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This study explored the effects of lecture speech rate and duration on L1 Chinese listeners' listening comprehension of online L2 English lectures on free-recall and cued-recall questions. There are many factors that may affect a Chinese listener's listening comprehension of online English lectures. The current study focused specifically on the effects of speech rate and duration, and explored the possibility of identifying tools that listeners might use to control these factors during online lectures in order to achieve better learning experiences. Using an exploratory quasi-experimental approach, this study explored the research questions in three phases: 1) An initial quasi-experiment was conducted via Qualtrics and applied as a pilot study; 2) The quasi-experiment was revised, with a new link sent out to potential participants from both the United States and China; and 3) Quasi-experiment responses were collected and analyzed. Based on 28 participant responses, the findings from the current study suggest that the interaction between speech rate and duration impacted L1 Chinese listener's comprehension of online L2 English lectures. The findings also suggest that study participants' responses on various types of questions were affected differently by the speech rate and duration of the lectures. / Doctor of Philosophy / It is assumed that the slower and the shorter the listening material is, the better the foreign language learner's listening comprehension will be. Is this true? This study explored how a lecture's speech rate and duration may affect L1 Chinese listeners' listening comprehension of online L2 English lectures on free-recall and cued-recall questions. It discusses the possibility of identifying tools for listeners to control the speech rate and duration of online lectures in order to help listeners achieve better learning experiences. Using an exploratory quasi-experimental approach, this study explored the research questions in three phases: 1) An initial quasi-experiment was conducted via Qualtrics and applied as a pilot study; 2) The quasi-experiment was revised, with a new link sent out to potential participants from both the United States and China; and 3) Quasi-experiment responses were collected and analyzed. Based on 28 participant responses, the findings from the current study suggest that speech rate and duration worked together to impact L1 Chinese listeners' comprehension of online L2 English lectures. The findings also suggest that study participants' responses on various types of questions were affected differently by the speech rate and duration of the lectures.

Le témoignage oculaire est un élément fondamental de la résolution des enquêtes criminelles. Pour la bonne conduite des enquêtes judiciaires, il apparait primordial d’obtenir des témoignages exhaustifs et exacts. C'est ainsi qu’une équipe de recherche a conçu une méthode basée sur les principes du fonctionnement de la mémoire ayant pour but l’optimisation du recueil des propos du témoin : l’entretien cognitif (Geiselman et al. 1984). Si cette méthode permet d’obtenir des descriptions détaillées sans diminution de la qualité du témoignage, elle est néanmoins marginalement utilisée par les professionnels de la justice. L’objectif de cette thèse est double : il s’agit de proposer une consigne d’entretien qui prend en compte les processus psychologiques en œuvre dans le rappel d’un évènement en mémoire épisodique, et qui soit acceptable du point de vue des pratiques professionnelles. Une première étape a consisté en l’analyse des pratiques professionnelles. L’évaluation d’une formation à l’entretien cognitif auprès d’enquêteurs de police a montré que la méthode est facilement assimilable par les enquêteurs, suggérant que sa non-application sur le terrain ne résiderait pas dans sa difficulté d’utilisation, mais relèverait plutôt de problèmes d’acceptabilité de la part des professionnels. Pour comprendre les objectifs professionnels de l’audition, nous avons ensuite procédé à une analyse des pratiques en termes d’audition. Cette analyse a révélé que les enquêteurs recherchaient de façon prépondérante des informations sur les actions d’une scène criminelle. Sur la base de ces constats, nous avons conçu une consigne dite de reconstitution, qui fait appel aux traces verbatim en mémoire, et vise à apporter des actions générales et spécifiques d’une scène. La consigne a été testée dans un protocole d’entretien et a démontré son efficacité aussi bien quantitative que qualitative, en apportant davantage d’informations correctes sur une scène comparée à d’autres consignes, sans augmentation concomitante du nombre d’erreurs. Il apparait que la consigne de reconstitution répond de façon pertinente au principal objectif d’une enquête de police. / Eyewitness testimony is a fundamental determinant to the resolution of criminal investigations. To conduct criminal investigations effectively, it appears essential to obtain complete and accurate testimony. For this purpose, a research team has developed a method based on the features of human memory, aiming to enhance the eliciting of eyewitness accounts: the cognitive interview (Geiselman et al., 1984). Although this method enables investigators to obtain detailed descriptions without reducing the quality of the testimony, it is still only marginally used by legal professionals. The objective of this thesis is twofold: it aims to provide interviewing instructions which take into account the psychological processes at work in the recalling of events in episodic memory, while simultaneously being acceptable from the standpoint of professional practice. The first step involved conducting an analysis of professional practices. An evaluation of training in cognitive interviewing by police investigators showed that the method is easily learnt and suggests that the lack of implementation in practice does not stem from the difficulties linked to its implementation, but rather arises as a result of a lack of acceptance among professionals. In order to further our understanding of the professional objectives of the hearing, we then conducted an analysis of practices in terms of hearing. This analysis revealed that investigators were essentially seeking out information about the actions which took place during the crime scene. Based on these findings, we designed a re-enactment-alike interviewing instruction, which activates the verbatim traces in memory and is intended to elicit the general and specific actions of a scene. This instruction was tested in an interviewing protocol and demonstrated its quantitative and qualitative effectiveness in providing a greater quantity of correct information compared with other instructions, whilst withstanding a concomitant increase in the number of errors. Re-enactment-alike instruction thus appears highly relevant for reaching the main objective of a police investigation.

