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Children enter kindergarten with a variety of experiences and skills. In this transition to formal school, they are expected to adapt quickly to new demands such as remembering specific pieces of information, knowing when to retrieve this information, and understanding how to use this information to complete specific tasks. These skills have been referred to as children’s deliberate memory skills and are thought to serve children’s long term academic success. However, limited research has focused on specific aspects of children’s everyday contexts that play a role in the development of these skills – such as adult-to-child language exchanges in home and school settings. Therefore, the goals of the current study were to (a) understand the role of children’s every day, lived experiences such as parent–child reminiscing and teacher–child linguistic exchanges (i.e., cognitive processing language in classrooms) on the initial acquisition and sustained use of mnemonic strategies across the kindergarten and first-grade years, and (b) describe the interplay between individual-level factors – such as other components of children’s cognition – and these adult-to-child scaffolding practices on children’s memory development. Drawing on a sample of 79 children nested in 10 kindergarten classrooms, children’s deliberate memory skills were assessed at 6 timepoints from kindergarten entry to the end of first grade. Kindergarten teachers’ instruction was recorded using GoPro cameras during regular mathematics and language arts lessons; these recordings were subsequently coded for the prevalence use of cognitive processing language (Coffman et al., 2008; 2019). Parent–child dyads took part in a parent-child reminiscing task in which they were asked to reminisce about two recent events. Conversations were coded for parents’ elaborative reminiscing style (Reese et al., 1993; Langley et al., 2017). Finally, children’s executive function and self-regulation skills were assessed during th

The present study investigated how teachers perceive children with poor working memory who exhibit disruptive behavior and whether disruptive behavior is associated with poor working memory. Four schools participated from the city of Beirut and suburbs including 115 students from grades one to three, and 12 teachers. The teachers completed three scales: Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Functions (BRIEF), Student-Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS), and Teacher Child Rating Scale (T-CRS); teacher interviews were also conducted for teachers. Children were tested for poor working memory using the digit memory test (DMT). Results showed significant correlation between poor working memory and disruptive behavior and teachers perceive these exhibited behaviors based on their inner judgment. Future directions are suggested to guide teachers on how to professionally report students with disruptive behavior.

Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology, Children with deficits in working memory often lack goal directed skills associated with executive functioning. We investigated executive functioning in conjunction with working memory training to see if aspects of executive functioning might improve. We tested 21 children either receiving academic services because of attention difficulties or referred with concerns about learning. Their average age at baseline was 10.1 years, and Verbal Comprehension Indices on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition ranged from 94 to 154. They each completed 25 Cogmed™ computer sessions of adaptive interactive working memory training. Parents and teachers completed the Behavioral Rating Inventory of Executive Functioning, and our neuropsychological batteries included A Developmental Neuropsychological Assessment - Second Edition (NEPSY-II) Auditory Attention/Response Set and Inhibition subtests. Using repeated measures analysis, global parent ratings of executive functioning improved after Cogmed™ training, F(1, 18) = 11.81, p < .01. Interestingly, Metacognition rather than Behavior Regulation drove the improvement in scores. Teachers' ratings indicated improvement in 2 of the Metacognition subtests: Initiate and Working Memory. Further, with NEPSY-II Inhibition-Naming controlled, NEPSY-II Inhibition-Inhibition and Inhibition-Switching scores trended toward a significant improvement following the Cogmed™ intervention. Although parents' ratings were perhaps influenced by their awareness of the intervention, improvement in NEPSY-II subtests suggests they may have noticed subtle changes better than teachers. These results indicate Cogmed™ may develop aspects of executive functioning essential in the classroom.

