Einführung. In der vorliegenden Studie untersuchten wir durch funktionelle Nahinfrarotspektroskopie (fNIRS) präfrontale Hirnoxygenierung während Ableistung von Sprachaufgaben. FNIRS weist über Bestimmung von Konzentrationsunterschieden von sauerstoffbeladenes (OxyHb) und sauerstofffreies Hämoglobin (DeoxyHb) regionale Blutflussänderungen nach und lässt somit validen Rückschluss auf Hirnaktivität zu. Bereits in früheren Studien konnte nachgewiesen werden, dass Patienten mit Alkoholkrankheit verminderte präfrontale Hirnaktivität zeigen. Teil 2 der Studie untersucht den im Untersuchungsgebiet liegenden Schläfenmuskel (musculus temporalis) auf Einflüsse auf die Methode fNIRS. Methoden. Wir verglichen 15 entgiftete Patienten mit Alkoholkrankheit (Patientengruppe, PG) mit passenden 15 gesunden Kontrollprobanden (Kontrollgruppe, KG)bezüglich deren Hirn- und Muskelaktivität während Ableistung Wortflüssigkeitsaufgabe (VFT; engl. Verbal Fluency Task). Bestimmte, insbesondere präfrontale Hirnareale wurden durch phonologische und semantische Testsaufgaben (TA´s), ebenso durch eine Kontrollaufgabe (KA), (Wochentag aufzählen) aktiviert. Durch EMG wurde während Durchführung der Aufgabe die Aktivität des musculus temporalis gemessen. Wir verwendeten zur Datenanalyse sowohl von fNIRS wie auch EMG eine 2x2x2x6 Varianzanalyse (ANOVA) mit Zwischensubjektfaktor „Gruppe“ und Innersubjektfaktoren „Bedingung“, „Seite“ und „Zeit“, gerechnet wurde dies für jeweils Oxy- und DeoxyHb sowie den phonologischen sowie semantischen Teil. Ergebnisse. Beide Gruppen lieferten eine vergleichbare Menge an Worten, Hirnaktivierung zeigte sich bei beiden Gruppen signifikant höher in den Testaufgaben (phonologisch > semantisch). Die PG zeigte verminderte Hirnaktivierung präfrontal im phonologischen, vergleichbare Hirnaktivität im semantischen Teil. Beide Gruppen zeigten vergleichbare Muskelaktivität, jeweils signifikant höher in den jeweiligen Testaufgaben. Es zeigten sich keine systematischen Assoziationen (Korrelation nach Pearson) zwischen fNIRS und EMG. Schlussfolgerungen. Insgesamt konnten vorherige Studien mit Nachweis niedrigerer präfrontaler Hirnoxygenierung bei entgifteten Patienten mit Alkoholkrankheit gegenüber gesunden Kontrollen bestätigt werden. Die Mehraktivierung beider Gruppen während phonologischer Aufgabe gründet in dem höheren intelektuellen Anspruch der Aufgabe, dies erklärt auch den Gruppenunterschied in speziell dieser Aufgabe. Durch eine vergleichbare Muskelaktivität der beiden Gruppen sowie fehlende Assoziationen zwischen fNIRS und EMG sehen wir keinen Einfluss von Muskelaktivität auf die Hirnaktivitätsmessung durch fNIRS. Auch eine valide Untersuchung von psychiatrisch kranken Probandengruppen wie Patienten mit Alkoholkrankheit ist hierdurch gut möglich. Die Studie befürwortet den künftigen Einsatz und weitere methodische Untersuchungen zur Messung mit fNIRS, einem validen, artefaktunempfindlichen, handlichen und relativ günstigen Messinstrument. / Introduction. In this study we examined prafrontal brain oxygenation using functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) while performing a speech test. Via changes of concentrations of oxygenated (OxyHb) and deoxygenated (DeoxyHb) hemoglobin fNIRS measures regional bloodflow mirroring brain activity. Former studies already showed that detoxified patients with alcohol dependency have lower prefrontal brain activity. In the second part of the study we investigate the temporal muscle, surfacing the measured prefrontal area, in reference to influence on the method fNIRS. Methods. We compared 15 detoxified patients with alcohol dependency (patient group, PG) with the same amount of 15 matching healthy controls (control Goup, CG) regarding their brain and muscle activity during performing a verbal fluency task (VFT). Spezific prefrontal brain areas were activated by executing a phonological and a semantical test task (TT), as comparison we led them perform a control task (CT), reciting weekdays. Via EMG we measured temporal muscle activity while passing the test. For data analysis for both measuring methods (fNIRS and EMG) we used a 2x2x2x6 Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) with the factors “group”, “condition”, “side” and “time”. We calculated these for both Oxy- and DeoxyHb as well as for phonological and semantical test. Results. Both groups announced a comparable amount of words, brain activity was significantly higher while performing th TT (phonological higher than semantical). The PG achieved less activity in prafrontal areas, only in the phonological part, not in the semantical. Both groups performed comparable muscle activity, however activated the temporal muscle more while performing the TT´s. Systematic correlations (Pearson) between fNIRS and EMG weren’t found. Discussion. Overall like in elder studies we could confirm lower prefrontal brain oxygenation on detoxified patients with alcohol dependency compared to matching controls. Reaching higher activity during the phonological task is defined by the exercises higher level of difficulty, which also explains the difference of group result in especially this test. As muscle activity was comparable between the two groups, we couldn’t find associations between fNIRS and EMG. Thus we don’t see muscle activity interfering with the measurement of brain activity using fNIRS. Also this method proofs reliable and valid being used in subjects with psychiatric illnesses like alcohol dependency. This study supports the future Use just like further methodical investigations of fNIRS, a method nonsensitive to artifacts.