Utifrån teorin att bristande eller inadekvata uppmärksamhetsfunktioner kan visa sig i form av instabila svarsmönster på testet Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) undersöktes effektiviteten av ett intensivt uppmärksamhetsträningsprogram (APT) genom att studera svarsprotokoll från RAVLT av 60 patienter i det akuta skedet (<1 år) av rehabilitering efter hjärnskada. Tre testtillfällen undersöktes: före träning, efter träning samt som uppföljning sex månader efter avslutad behandling. Hälften av patienterna hade erhållit APT och hälften sedvanlig uppmärksamhetsträning (TAU). Antalet tillagda och tappade ord samt antalet svarsglapp användes för att kartlägga förvärvande och konsolidering i inlärningsdelen av RAVLT. Ingen signifikant skillnad mellan grupperna erhölls för något av måtten vid något av tillfällena, däremot erhölls en signifikant förbättring gällande antal svarsglapp för APT-gruppen från före- och eftertestning till uppföljningstestningen. Antalet svarsglapp framstår som ett användbart mått på stabilitet i svarsmönster på RAVLT, och APT tycks ha en positiv inverkan på denna stabilitet.

The aim of this study was to investigate the development of release from proactive interference (RPI) and its relations with executive working memory functions. 101 primary school children (aged 6-12 years) and 20 young adults (aged 22-30 years) participated in the study. The main task, the Categorical Free Recall Test, comprised 12 items from 3 different categories (animals, fruits, clothes). The purpose of the main task was to examine both the development of the RPI pattern and the categorization ability during childhood. As our results showed, the categorization ability and the RPI pattern were already present in the 1st graders. Although overall memory span increased with age, there was no significant development for the categorization and the RPI effect. For the additional tasks, the Word Span Test (WST, to measure the phonological WM capacity), the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST, to measure both the categorization ability and executive WM functions), and the Listening Span Test (LST, to examine executive and complex WM functions), the results indicated that children also improved with age. Overall memory capacity in the main task was best predicted by the WST / however, memory of serial position was best predicted by the LST. These findings are in accordance with the view that the WST measures the phonological working memory span, whereas the LST measures complex working memory and executive functions. The comparisons between the adult and the child sample revealed that except for the RPI pattern adults were better on all tasks than the children. The lack of a consistent RPI pattern for the adults may be due to the relatively short stimulus list.