Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Queensland, 2005. / Includes bibliography.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--Regis University, Denver, Colo., 2006. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Sept. 19, 2006). Includes bibliographical references.

Much of what is known about the influence of postevent misinformation on children's event reports is based on studies in which children were exposed to the target event once. Nelson and her colleagues (e.g., 1986) have reported a considerable array of data that demonstrates that children's reports of a routine, or of an instance of a routine, is quite different from their reports of a unique event. Based on this literature on children's script memory it seemed reasonable to speculate that prior similar experiences with the target event would mitigate and/or heighten the influence of suggestions on children's reports of an instance of a routine. In Experiment 1, 4-, 6-, and 8-year-olds participated in one or four play sessions. Children in the 4-sessions condition (4-S) participated in play sessions on four consecutive days. During each session some target details remained the same (fixed) and some changed (variable). The single play session in the 1-session condition (1-S) was identical to the last play session in the 4-S condition. Three days later children were asked to think about the last play session and to answer related questions. Embedded in some of the questions were suggestions that things had happened during the final play session that had not occurred during any of the play sessions. Some of the suggestions related to fixed event details and some related to variable event details. Other questions presented neutral information about target details and served as control items. One day later, children were asked to think back to the final play session and to answer questions based on memory for it. Children were asked for free and cued recall and then to answer a set of “yes/no” recognition questions. Correct and incorrect responses were analyzed. Experiment 2 was similar to the 4-S condition of Experiment 1. Only 8-year-olds were tested and some different materials were used during the play sessions. In Experiment 1, the proportion of incorrect responses was higher for preschoolers than for older children, but age did not enter into any important interactions. Responses to questions about fixed items were more often correct and less often incorrect among children in the 4-S condition than among children in the 1-S condition. Responses to questions about variable suggested items were more often incorrect among children in the 4-S condition than among children in the 1-S condition. There was no effect of sessions on correct responses to questions about variable control items. In Experiment 2, children's responses to questions about variable details were substantially more often incorrect when the items were suggested than when they were control. There was not a reliable suggested/control difference in responses to questions about fixed details. Children's script memory is used to interpret these data. Scripts are hypothesized to be abstract cognitive representations of what usually happens during an instance of a routine. Fixed details of a routine are proposed to be represented as part of the script. Memory for them is strong and, in the present study, children successfully resisted related suggestions. Memory for variable components of a routine is hypothesized to be a list-like set of experienced options that may be only loosely associated with particular instances. Children had difficulty resisting suggestions related to variable details of the routine. / Graduate

Recognition memory for complex pictures was investigated using 3 variables: meaningf ulness of the target (anomalous or conventional), type of transformation in the distractor (substitution or rearrangement), and extent of transformation (whether the target and distractor were consistent or inconsistent in meaningf ulness) . Three- and four- year olds were familiarized with 16 different thematic scenes with which a child this age would likely have had experience. Half of the target pictures shown to a child were conventional, and half were anomalous, containing either an object or arrangement of objects that did not fit the theme. During the recognition test, targets were paired with distractors that were either conventional or anomalous (yielding the consistent-inconsistent conditions) and contained either a substitution of one object or a rearrangement of objects. Overall, recognition memory was similar for conventional and anomalous targets indicating that both types of pictures were assimilated into schemata equally well. When target and distractor were inconsistent in meaningfulness, recognition memory was facilitated. Thus, information about whether the target contained an anomaly or not was remembered.

Children at ages 4 and 7 were presented three stories, one in each of three causality versions, in order to determine whether inference ability and recall are influenced by the strength of the causal chain in the story. For each story, children were asked two inference questions about logical causality, two questions constrained by story information, and two unconstrained inference questions. Three question-timing conditions were used to address issues concerning when inferences are drawn in story comprehension and how they are influenced by the total amount of information provided. Questions were asked either on-line, or at the end of the story, or not at all. Following completion of each story, children were asked to retell it, and were then asked premise information questions.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio University, March, 2010. / Title from PDF t.p. Release of full electronic text on OhioLINK has been delayed until April 2012. Includes bibliographical references.

