Despite the widespread use of project risk management, the results of such efforts are often underwhelming. Do project risk management practices somehow miss the point? To explore this idea I use a critical management studies framework to study project risk management. The approach prescribed in the Project Management Institute's Project Management Body of Knowledge is compared to the very different approach of a professional project manager. A theorised analysis of the difference between these approaches finds that they employ the logic of different knowledge-constitutive interests thereby making them suitable for different purposes. The study concludes with a discussion of how the results of this analysis can be presented to practitioners in a way consistent with the emancipatory agenda of critical management studies.

常久以來，序列回憶與再認被視為兩個不同的心理歷程，被分別的研究與探討。然而這兩個作業不僅有相似的實驗程序，受試者在作業的表現上也相當類似，因此本研究假設這兩個作業使用了相同的登入歷程與記憶表徵，只有在進行提取時的歷程有所不同。為了驗證本研究假設，原先用來模擬序列回憶作業的類神經網路模型Serial--Order in a Box (SOB)(Farrell & Lewandowsky, 2002)與其後繼C-SOB(Farrell, 2006; Lewandowsky & Farrell, 2008)被加以延伸，使其能夠進行再認。延伸的模型保留了SOB中的網路結構與登入歷程，僅使用了不同的提取歷程，便得以模擬再認作。此研究發現序列回憶與再認並不如先前認為的不相同歷程，而是有相同的登入歷程與記憶表徵。 / Serial recall and recognition are usually studied separately. However, it is reasonable to assume that those two processes have the same encoding process and representation in memory trace, due to the fact that the two tasks share a similar experimental regime and similar behavioral findings. In this study, the difference between those tasks is thought to be the retrieval process. In order to verify this hypothesis, a successful serial order recall model, Serial--Order in a Box (SOB) (Farrell & Lewandowsky, 2002), and its successor, C-SOB (Farrell, 2006; Lewandowsky & Farrell, 2008), are extended to account for recognition. By keeping the encoding process and structure in SOB unchanged, the performance of recognition task can be modeled by modifying only retrieval process. This finding supports the assumption that serial recall and recognition share the same encoding process and representation.

<p>A particular field in research on judgment and decision making (JDM) is concerned with realism of confidence in one’s knowledge. An interesting finding is the so-called format dependence effect, which implies that assessment of the same probability distribution generates different conclusions about over- or underconfidence depending on the assessment format. In particular, expressing a belief about some unknown continuous quantity (e.g., a stock value) in the form of an intuitive confidence interval is severely prone to overconfidence as compared to expressing the belief as an assessment of a probability judgment. This thesis gives a tentative account of this finding in terms of a Naïve Sampling Model, which assumes that people accurately describe their available information stored in memory, but they are naïve in the sense that they treat sample properties as proper estimators of population properties (Study 1). The effect of this naivety is directly investigated empirically in Study 2. A prediction that short-term memory is a constraining factor for sample size in judgment, suggesting that experience per se does not eliminate overconfidence is investigated and verified in Study 3. Age-related increments in overconfidence were observed with intuitive confidence interval but not for probability judgment (Study 4). This thesis suggests that no cognitive processing bias (e.g., Tversky & Kahneman, 1974) over and above naivety is needed to understand and explain the overconfidence “bias” with intuitive confidence interval and hence the format dependence effect.</p>

<p>Abstract</p><p>Title: Serial recall of two-voice lists: Words are not perceptually organized by voice.</p><p>The present study examined how voice affects the perceptual grouping of words in short-term memory that are auditory presented. Three different voice-lists were used: single-voice, alternating-voice and split-voice. In single-voice lists all words were presented in the same voice. In alternating-voice lists words were presented alternately in a male and a female voice. Finally, in split-voice lists words were presented grouped four and four in a male and a female voice. It was hypothesized that recall would be best for split-voice lists, especially at serial position 4 and 5. This was not confirmed. However, in line with earlier investigations, a recall advantage of single-voice lists was found in comparison with recall of alternating-voice lists at the beginning of the serial position curve. Taken together, these results suggest that words are not perceptually organized by voice in short-term memory. Like earlier studies this study found that recall of single-voice lists was better than alternating-voice lists at the first serial position, a result that yet has to be explained.</p><p>Keywords: Multi-voice lists, serial recall, short-term memory, perceptual organization</p>