Summary: The current study assessed whether the accuracy of children’s self-reports of events experienced differs as a function of age and how the question is asked. Additional factors like metamemory and distractibility were assessed. Primary-school students (M= 7.7 years) and middle-school students (M = 9.7 years) completed two different versions of an event frequency measure, two times, at one week intervals. In one of the measures of event frequency, no memory prompts were provided (uncued questionnaire condition), while in the other measure, recall categories for aiding recollections were provided (cued questionnaire condition). Participants’ self-reported event frequencies for the cued and uncued questionnaires were compared with trained observers’ event frequencies for the cued and uncued conditions. Older children reported event frequency more accurately than younger participants. Participants also reported events with greater accuracy with the aid of memory prompts than without, an effect that was especially strong among the younger children. Neither metamemory nor distractibility was accountable for the differences within age groups. The findings suggest that age-related improvements in accuracy of event frequency across the transition into adolescence may, in part, be due to improvements in the ability to recall and recount those events in the absence of memory cues., 2014, Includes bibliography., Degree granted: Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014., Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Mindfulness (MF) is the self-regulation of attention, including sustained attention, switching attention between tasks, and the inhibition of elaborative processing. Another type of attentional skill not specifically targeted in this definition, but that might benefit from MF training, is control over working memory (WM), a type of executive attention: the ability to use attention to maintain or suppress short-term representations of information. Greater WM capacity also means an increased ability to use attention to overcome distraction and is predictive of performance on higher-order cognitive tasks. In this study, I hypothesized that, after eleven weeks of MF training, participants would have improved scores in attention and WM, compared to a control group. Eight elementary classrooms from an urban Title I school in the southwestern United States participated. Four classroom teachers were trained on Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and on teaching MF practices in their classrooms. Four teachers were assigned as control classrooms. Pre-, middle- and post-measures were collected from students on attention and WM span. Results tentatively indicate that MF improves attention switching, divided attention, and WM processing.

The current study compared children's memory for information accompanied by emotional or non-emotional talk, and also investigated the utility of emotion knowledge in prediction of recall. Seventy-five children aged 5-6 years participated in a staged event that involved visiting separate stations containing connected, causal information of an emotional or non-emotional theme. Children were assessed with a memory interview one week later. Children reported significantly more correct information from stations with an emotional focus. Children's emotion knowledge did not predict recall, however. Results show children better recall emotion-related information even when causality and connectedness is controlled for. Implications of the finding are discussed.

The primary aim of this thesis was to investigate whether Mazzoni et al.'s (2001) model for adult false memory development also accounts for children's false memory develoment. Thus, three studies were conducted targeting different aspects of Mazzoni et al.'s model. Study 1 examined whether children could become equally confident, and develop just as many memories of a plausible as a less plausible false event. Thus, study 1 targeted both the plausibility and memory construction components of Mazzoni et al.'s (2001) model. Over three interviews 6-year olds and 10-year olds were shown two true photos and two false photos created using Photoshop(copyright)-one depicted a plausible event and one depicted a less plausible event. Children described what they could remember about each of the four events, and rated their confidence and how much they could remember. The results showed that within each age group, children were just as confident and claimed to remember just as much about the plausible as the less plausible event. Moreover, children developed just as many memories of the plausible as the less plausible event. In addition, children were just as likely to develop memories of the false events when they were told that those events had happened in the distant past versus the recent past. Study 2 examined whether including personalised detail in the false photo makes it easier for children to construct images of the false event, and therefore increases the likelihood of children developing false memories. Thus, study 2 further examined the memory construction component of Mazzoni et al.'s (2001) model. Ten-year olds saw four photos, one of which was false. For some children the false photo included personalised detail, while for others the false photo included only generic detail. The results showed that children who saw the personalised detail in the false photo were more confident, and claimed to remember more about the false event than children who did not see th

The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - Third Edition (WISC-III) is the instrument used by psychologists administering cognitive assessments to students in Palliser Regional Schools; commonly identified areas of difficulty include memory and attention deficits. The purpose of this project was to collect and collate proven teaching strategies to assist students whose difficulties with memory and/or maintaining attention impact negatively on their learning. Theoretical background information on memory and attention is summarized. Strategies to foster memory development include general strategies (mnemonics, associative, visual, auditory and temporal/environmental) and subject-specific strategies (reading, mathematics and spelling). Teaching approaches to assist students in maintaining appropriate attention and focus are outlined. All strategies discussed in the document were derived from academic research or practical teacher experience.