This research examined three components of precision teaching; charting, timed practices, and performance aims. In the first study beginner skaters performed two roller skating skills, forward crosses and back scissors, with the aim of increasing fluency in these skills using precision teaching methods. Skaters were told to perform the skills as fast as they could during 1-min practises, aiming at a set performance aim, or goal. After each timing skaters were told how many repetitions they had performed. One group charted back scissors only and the other forward crosses only. The skaters became faster in both skills and charting did not produce faster rates. The improvement seen may have been a direct result of the performance aims. Therefore the second study, using back crosses, compared a fixed, difficult performance aim (complete 50 per minute) for one group and an easier, flexible performance aim (beat your previous sessions' high score) for a second group. After each timing skaters were told how many back crosses they had performed. Performance rates increased similarly for both groups, thus the different performance aims did not have different effects, contrary to the goal-setting literature. A third study investigated this further. Skaters performed forward crosses and back scissors during a baseline condition, where there were no performance aims or feedback. Increases in performance rates for both skills occurred. In a second condition, a performance aim higher than their number of repetitions in the previous condition was set and feedback was given for one skill only. There was an immediate increase in rate of the targeted skill for 3 of the 4 skaters, suggesting that the goal, when given with feedback, influenced the rate at which the skaters performed the skill. In the fourth study, where the effect of feedback and practice was examined more closely, soccer players dribbled a ball in and out of cones. As expected those who took part in eight to ten sessions that were told to do their best (an easy goal) and not given feedback performed this skill faster than those who completed only two sessions with the same conditions. Unexpectedly, they also performed faster than those set a performance aim of beating their previous highest score (a hard goal) and who were given feedback. Methodological issues that may have been responsible for this latter result were addressed in the fifth study. Skaters completing 10 sessions of forward crosses, with feedback and with a performance aim of completing 60 repetitions in one minute (a hard goal), became faster than skaters completing 10 sessions without feedback who were told to do their best. Skaters told to do their best, who completed only three sessions without feedback, did not get faster. These results support those in the goal-setting literature that, hard goals with feedback have more effect than being told to do your best. Overall these studies show that short, timed practices and hard performance aims, or goals, may be effective components of precision teaching while visual feedback from charting may not. Further, precision teaching methods were effective when applied to sporting skills such as those used by roller skaters and soccer players for building fluency of basic skills.