Abstract Title: Serial recall of two-voice lists: Words are not perceptually organized by voice. The present study examined how voice affects the perceptual grouping of words in short-term memory that are auditory presented. Three different voice-lists were used: single-voice, alternating-voice and split-voice. In single-voice lists all words were presented in the same voice. In alternating-voice lists words were presented alternately in a male and a female voice. Finally, in split-voice lists words were presented grouped four and four in a male and a female voice. It was hypothesized that recall would be best for split-voice lists, especially at serial position 4 and 5. This was not confirmed. However, in line with earlier investigations, a recall advantage of single-voice lists was found in comparison with recall of alternating-voice lists at the beginning of the serial position curve. Taken together, these results suggest that words are not perceptually organized by voice in short-term memory. Like earlier studies this study found that recall of single-voice lists was better than alternating-voice lists at the first serial position, a result that yet has to be explained. Keywords: Multi-voice lists, serial recall, short-term memory, perceptual organization

The current research examined whether nonword repetition (NWR) tasks, designed to measure phonological short-term memory, are also influenced by familiarity with lexical representation of a given language. In Study 1, children with and without exposure to Hebrew were administered a NWR task based on the Hebrew language structure (HNWR). On the HNWR, participants with Hebrew exposure significantly outperformed participants who had no familiarity with any Semitic language. This indicates that long-term phonological and lexical knowledge can be used to aid NWR performance. Study 2 investigated whether a NWR task based on a foreign language could minimize the lexicality effect. English speaking undergraduate students rated the less familiar HNWR task to be lower in wordlikeness than English-like NWR tasks. These findings demonstrate that regardless of language background a NWR task based on an unfamiliar language structure is a more valid measure of the phonological processing skills required for vocabulary acquisition.

The current research examined whether nonword repetition (NWR) tasks, designed to measure phonological short-term memory, are also influenced by familiarity with lexical representation of a given language. In Study 1, children with and without exposure to Hebrew were administered a NWR task based on the Hebrew language structure (HNWR). On the HNWR, participants with Hebrew exposure significantly outperformed participants who had no familiarity with any Semitic language. This indicates that long-term phonological and lexical knowledge can be used to aid NWR performance. Study 2 investigated whether a NWR task based on a foreign language could minimize the lexicality effect. English speaking undergraduate students rated the less familiar HNWR task to be lower in wordlikeness than English-like NWR tasks. These findings demonstrate that regardless of language background a NWR task based on an unfamiliar language structure is a more valid measure of the phonological processing skills required for vocabulary acquisition.

Research has demonstrated a close relationship between verbal short-term (STM) and working memory (WM) and receptive language in children (Baddeley, Gathercole, & Papagno, 1998; Ellis & Sinclair, 1996). Few studies have examined the relationship between memory and language production, and these studies focus on STM only. Though correlations have been found between verbal STM and production, the nature of the correlations are unclear. The current study examined the possibility that receptive language mediates the relationship between memory and language production. Children between 3;0 and 5;11 were administered tests assessing receptive vocabulary, receptive grammar, expressive vocabulary, verbal STM, and verbal WM. Additionally, transcripts from free-play sessions were used to assess grammar production. A regression based analytic approach revealed STM and WM mediate the relationship between receptive language and productive language. The existence of these mediated relationships are discussed in relation to the role of working memory in the speech output buffer.

Estimates of the capacity of visuospatial short-term memory (VSTM) have ranged from less than 1 item to 4 +/- 1 items. The purpose of the present study was to find the capacity of VSTM by looking at the contribution of the other working memory systems (phonological loop and central executive) and determine the factor that limits VSTM capacity (either number of objects or object complexity). In this study, the psychophysiological measure of cerebral blood flow velocity also was incorporated to determine whether changes in cerebral blood flow velocity were indicative of VSTM performance and capacity. Both performance measures and cerebral blood flow velocity indicate that capacity for random polygons is approximately one object. Complexity of the objects affected capacity, such that simple objects had higher capacities and lower cerebral blood flow velocity than complex objects. Other working memory systems were not found to have an effect on performance.

Individual differences on complex memory spans predict a variety of higher-order cognitive tasks (e.g. reading comprehension, reasoning, following direction) as well as low-level attention tasks (e.g. Stroop, dichotic listening, antisaccade). The current study attempted to better determine the role of individual differences in complex memory span and episodic retrieval. Specifically, two experiments explored the possibility that individual differences in complex memory span reflect differences in the ability to successfully retrieve items from secondary memory via a cue-dependent search process. High and low complex span participants were tested in delayed (Experiment 1) and continuous distractor (Experiment 2) free recall with varying list-lengths. Across both experiments low spans recalled fewer items than high spans, recalled more previous list intrusions than high spans, and recalled at a slower rate than high spans. It is argued that low spans search through a larger set of items than high spans and, thus low spans episodic retrieval deficits are associated with an inability to use cues to guide a search and retrieval process of secondary memory. Implications for dual-component models of memory are discussed.