Le traumatisme crânien léger (TCC) est produit par un coup à la tête ou à l'application des forces d'accélération et de décélération ayant comme résultat une altération des processus cognitifs. Les critères diagnostiques du TCC léger sont les suivants : une altération de la conscience de moins de 30 minutes, un résultat à l'échelle de coma de Glasgow entre 13 et 15, une tomographie axiale couplée avec ordinateur (SCAN) négative et une imagerie par résonance magnétique (IRM) parfois négative. L'amnésie post-traumatique peut varier mais ne doit pas dépasser 24 heures. Les études sont parfois contradictoires concernant les séquelles résiduelles suite à un traumatisme crânien léger. Cependant, selon certains auteurs, 10 à 15 % des victimes seront au prise avec des symptômes qui limiteront la reprise des activités normales. C'est pourquoi il s'avère pertinent de cerner le plus exactement possible le profil des jeunes victimes d'un TCC léger afin de prévenir les difficultés associées. Les objectifs de la présente étude sont d'évaluer si les traumatismes crâniens légers ont une incidence sur le sommeil, la mémoire auditive et le comportement des jeunes âgés entre 7 et 15 ans. Quinze jeunes avec TCC léger ont été recrutés à partir des dossiers médicaux du Complexe Hospitalier de la Sagamie (CHS). Quinze autres jeunes n'ayant jamais subi ce type de traumatisme, recrutés dans deux écoles de la commission scolaire des Rives-du-Saguenay forment le groupe contrôle. Chaque participant et ses parents ont rencontré un évaluateur afin de répondre à des questionnaires et des tests concernant le sommeil, la mémoire et le comportement du jeune. Les résultats obtenus démontrent que le groupe de jeunes avec TCC légers présentent plus de troubles de comportement de type «délinquant», ont des performances scolaires plus faibles et participent moins à des activités sportives, culturelles et sociales que le groupe contrôle sans TCC léger. Les résultats concernant le sommeil et la mémoire ne

The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether a pre-interview training package was effective in reducing compliance to misleading questions with pre-school children and if the effects of the pre-interview training package could be generalized to interviewers other than those conducting the pre-interview training. Sixty preschool children, aged between four and five years, were randomly allocated to one of three interview conditions. The first group was given no pre-interview training (control group). In the second group, the same person administered the pre-interview training package and subsequent interview (same interviewer group). In the third group, different people conducted the pre-interview training and subsequent interview. All participants watched a short video as part of a normal class activity. The next day participants were given the pre-interview training (except the control group) and then interviewed about the contents of the video. The interview contained both misleading and non-misleading questions. Responses to the questions were coded as either correct, incorrect or don't know and were analysed using a 3 x 2 (Interview Condition x Question Type) mixed model ANOVA. The hypothesis that children who received the training would make fewer commission errors to misleading questions was supported. Additionally, the hypothesis that the pre-interview training package would not be as effective at reducing commission errors to misleading questions, when someone other than the person giving the training interviewed the child, was also supported. It was concluded that the pre-interview training package is effective for use with preschool children, however its lack of generalisability to other Interviewers should be noted in its application. The present study offers guidance for the further refinement of the pre-interview training package. Further replication is needed with a larger sample if the utility of the pre-interview training package is to

何偉傑., 呈交日期: 2000年9月., 論文(哲學博士)--香港中文大學, 2001., 參考文獻 (p. 335-360), 中英文摘要., Cheng jiao ri qi: 2000 nian 9 yue., Available also through the Internet via Dissertations & theses @ Chinese University of Hong Kong., Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web., Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web., Mode of access: World Wide Web., He Weijie., Lun wen (Zhe xue bo shi)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue, 2001., Can kao wen xian (p. 335-360), Zhong Ying wen zhai yao., http://library.cuhk.edu.hk/record=b6073812, Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons “Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International” License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Literature review: The following review outlines the broad area of children and suggestibility with a focus on children with intellectual disabilities. Key determinants of suggestibility including cognitive, social and stress factors underpinning the phenomenon are examined. Secondly, methodological issues such as poor ecological validity and generaliseability to the child-victim context are discussed. Relevant studies in the field are examined in light of these methodological issues. The implications of generalising from ecologically invalid studies for legal and psychological professionals are discussed. Finally, future directions for research such as effects of different ages, differences in ethnicity and IQ differences on suggestibility are outlined. Research report: This study examined the influence of participation and suggestive questioning on 9-11 year-old children's reports based on a study by Rudy & Goodman (1991). Rudy and Goodman's design was used to replicate the study with a larger sample and examine the variable of intellectual impairment and suggestibility. Fifty-seven children (26 mildly intellectually impaired and 31 non-impaired children) were assigned either to a participant or observer role. The participant child interacted with an unfamiliar male assistant while the observer watched. One week later children were individually interviewed about the experience with the assistant using an interview schedule developed by Rudy and Goodman (1991). The interview schedule measured children's memory using the following question types: free recall; specific; misleading and correctly leading questions. Questions which had implications of abuse were also measured. Results were analysed using MANOV A's, ANOV A's and t-tests. Overall, participation was found to be unrelated to suggestibility. Children without intellectual impairments recalled more information and were more accurate on both specific and misleading questions than intellectually impaired childre

