serving to remind the child of what was said at an earlier interview, and reactivating or �refreshing� the child�s memory of the event. It is also possible that viewing the videotape will have detrimental effects on children�s reports. For example, errors may be compounded when children see themselves make an error or complying with a suggestion on videotape. In a series of five studies, the current thesis examined what effect, if any, viewing an earlier interview had on children�s subsequent reports about an event. In all studies presented, children took part in an event, and then were interviewed about that event 1-2 weeks later. That interview contained misinformation, which was introduced in questions. In Study 1, children watched their own videotaped interview 24 hours prior to being re-interviewed about an event in which they had participated seven months earlier. At Interview 2, the reports from these children were not very different from those of children who had no reminder, but they did report more information in free recall. In Study 2, children viewed their pre-recorded interview immediately prior to Interview 2, rather than 24 hours prior, as in the first study. In addition, the delay between the event and Interview 2 was extended to 12 months. These changes were made to maximize any possible effects of the videotape as a reminder. In this study, there were greater differences between the reports of children who had, and who had not, viewed the earlier interview. These relative gains in information were not at the expense of accuracy. Study 3 aimed to replicate the results of Study 2, using a larger sample. Due to circumstances beyond the Experimenter�s control, the participant number included in this study was reduced. The pattern of results in the present study was generally similar to the results observed in Study 2. One group of participants participated in an additional event shortly before the end of the delay period between the interviews. This provided a unique opportunity to assess whether viewing a pre-recorded interview would assist with source monitoring, as the additional event was very similar to the first event. Study 4 examined this data. Results of this study indicated that the intervening visit interfered with the effectiveness of the pre-recorded interview as a memory aid. In addition, viewing the videotaped interview did not assist the children with source monitoring. Study 5 examined whether the results from Studies 2 and 3 would generalise to a different event. The results suggested that a videotaped interview was much less effective with the different event. It is likely that this was because the event was less interactive, potentially less salient, and less familiar to the participants than the event used in the previous studies. Study 6 combined the data from the previous five studies, in order to increase the statistical power. By doing this, it was anticipated that the consistent aspects of the results would become clearer, and that the inconsistent findings would be eliminated. Indeed, this study summarized the strengths of the earlier studies, and demonstrated that children�s reports at Interview 2 were enhanced when they viewed their videotape of Interview 1. This enhancement did not lead to an increased number of errors for the reminder group. Taken together, these findings suggest that viewing a videotape of an earlier interview has some advantages and no detrimental effects on children�s subsequent reports. Errors spontaneously generated by the children tended to be minor, did not increase following exposure to the earlier interview, and were not repeated across the interviews. Watching a prior, videotaped interview had most benefit on increasing the information reported in free recall, and did not reduce accuracy. This is important, as free recall in interviews with children is typically accurate, but brief. Further, when asked direct questions, in some cases children who had seen a prior interview tended to be more likely to provide the correct answer. These findings are considered in the context of current legal reforms.

Thesis (M.A.)--Baylor University, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 57-59).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--School of Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2004. Directed by Anderson D. Smith. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 77-81).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1918. / Vita. "Reprinted from Archives of psychology no. 44." Bibliography: p. 76-77.