published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Psychology / Master / Master of Philosophy

Self-paced study involves choosing items for (re)study and determining how much time will be allocated to those items so as to maximize later recall, making it a viable venue for examining whether there are age-related differences in metacognitive control. Two prominent models have been proposed to account for item selection and study time allocation behaviors during self-paced study. The Discrepancy Reduction Model (DRM; Dunlosky & Hertzog, 1998; Nelson & Leonesio, 1988) suggests individuals will always select and allocate the most time to items that have not yet been learned, whereas the Region of Proximal Learning model (RPL; Metcalfe, 2002) predicts individuals will select the easiest unknown items and will only later select and allocate time to the more difficult items if time constraints permit, thus making distinctions among unlearned items graded by difficulty. Two experiments were conducted to examine whether younger and older adults item selection and study time allocation behaviors would be more consistent with DRM or RPL model predictions. Across both experiments younger and older adults initially selected easier items for study, providing the first evidence to date that the RPL model would extend to older adults self-paced study of heterogeneously difficult Spanish-English vocabulary pairs. However, both younger and older adults allocated more time to difficult than easier items. The assignment of point values to items in Experiment 2 affected how likely participants were to pursue each of four experimenter-determined task goals that either stressed the number of words recalled, points earned, or both. Whether point values initially favored recall of easy or difficult items interacted with time constraints to influence the basis (objective versus subjective difficulty) and order of participants item selections (Experiment 2). However, younger adults were better able to effectively allocate their study time to achieve self-determined (Experiment 1) and experimenter-determined goals (Experiment 2), indicating age-related differences in metacognitive control despite younger and older adults having similar memory self-efficacy ratings and encoding strategy use behaviors.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Teachers College, Columbia University, 1996. / Typescript; issued also on microfilm. Sponsor: Susan W. Salmond. Dissertation Committee: Marvin Sontag. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 73-87).

A test of free recall visual memory and learning was developed for the present study. The purpose of the study was to determine the utility of the Visual Selective Reminding Test and the Verbal Selective Reminding Test for differentiating among groups of patients having memory impairments with organic etiologies. It was hypothesized that neurologically impaired patients would perform differently on the Visual and Verbal Selective Reminding Tests, the difference depending on the location of the underlying brain damage. Forty right handed male patients at a Veterans Administration hospital served as subjects. The patients were grouped according to the location of their brain damage; left hemisphere, right hemisphere, diffuse damage, and no brain damage. There were 10 patients in each group. Each patient was given the verbal and the visual memory tests in counterbalanced order and the Shipley estimate of intelligence.

The problem of this study was to examine the effect of text structure and signaling devices on immediate and delayed recalls of freshman Arabic-speaking students after reading a text. Subjects for the study were forty-five freshman Arabic-speaking students enrolled in three freshman English courses at a state university. All subjects were male students. The subjects-were chosen on a voluntary basis. The subjects were given the Reading Comprehension Section of the TOEFL. They were then divided into groups of good, average, and poor readers according to their performance on the TOEFL. Two well—organized passages of expository text with clearly identifiable top-level structure of problem/solution and appropriate reading levels were selected for the study. Two versions of each passage were adapted — one with the signaling devices included in the passage and the other with the signaling devices deleted. Each subject read one version of each of the two passages. The immediate and delayed recalls of the subjects were scored by an unbiased scorer. The scorer was an expert teacher of English to foreign students. Hypothesis I stated that good readers would be able to utilize the writer's rhetorical mode of the text at a significantly higher level than average and poor readers. This hypothesis was supported. The results of Chi square analysis was significant at the .03 level for immediate recall, and at the .01 level for the delayed recall. Hypothesis II stated that readers of each of the three groups who followed the original rhetorical mode of the text would recall significantly more information than those who failed to do so. This hypothesis was also supported. The results of the Two-way Analysis of Variance were significant at the .01 level for both immediate and delayed recalls. Hypothesis III stated that the students of all three groups would recall significantly more information from the passage with signaling devices than from the passage without signaling devices. This hypothesis was not supported. Signaling devices helped good and average readers to recall significantly more information, while the group of poor readers was not affected by the presence of these signaling devices. The findings suggest that training non-native speakers in identifying and utilizing different rhetorical structures might facilitate their reading comprehension. There is also a parallel need in writing instruction so that writers can . offer this facility to their readers.