Summary: Cocaine use during pregnancy has been associated with neurobehavioral and cognitive difficulties in infants and toddlers. The present study used an elicited imitation procedure to investigate memory for sex-typed event sequences in preschool children. Measures of immediate and delayed recall was assessed in three groups of children: drug-exposed, at-risk, and not-at-risk. Results indicated that (1) drug-exposed males showed no evidence of demasculinization and/or feminization, (2) drug-exposed children, in general, did not recall a fewer number of different target acts or fewer actions in the correct order than the at-risk or not-at-risk children, and (3) drug-exposed and at-risk children exhibited a greater number of repetition errors and novel errors than not-at-risk children. Findings suggest that certain effects of prenatal drug exposure are still evident in children of preschool age., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Degree granted: Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1999., Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Summary: This series of experiments was designed to address two major questions concerning children's false-memory creation: (1) Are events that involve physical harm content more difficult to implant than events that do not involve physical harm content? and (2) Are individuals with particular cognitive and personality attributes more likely to create false-memories than others? In Experiment 1, 27 first-graders were presented with descriptions of two fictitious events (1 physical harm, 1 no physical harm) and two true events (1 physical harm, 1 no physical harm). Furthermore, individual differences in image descriptions, inhibition, verbal intelligence, working memory capacity and teacher ratings of cognitive and personality attributes were assessed. Results indicated that children generated more detailed accounts for fictitious events that did not involve physical harm in comparison to those that did. Furthermore, individual differences in image descriptions, verbal intelligence and teacher ratings of creativity, extroversion and risk taking were found. For Experiment 2, one-half of participants were presented with descriptions of two fictitious and two true events that involved physical harm content. The other one-half of participants were presented with descriptions of two fictitious and 2 true events that did not involve physical harm content. Furthermore, all children were told that two of the events (1 fictitious, 1 true) happened when they were very young and that the other two events (1 fictitious, 1 true) happened during the previous year. Individual differences in picture memory, inhibition and creativity were also assessed. The analyses failed to yield significant differences for event type or age of event occurrence. However, individual differences in creativity were related to children's false reports., Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1998.

Summary: The development and correlates of utilization deficiencies in second-, third-, and fourth-graders were examined in two separate testing sessions, separated by a one-week interval. In the first session, children received a series of tests assessing self-attributions, metamemory, and intelligence. These factors were proposed to influence the development of utilization deficiencies. In the second session, children were given five sort/recall trials using a different list of categorically related words on each trial and then classified as utilizationally deficient according to their patterns of strategy use and recall over trials. Analysis of mean levels of recall and strategy use demonstrated utilization deficiencies for third graders. Analysis of data for individual subjects revealed that utilization deficiencies were associated with enhanced performance for second and third graders, but lower performance for fourth graders. Attributions of effort were found to be associated with utilization deficiencies for the third graders. The nonsignificant associations of intelligence and metamemory with utilization deficiencies are discussed in terms of domain specific cognition., Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1993., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

This study examined a theoretical model of the relationships among qualities of young school-age children's home environments, children's memory knowledge and mastery-motivation, and children's proficiency in performing cognitive tasks. Seventy-eight 2nd- and 3rd-graders were included in the study. Home environments were assessed with an observation-inventory interview administered during a home visit and a parental questionnaire assessing parental strategic instruction in the home. Metamemory was assessed with a series of open-ended questions administered to the children. Mastery-motivation was assessed with a Likert-type behavior-rating scale completed by the children's teacher. Cognitive performance was assessed with measures of study behaviors and recall performance observed during 2 study-recall memory tasks. Multivariate and regression statistical analyses yielded evidence to support the theoretical relationships between home experiences and the acquisition of memory knowledge and between home experiences and the development of mastery-motivation. Evidence was also found to support the hypothesized mediational effect of metamemory on the relationship between the children's home environment and their recall, and to support the rationale that home experiences influence the acquisition of memory knowledge by facilitating the construction of appropriate mental representations and the internalization of related processes.