The fractionation of zircons by sedimentary processes into continental margin sandstone deposits results in a biased preservation of pre-existing continental crust in the form of zircon in those sequences. This provides a unique opportunity to distinguish between the contrasting theories of episodic growth versus constant volume of continental crust over geologic time through Hf isotope ratios of detrital zircons. ¹⁷⁶Hf/¹⁷⁷Hf ratios were determined for detrital zircon fractions from 2.6-3.0 Ga old sedimentary sequences from the Canadian Shield, North Atlantic, Wyoming, and Kaapvaal Cratons. Hf T(CHUR) ages are less than 3.0 Ga and ε(Hf) values are positive or slightly negative at the time of deposition for most of the Malene, Canadian Shield, Wyoming and upper portions of the Kaapvaal sediments. Notable exceptions are basal samples of the Pongola (3.32 Ga), Dominion (3.11 Ga) and Witwatersrand (3.13 Ga), an arkose from Michigan (3.20 Ga) and one Malene sample (2.97 Ga), all of which either unconformably overlie or are closely associated with pre-3.0 Ga crust. Nd data for shales from the same sequences in the Canadian Shield and Kaapvaal sequences mimic the Hf results. The late Archean sequences appear to be dominated by zircon populations of late Archean age. Hf model ages, from pre-3.0 Ga strata (Upernavik of Labrador and quartzites from Montana), range from 3.1 to 3.6 Ga and are broadly consistent with ages of coexisting volcanics or intrusives, suggesting little inheritance of significantly older material. 2.0-2.5 Ga old quartzites from the Canadian Shield, Wyoming and South Africa have 2.58 to 2.84 Ga model Hf ages indicative of a large expanse of late Archean crust exposed at the time of deposition. The data strongly suggest inheritance of pre-3.0 Ga zircons only in areas where pre-3.0 Ga old crust exists today, and imply that the quantity of continental crust prior to 3.0 Ga ago was not much greater in extent than the pre-3.0 Ga crust exposed today. Small amounts of continental crust prior to 3.0 Ga ago and rapid addition of continental crust between 2.5 and 3.0 Ga ago are consistent with the episodic growth theory of crustal evolution.

The primary objective of the present thesis was to investigate factors that influence the creation of false memories using the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm. The experimental research addressed the effect of age, list length, and list content on the magnitude of the DRM illusion with a view to testing assumptions derived from activation-monitoring theory and Fuzzy Trace Theory. In the first experiment, I wanted to determine whether the DRM paradigm is appropriate for use with New Zealand English-speaking adults. In addition, Experiment 1 was designed to assess the effect of prior recall on recognition performance. To answer these questions, I assigned half of the participants to a recall-plus-recognition condition and the remaining participants to a recognition-only condition. Rates of false recall and recognition were comparable to those reported in the literature, which suggested that the task is suitable for use with New Zealand adults. Furthermore, prior recall enhanced correct recognition but it did not affect false recognition. In Experiment 2, I examined how manipulations of list-length affected children and adults' susceptibility to the DRM illusion. Ten-year-olds and adults studied eight lists of either 7 or 14 words. In the 14-word condition, adults falsely recalled more critical targets than children; however, in the 7-word condition, there was no age difference in false recall. In addition, adults falsely recognised a greater proportion of critical targets than children, however, this effect was not dependent on the length of the study list. In Experiments 3A and 3B, I examined whether presenting highly familiar study materials would enhance children's susceptibility to false memories. Ten-year-old children and adults studied four standard DRM lists, four new lists that centred on 'child-friendly' concepts, such as birthday and school (CF lists), and four lists derived from child word-association norms. In both experiments, there was no age difference in rates of false recall. In addition, presenting material that was deemed more developmentally appropriate did not enhance children's susceptibility to false memories relative to adults. In Experiment 4, I introduced a post-recall phase to examine why the DRM illusion is less likely to occur when short lists are presented and when the materials are child-friendly. During the post-recall phase, participants were asked to report any other words that they had thought of during the presentation or recall of the study lists. Thinking about the target word, but remembering that it had not been presented, could not account for decreased levels of false recall in the short-list condition. Similarly, with the CF lists, it appeared that the list items were less likely to activate the critical target for both children and adults. In the final three experiments, I explored the assumptions outlined in activation-monitoring theory and fuzzy-trace theory to determine which model provided the best account of the findings obtained to date. To explore the activation-monitoring account, children and adults completed word association tasks. To explore fuzzy-trace theory, children and adults were given a gist extraction task where they had to identify the critical targets associated with each list. Collectively, the results of the present thesis fit more comfortably within an activation-monitoring framework than they do within the fuzzy-trace framework. Although the precise mechanisms underlying the DRM illusion have yet to be elucidated, the present findings suggest that gist extraction, activation processes, and source monitoring each play a substantial role in mediating false memory levels.

For gender-related information, previous studies have shown that children of preschool age are more likely to remember schema-consistent information over schema-inconsistent information. In this study, an attempt was made to boost children's recognition for inconsistent information. In order to do this, children were presented with pictures of both gender-consistent and inconsistent content. Group one was presented with the pictures and an accompanying label. For group two, children were given a label and asked to describe only the pictures where an actor was performing counter-schematic behavior. The postulated mechanism responsible for the expected change in memory for group two involved an augmentation of the schematic structure. The children's description would encourage schematic growth, and the memory benefits that are derived from schematic organization would have been the result. Group three was added to test for the memory changes that may occur when describing consistent information as well. These children were asked to describe both consistent and inconsistent information. Overall results indicated that for children not describing the stimuli, previous research went unsupported and children did not have a better memory for either type of information. Children in group two also did not have a memory preference for either type of information. Children in the third group which described both inconsistent and consistent information, though, did have a memory preference for consistent information. The results are described in terms of social change and schematic complexity, and their effects on memory. / Graduation date: 1998

Thesis (Ph. D.)--York University, 2000. Graduate Programme in Psychology. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 121-128). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pNQ59118