Converging evidence suggests that phonological awareness is at the core of reading ability. Rapid automatized naming (RAN), defined as how quickly individuals can name continuously presented familiar visual stimuli, is also known to be a strong predictor of reading performance, and reading fluency in particular. The double deficit hypothesis suggests RAN deficits represent an additional core deficit associated with the reading process. Although there are many ways to measure RAN (e.g., using letters, numbers, pictures, objects), not well established is which RAN task is most predictive of the reading fluency skills of clinic referred children. Further research is also needed to understand the relationship between RAN and general processing speed, and the extent to which RAN tasks uniquely predict the reading fluency of clinic-referred children. The purpose of the current study is to determine a) the relationships among phonemic awareness, RAN, general processing speed, and reading fluency; b) the predictive value of phonemic awareness and RAN tasks in determining reading fluency performance; c) which RAN task best predicts reading fluency; and d) if RAN tasks continue to predict reading fluency while controlling for general processing speed. 64 children from a university reading clinic were used as participants in this study. The results suggest that alphanumeric RAN task performance --and letter naming in particular-- are unique contributors to reading fluency performance in dysfluent readers. Further, the results indicate that this contribution to reading fluency extends beyond that of other theoretical components of fluency. / School of Education / School Psychology / PhD / Dissertation

A large discrepancy between national exam results and final grades in English has been found in compulsory school. Between 1.9% and 18.7%, depending on which school, of students receive a course grade that is different from their grade on the national exam. (Corren, 2001 and Skolvärlden, 2012) As a result, many students have not in reality reached the criteria for the passing grade. In my experience, many students come to us with low self-esteem and motivation due to their difficulties with learning a second language. This study compares two ways of learning and their effects on self-esteem, motivation, accuracy and fluency. The subjects were all the students in the college that started year one, and on paper had the grade pass from compulsory school, but in reality had not reached that level. The students were divided into two groups, one with focus on accuracy, and one with focus on fluency. The accuracy-based task followed the style of a traditional English course book. The fluency-based task had one part where the students told each other about various topics and another where they were encouraged to practice their writing skills by keeping a journal. The students were assessed using one evaluation test, a questionnaire and a final test. The questionnaire provided data for the students’ perceived change in fluency, accuracy, self-esteem and motivation. The written tests provided data for accuracy and fluency. The results in this study showed an overall increase in accuracy, fluency and self-confidence in the accuracy-based task, but that only the fluency-based task enhanced motivation.

While a vast amount of research in marketing has examined how information prior to purchase helps consumers to make purchase decisions, relatively little work has considered how marketers can increase the value consumers derive from subsequent experiences using this information. This dissertation develops a construct called "experiential preparation" that describes how consumers can increase the hedonic benefit of their experiences. This dissertation defines "experiential preparation" as any mechanism that allows consumers to familiarize themselves with upcoming experiences in advance of consumption, while the "preparation effect" refers to the increase in liking for an event due to experiential preparation.In a series of ten experimental studies this dissertation demonstrates that experiential preparation increases satisfaction, particularly where the respondent is in a positive mood. It also identifies the primary mechanism through which experiential preparation works, showing that increased satisfaction is fully mediated by fluency. These effects occurred across a range of experiences and modes of preparation. In all the studies, participants viewed feature-length and short, films and read short stories. Participants who engaged in experiential preparation received previews in the form of plot summaries or actual excerpts from the films and stories. In all studies, participants reported their enjoyment for the experiences, and, in several studies additional preference measures were collected. Finally, measures were developed to test for the ways in which fluency mediates and positive moods moderate the preparation effect.This dissertation is organized in three chapters. In Chapter One, experiential preparation and the preparation effect are defined, and background literature is discussed. Chapter Two analyses the results of the ten studies thematically around various mechanisms, some of which have a significant impact on the preparation effect, and some, little impact. Chapter Three presents the studies' results in detail. / Dissertation