The purpose of this study was to investigate various text-based ways of assisting Year Seven readers to enhance their recall of informational texts. The theory that was tested in this investigation is that text-based reading aids which secure the activation and rehearsal of relevant form and/or content schemata for written texts will enhance the recall of the content and structure of those texts. To investigate the comparative impact of the text conditions, 105 Year Seven students from a large primary school in a northern suburb of the Perth Metropolitan Area were ranked on the basis of their reading comprehension scores. They were systematically assigned to each of the five groups to create five approximately heterogeneous groups thus creating a stratified sample. Two separate experiments were conducted. The dependent variable for the first was the recall of content, while for the second, it was the ability to show a knowledge of the text’s structure. It was concluded that, for this sample of Year Seven students, the quantity of content recalled was enhanced to about the same significant degree by the use of in-text headings or the use of a pre-text outline when compared with the "no text-based aids" condition. Further, it was concluded that the use of in-text headings and a pre-text outline enhanced the recall of text content about as well as the use of in-text headings, a pre-text outline and a post-text summary. Both produced significantly enhanced recall when compared with the "no text-based aids" condition the "in-text headings" condition and the "pre-text outline" condition. As a result of experiment two, it was concluded that the recall of text structure was not enhanced by the use of in-text headings. It was further concluded that the use of a pre-text outline, the use of a pre-text outline with in-text headings, and the use of a pre-text outline with in-text headings and a post-text summary produced equal scores on the recall of text structure. All three o

Summary: Subjects in kindergarten, grade 2, and college were shown a videotape of a bicycle theft followed by a one month longitudinal study simulating the witness's experience during the pretrial phase of a criminal prosecutorial workup. Subjects were asked for free recall as well as for responses to nonleading and correct or incorrectly leading questions. Accuracy of free recall was high for all ages. Younger children were more susceptible to suggestive leading questions and adults were found to reject many of the "correctly" leading questions. Differences were found between answers to central and peripheral items and subjects were found to change their answers within the same interview in relation to age of the witness and centrality of the question., Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1991., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

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 amou

This study investigated the nature of memory representations constructed from explicit and implied information about two different types of relationships between the objects or actors described in a set of ordered propositions. The propositions described a situation which referred to either an action sequence or to a set of spatial relationships and were presented to subjects in two forms, verbal and pictorial. Ten year old children were given a recognition memory task based on the paradigm used by Bransford, Barclay and Franks (1972). The results showed that subjects had difficulty in distinguishing old recognition items from new situation preserving propositions based on inferences derived from the acquisition sequence, but readily rejected those new propositions that were not consistent with the relationships described in the original premises. This was the case when the original premises were presented in either verbal or pictorial form, and when the relational term used referred to either action sequences or to spatial relationships. An analysis of the results for specific combinations of modality and relational term showed some variation in the general pattern of responses. The construction and integration of inferences into memory representation was facilitated when action sequences were presented in the verbal modality, and when spatial relationships were portrayed in the pictorial modality. Action verbs were found to be particularly sensitive to modality effects. The concept of 'abstraction' is discussed in the light of the results. It is suggested that this concept is not a unitary one, and that research concerned with the abstraction of memory schema refers to two different types of abstractive process. The distinction between paradigmatic and syntagmatic relationships, originally outlined in Sassure's (1916) study of linguistics, is proposed as a useful way to characterise these processes.

This thesis explored through experimental and correlational conditions the relationship of affect and memory. Some of the individual and situational factors that were associated with the variance in performance were identified. One hundred and twenty children between nine and twelve years of age in three widely separated schools participated in the study. The children were provided with lists of words to learn by using five learning tasks. A learning task that involved affect achieved memory performances that were quantitatively greater than the results achieved after other learning tasks. The empathic ability of the children was measured through an analogue. The children responded how individuals felt in certain video excerpts. The empathic ability of the children was related significantly to memory performances achieved after the learning task that involved affect. A questionnaire was answered by the children that gave their perceptions of their mother's and their father's behaviours and feelings. Various statments appeared that were consistently and significantly related to the empathic ability of the children. These items indicated that the factors of support, anger-anxiety, and demand were differentially related to the empathic ability of the children. A model of relationships that included the child's perceptions of the parents, the empathic ability of the child, and memory performances achieved after the learning task that involved affect was presented. Some implications for classroom implementation were advanced.

Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1983., Summary: This experiment was designed to examine the development of organizational strategies during the course of children's recall. First, third, and fifth grade children were asked to recall the names of their classmates. Organization of recall was assessed with regard to structures in the classroom (e.g., seating arrangements, reading groups). To determine if awareness of strategy use increased over the course of recall, some children were asked metamemory questions after recalling only six names, others after recalling 12 names, and a third group after recalling as many names as possible. Analyses of interitem latency data, clustering, and metamemory responses suggest that the highly organized retrieval in class recall is mediated by the activation of automatic relationships and not by the use of deliberate organizational strategies. The various associative relationships between names lead children to switch between different modes of organization. This process results in well structured recall, without requiring any conscious awareness.

Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1981., Summary: This experiment explored the possibility of a developmental shift from organization according to associative criteria to organization according to taxonomic criteria. First, fourth and seventh graders were presented with a list of items which could be organized equally well into either groups of taxonomic or associative pairs. Children were randomly assigned to either the Sort or No Sort Condition. While clustering levels for children in the Sort Condition were significantly greater than those of children in the No Sort Condition both had high overall levels of clustering. First grade children's organizational styles during sorting, were significantly more associative than were fourth or seventh graders, who increasingly organized taxonomically. These results suggest that it is not that young children are incapable of using effective organizational strategies to mediate recall, but rather, that their strategies differ from those of older children and adults., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection, Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1983., Summary: Developmental and socioeconomic status (SES) differences in classificatfon styles indicate that young and low SES children are more likely to sort objects nontaxonomically whereas older and middle SES children are more likely to sort taxonomically. When children establish stable organizational schemes (taxonomic or nontaxonomic), memory performance is usually enhanced. Eighty-five kindergarten and first grade subjects were divided into three socioeconomic groupings and given two sort/recall tasks. For whites, recall was greater when subjects sorted to a criterion of two identical sorts than it was when they sorted only once, and white College subjects were more apt to sort the items taxonomically than were children of other SES groupings. No significant effects were found for blacks. Because the results revealed no consistent differences in performance as a function of SES, it was concluded that children of all SES levels can generate and use organizational schemes to guide retrieval., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection, Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1980., Summary: Kindergarten, second, and fifth graders were given 15 self-adhesive line drawings to affix on either (1) a simple scene, (2) a scrambled scene, (3) a blank sheet of paper, or (4) a sheet of paper divided into 15 squares. Recall of the objects was tested immediately and again after one week. In general, immediate recall was greater in the simple-scene condition than in all others for all grades tested. Recall in the scrambled condition was also greater than in the other two conditions for second and fifth graders, but not for the kindergarten children. The sheet divided into squares and the blank sheet conditions did not differ from each other at any time. The results for delayed recall were similar in that the condition with the simple scene yielded performance superior to all others. However, the scrambled condition no longer differed from the other two conditions. The results suggest the importance of assessing children's memory for information in conditions or backgrounds which approximate those found in the real world, and of the use of schematic or episodic organization by young children., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1980., Summary: Several studies have found recall and clustering performance of young children to be greater with non-taxonomic (NT) than with taxonomic (T) materials, while other studies have found the reverse. The present experiment has tried to resolve this discrepancy by introducing the variable of criterion vs single sorting prior to recall. A comparison of Immediate and Delayed recall between child-generated T and child-generated NT categories under criterion (two consecutive identical sorts) and single sorting conditions was used to assess the differences in these T and NT grouping patterns as a basis for organizing recall. Although there were no significant interactions with delay, when subjects sorted only once, recall performance was greater with T related materials. However, when subjects sorted to a stable criterion of two consecutive identical sorts, recall performance with NT related materials was greater than performance with T related materials. These results suggest that under single sorting conditions, the use of T categories may have resulted in a better fit with the child's semantic memory structure than NT groupings. However, with stable sorting, both T and NT grouping patterns were equally consolidated into the memory structure, making them both equally retrievable.

