A number of studies, employing a variety of standard verbal learning tasks, have addressed the problem of deficits in schizophrenic recall processes. Recent research has suggested that, due to the simplistic nature of their experimental tasks, prior investigators were unable to evaluate the full range of complexity of their subjects' semantic processing systems. It remained for the development of a method for describing the complex relationships contained within prose materials, before more revealing semantic memory research could be performed. The results of several studies (Dunn, Mathews & Bieger, 1979; Dunn, Singer & Gould, cited in Dunn, in press; Meyer, Brandt & Bluth, 1978; Meyer & Freedle, 1976; Meyer, Freedle & Walker, 1978) suggest that the Meyer (1975) technique for prose analysis has great potential as a means of studying individual differences in the recall of semantic information from text. / This dissertation investigated the differences in prose recall of three groups, each composed of 32 male volunteer subjects: hospitalized medicated schizophrenics; hospitalized nonschizophrenics; and nonschizophrenic college undergraduate matched on age, intelligence, and education. After completion of an initial 30-minute interview, during which the subjects answered specific questions and were administered the WAIS Vocabulary Subtest, they read two short passages, followed immediately by written free-recall protocols. Based on Meyer's (1975) test analysis procedure, the top-level logical semantic structure (Covariance versus Attribution) was manipulated systematically for each of two topical passages ("Loss of Body Water" versus "Use of Chemical Pesticides"), which also were manipulated. / Each subject received both topics and both top-level semantic structures. To prevent transfer effects, each subject received only one top-level structure for each topic, thus yielding a nested design under topic and top-level structure--3 x (2) x (2) x 5 ((Groups) X (topic) X (top level structure) X (levels in the content structure)) hierarchical mixed design. / Analysis of variance on the proportional recall scores (proportion of idea units recalled at each level in the content structures) showed a significant top level structure X groups X levels interaction (p < .04), which suggests that the schizophrenic subjects were performing in a qualitatively different manner. Other interactions and main effects were found to be significant, but the three-way interaction proved to be of primary importance. Analyses of covariance on both the proportional recall and the total recall data, using age, education, reading times, and Davis Reading test scores as covariates, revealed no noticeable changes in either the probability levels or the adjusted means. / The results were interpreted to indicate different semantic information processing styles among the three subject groups. The schizophrenic subjects, as evidenced by their proportional recall scores and other supporting data, did not seem to benefit from the implicit rhetorical relationships (primarily Collections) embedded within the lower levels of the passage content structures. These findings were discussed and a number of suggestions for future research were offered. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-03, Section: B, page: 1110. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_74173 |
| Contributors | HOWELL, WILLIAM LEONARD., The Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 101 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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