The use of Creative Problem Solving (CPS) as an instructional strategy to increase the creativity levels of students across all levels of the curriculum is currently a popular topic of investigation. Curriculum content and the underlying objectives that are presented to students in public schools have been the subject of close scrutiny since school accountability became a hot topic during the 1980's. However, despite all the efforts to improve student productivity through a well defined curriculum, and possibly because of the increased emphasis on student accountability to reflect that student improvement, concern for the apparent declining creativity levels among students appears to be growing. The purpose of this dissertation was to compare conventional instructional methodologies with those of creative problem solving. It was hypothesized that students' low, high, and total cognition levels, overall creativity levels, and satisfaction with instructional methodologies, improve as a result of instruction through creative problem solving strategies. By improving the levels of creativity within students, they will be better equipped to deal with the complex types of problems the future will present. This study utilized an experimental, posttest only, control group design. Participants were ninth grade students (n=20) who were enrolled in an Introduction to World Agricultural and Science Technology I course. Posttests were administered to measure low, high, and total levels cognition at the conclusion of the course. For this measure of the dependent variable, a forty question (10 true/false, 25 multiple choice, and 5 short answer) test was administered. Pretests and posttests were administered to measure student creativity. A standardized Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT) was used as the measure of the dependent variable of creativity. Pretests, mid-tests, and posttests were used to measure student satisfaction. A satisfaction instrument developed by Brashears (2004) was used for the measurement of clarity, delivery, content, and total satisfaction as the dependent measure of satisfaction. These instruments were used to measure the five research hypotheses of the study. Results of the study did not support the hypotheses that significant differences exist between creative problem solving and traditional instructional strategies, as they pertain to student cognition, creativity, and satisfaction. However, although not significant, possibly due to the small sample size, upon closer examination of group means, one can detect definite patterns of greater mean score gains among the CPS group over the traditional group in cognition, creativity, and satisfaction. Based on these findings, this researcher suggests that replications of this study be performed with larger sample sizes in different curriculum areas to further perpetuate the integration of creative problem solving strategies as an effective instructional strategy for all age groups and in all areas of the curriculum.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2003. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 249-258). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

A week-long intervention for five school-age children who stutter was implemented using techniques of fluency shaping, stuttering management, and mindfulness training. The purpose of this study was to investigate if children who stutter stuttered less frequently, stuttered with less struggle, and demonstrated changes in mindfulness measures after the completion of this week-long intervention. Pre- to post-treatment measures were analyzed by individual and group-level results. A comparative analysis between reading and narrative tasks was also performed. Findings indicate that three out of five children reduced the total number of disfluencies during the reading task, and two children reduced this total during the narrative task. Four out of five children decreased the level of struggle in both tasks. Two children improved their overall mindfulness scores; however, additional changes in sub-divisions of mindfulness varied by participant. As a group, the total number of disfluencies decreased during the reading task, while the total number of disfluencies did not change from pre- to post-treatment measures during the narrative task. The group demonstrated improvements in mindfulness in the areas of communication attitudes, cognitive reappraisal, and expressive suppression. A comparison between reading and narrative tasks suggest that performance on these tasks approximated to one another by the end of the treatment. The results of this study should be interpreted with caution as this was a pilot study with clinical limitations; however, future studies are necessary to verify and support these findings.

According to the Body-Specificity Hypothesis, experiences of habitual motor fluency cause people to associate positive valence with their dominant hand side and confer positive valence to items located on their dominant hand side (Casasanto, 2009). Can ongoing motor experience impact this association in the absence of visually lateralized stimuli? In Experiment 1, participants flipped cards using one hand and rated the image on each card with respect to how well it was described by positive or negative personal characteristics. Contrary to our predictions, participant’s ratings were not biased by the hand that they used during the trial. In Experiment 2, the task was almost entirely the same, though participants wore a slippery glove on their dominant hand to reduce the perceived motor fluency of the dominant hand. Again, participant’s ratings were not biased by the relative motor fluency of the hand used during the trial. Results indicate that ongoing motor activity may not be sufficient to activate body specific preferences in the absence of visually lateralized stimuli. / text

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate how phonetic complexity influences the accuracy and rate of speech production in adults who do (AWS, N=15) and do not stutter (AWNS, N=15). Target words were characterized according to high phonetic complexity (HIPC) and low phonetic complexity (LIPC), and were controlled for lexical influences such as word frequency and neighborhood density. It was hypothesized that if phonetic complexity influenced speech production, there would be a difference in reaction time and accuracy for AWS during the HIPC condition. Method: Participants produced two rounds of 40 target words corresponding to specific line drawings, during a confrontational naming task. Speech reaction time (SRT) was recorded from initial presentation of picture, and fluency and accuracy of production were coded for each target. Results: There was no significant difference in SRT according to HIPC and LIPC for either AWS or AWNS. AWS participants had slower SRT recorded compared to AWNS for all conditions tested. There was no relationship found between HIPC and increased moments of disfluency. Accuracy of target word production decreased during LIPC words. Conclusion: Phonetic complexity does not affect rate or fluency of speech production for either AWS or AWNS. While there is no difference in phonetic complexity measures, AWS are consistently slower than AWNS across both groups of target productions. Increased errors for both groups on LIPC target words may indicate a motor component to accuracy of speech production. / text