Degree granted: Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1984., Summary: Cognitive theorists hypothesize two types of cognitive processes (e.g., automatic and effortful) which may influence human information processing. This thesis investigates age differences in when children use intralist associative relationships (thought to be automatic in nature) to identify other (categorical) relations. Use of conceptual/ categorical relations to organize recall is thought to be effortful in nature. Sixty children each from grades 3, 5, 7, and 9 were presented orally with lists of 20 words under free-recall instructions. Results provide support for the position that recall memory of young children is mediated primarily by associative rather than conceptual relationships. Also, partial support was obtained for the three stage model of the development of organization proposed by Bjorklund and Zeman (1982). However, the model's prediction of when children will optimally use associative relationships to identify categorized relations was inaccurate. These results indicate that older childrens' recall can be facilitated by automatic cognitive processes resulting in higher levels of clustering (organization) and recall., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Degree granted: Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1978, Summary: In the present experiment possible developmental differences in the timing of organization in children's free recall were examined. It was hypothesized that children who organize information at input would show a smaller decrement in recall as a result of delayed testing with related than with unrelated materials. If the categorical similarity among items is discovered at input, the resulting organizational scheme(s) would make the individual items more resistant to forgetting over time. However, since no organizational scheme could be imposed upon unrelated items, many items would be lost as a result of delayed testing. This pattern of data was predicted only for junior high students and not for second and third graders. However, contrary to expectation, both the younger and older groups of subjects showed this pattern, indicating that children of both age groups organize categorically related information at input. The possibility of a semantic facilitative effect for the younger subjects was discussed., Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1980., Summary: First and third grade children were asked to recall the names of their classmates. Organization of recall was assessed with regard to structures in the classroom (e.g. , seating arrangements, reading groups). Following recall, children were given a list of four possible strategies and asked to select which, if any, they used. Levels of organization were high and undifferentiated for first and third graders with the majority of children being unable to select accurately the strategy used in class recall as reflected by organization (ARC) scores. Furthermore, the distribution of subjects accurately identifying a strategy in this task was no greater than th2t of subjects in an earlier experiment who were asked to describe the strategy they used. These results indicate that although children demonstrate high levels of recall and organization on this task, they do not show comparable abilities in strategy awareness, and that this is not due merely to their inability to produce a verbal response.

Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1980., Summary: Kindergarten, third, and sixth graders received one of two 22 item lists for cued-recall, with one-half of the items in each list being typical examples of familiar categories, and onehalf heing atypical category exemplars. For subjects in the Age-Appropriate condition, the typicality of the items was based on children's definitions of "item goodness," whereas for subjects in the Adult-Norm condition, item typicality was based on adult judgements. At all grade levels, typical items were recalled to a greater extent than atypical items, and recall in the Age-Appropriate condition was significantly greater than in the Adult-Norm condition. In the Age-Appropriate condition, processing differences between typical and atypical category exemplars were interpreted as being due to qualitative differences in how representative items were of their categories, whereas the "typicality" effects in the Adult Norm condition were hypothesized as being due to a quantitative lack of category knowledge.

The present study was designed to compare young children's recall-memory proficiency in naturalistic settings of the home and preschool classroom with their performance in the laboratory setting. The study also focused on the reliability of children's recall performance within each of these settings. Seventy-two 4-year-old children deemed by teachers to be of average intellectual and social maturity were exposed to three different but comparable sets of 12 stimulus pictures comprised of six functional (child's world) and six neutral objects. Each child was shown one picture set each day by the presenter in a testing room and then later in the day tested for recall of the object names either by the experimenter in the testing room (one day), by the child's preschool teacher in the preschool classroom (another day), or by the child's mother at home (another day). Thus, over the three testing days the children were tested for recall by three different adults, each interacting with the child in an appropriate context.

The present study was a replication and extension of the Hall and Geis (1976) study. Two experiments were conducted in which first and fifth graders were presented word lists in an incidental memory paradigm. Qualitatively different encoding operations were induced in the children by requiring them to answer questions about the -words. Semantic and acoustic encoding were constrained for different words by asking questions about either the meaning or the sound of the words. Each word was presented in either a congruous encoding context (i.e., yes was the correct answer) or an incongruous one (i.e., no was the correct answer). In Experiment 1, free recall for 24 words was tested after the words and questions were presented; and, after a five-minute delay, cued recall was also tested. The cue presented for each target word was a key word in the orienting question that had seen asked about the word. In Experiment 2, recognition memory for 36 words was tested after the words and questions were presented.