A research report submitted by the Wits School of Arts, Film and Television Department, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Film and Television. Johannesburg 2015 / This research report looks at the politics of memory, commemoration and representation in the new South Africa with a focus on 32-Battalion. The research draws on interviews and testimonies of ex-SADF soldiers who were members of the unit and unpacks how when considering memory and remembering, a multitude of viewpoints emerge. Factors such as the impact of the ideological transition from apartheid to democracy and the resultant impact on ex-SADF soldiers as well as the reshaping of the country’s official history which has been shaped to suit the current political climate, are considered. The research reflects on how these political processes which include exclusions of unwanted histories have affected nation building in South Africa post 1994.

This study sought to explore and describe the recollections of young adults who were exposed to domestic violence within the family structure during childhood, so as to develop an understanding of the systems and structures needed to develop effective services to child victims of domestic violence. It is envisaged that services to these children could aid as an important preventative strategy, in that newly acquired behaviour and thinking patterns could assist them to defer from engaging in violent relationships, thereby, breaking the cycle of violence. The research study was conducted by means of a qualitative research approach and made use of the phenomenological, contextual, explorative and descriptive research designs. The purposive sampling technique was used and semi-structured interviews were employed to obtain the data. Tesch’s (cited in Creswell, 2009:186) proposed eight steps for data analysis were employed. Data verification focused on credibility/authenticity, transformability, dependability and conformability. It is envisaged that the findings and conclusions of this study could inform the planning of services to children exposed to domestic violence. / Social Work / M.A. (S.S.)

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) has been asserted by proponents of the technique as being superior to standard paper-and-pencil measurements in terms of the reliability and validity of the information obtained; however, this claim has not yet been fully evaluated in the literature. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to evaluate one aspect of this assertion by comparing the utility of EMA and retrospective measures of depressive symptoms in predicting health-relevant biological and behavioral outcomes. It was hypothesized that (1) the EMA measure will have better predictive utility when examining objective sleep quality (a biological outcome), and that (2) the retrospective measure will have better predictive utility when examining blood donation intention (a behavioral outcome). Ninety-six undergraduate females participated in this 2-week study. Depressive symptoms were measured momentarily and retrospectively using the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D). The biological outcome was assessed by actigraphy, whereas the behavioral outcome was measured via a self-report questionnaire. Unfortunately, it was not possible to fully test these hypotheses due to the failure to observe relationships between the predictor variables and the outcomes. The reported results, although limited, did not provide support for the hypotheses. Supplemental analyses revealed a moderate to high amount of shared variance between the EMA and retrospective measures, a similar extent of random error in both measures, and potentially a greater degree of systematic error in the retrospective measure. Due to the paucity of literature examining the claim of superior reliability and validity of EMA versus retrospective measures, as well as the failure of the current study to evaluate this assertion sufficiently, it appears that this claim remains unfounded. Therefore, suggestions for future research are provided.

The study provides a theoretical account for the representation of apartheid in South African fiction. Narrative strategies employed in the post-apartheid novels The innocence of roast chicken (Richards, 1996), The smell of apples (Behr, 1996), All we have left unsaid (Case, 2006) and Thirteen cents (Duiker, 2011) reveal that depictions of the past contribute to narrative structure and the production of meaning. Genettean temporal relations, namely narrative order, duration and frequency are a systematic method to analyse the selected novels, since it enables a contrast between the narrative past as the histoire, and the narrative present as the récit. Retrospective events are constructed as memories, thereby are complemented by Bergson’s psychological and philosophical theory in the analysis and interpretation of the dualistic interaction between the apartheid and post-apartheid temporal centres adopted within the novels. The representation of apartheid may be seen as sub-themes and time as configurations of temporal zones. / Afrikaans & Theory of Literature / M.A. (Theory of Literature)

The study provides a theoretical account for the representation of apartheid in South African fiction. Narrative strategies employed in the post-apartheid novels The innocence of roast chicken (Richards, 1996), The smell of apples (Behr, 1996), All we have left unsaid (Case, 2006) and Thirteen cents (Duiker, 2011) reveal that depictions of the past contribute to narrative structure and the production of meaning. Genettean temporal relations, namely narrative order, duration and frequency are a systematic method to analyse the selected novels, since it enables a contrast between the narrative past as the histoire, and the narrative present as the récit. Retrospective events are constructed as memories, thereby are complemented by Bergson’s psychological and philosophical theory in the analysis and interpretation of the dualistic interaction between the apartheid and post-apartheid temporal centres adopted within the novels. The representation of apartheid may be seen as sub-themes and time as configurations of temporal zones. / Afrikaans and Theory of Literature / M. A. (Theory of Literature)