The conclusion that organization is fundamental and necessary for recall performance has often been made by researchers who tested adult subjects. However, developmental studies in which category clustering and subjective organization were used as measures of mnemonic organization often failed to support, fully, the hypothesis that recall is dependent upon organization. A review of the literature concerning childrens' clustering organization and subjective organization indicated that the hypothesized relationship between organization and recall can be maintained, if traditional definitions of organization are expanded to include organization criteria other than conceptual ones. Organizational strategies of young children were described as relating to perceptual attributes of the experimental items more than to abstract conceptual attributes that have traditionally been designated as organization. Developmental changes in organization were discussed as evidence for a perceptual-conceptual continuum. It was also concluded that current information-processing models of memory, generated from research with adult subjects may be ineffective in accounting for developmental changes in information processing in children.

Experiments with adult subjects have shown that congruity among the elements of an encoded event provides a better basis for free and cued recall of the elements than does incongruity (Craik & Tulving, 1975; Schulman, 1974). In addition, the degree of elaboration, or complexity, of the encoded event has been found to be directly related to free and cued recall, provided the elements of the event form a congruous relationship (Craik & Tulving, 1975). The present experiments were conducted to assess the effects of congruity and complexity on the memory performance of first- and fifth-grade children and of college students.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate organizational processes in the free recall of children having average and high intelligence test scores. If existing IQ tests are in some way assessing individual differences in basic cognitive processes, we should expect to observe differences in the performance of psychometrically determined bright and average children on laboratory tasks designed to study these processes. Subjects in the study were 88 public-school children, 44 in the third grade and 44 in the fifth grade. Twenty-two children at each grade level had IQ scores greater than 120. Twenty-two children at each grade level had IQ scores between 90 and 109. Equal numbers of males and females were tested at each IQ and grade level. The children were individually administered four tasks, which were separated by at least two days. The four tasks consisted of a metamemory interview concerning organization and memory, multitrial free recall of unrelated words, multitrial free recall of categorized words, and a sorting task followed by free recall of the sorted words. The metamemory and sorting tasks were presented first and last, respectively; the order of the remaining two tasks was counterbalanced across children.

The purpose of the study was to determine whether significant differences resulted in the memory and comprehension behavior of three- and four-year-old children at the United Day Care Center in Radford, Virginia, who were read stories under two different methods: interrupted and uninterrupted. The population consisted of 48 randomly paired Ss, 24 three-year-old children and 24 four-year-old children. Each Ss heard two stories, one under each condition. Randomization of the 48 subjects and the four stories was meticulously employed resulting in a total of 96 measurements. The results of an analysis of variance revealed that the four stories were not significantly different one from the other. One reader read the 96 stories to the children, and recorded their responses on tape. A three-factor analysis of variance with repeated measures on two variables (method and cueing phases) was used to compute both the main effects and the interactions among the three variables: age, method, and cueing phases.

The purpose of this study was to investigate children's failure to use category labels as cues in the recall of conceptually related items. Previous research has shown that despite the fact that the use of these labels as cues increases recall, children do not use them unless constrained to do so by the experimenter. The premise of this investigation was that young children fail to use cues because they are not kept in active memory during the recall process. Therefore, it was predicted that ensuring the presence of category labels in active memory would improve amount of recall. In order to determine the degree of assistance needed by children to keep the category labels in active memory during recall, three recall conditions were constructed which varied in the amount of assistance they gave in the task of remembering.

Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1973., Summary: A probe recognition task tested memory for syntactic (active/passive arid word order) changes and for semantic (meaningful and anomalous) changes. On the basis of McNeill's theory of semantic development the following predictions were made: (a) with a minimal retention interval (almost immediate) 8-year-olds would recognize semantic changes better than syntactic changes, while 6-year-olds would not perform differently on the two types of changes, (b) with a longer retention interval, 8-year-olds would recognize semantic changes better than syntactic changes. Results supported (b) but in (a) the 8-year-olds recognized syntactic changes better. This finding was discussed in terms of task differences and a new experimental approach was proposed., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1973., Summary: A stimulus class was generated by applying a fixed set of transformational rules to a prototype, and selected members of this class were presented during acquisition. It was found that children discriminated members of this class from nonmembers. For adults, further distinctions were obtained among the stimuli within the class, as follows: Although the prototype was not presented during acquisition, it was recognized with greater confidence than stimuli from the acquisition set. Furthermore, class members that were not seen during acquisition were recognized on the basis of this prototype. For those class members that had been seen during acquisition, however, there was no evidence that their recognition was based on the prototype. Evidence that these previously seen class members were recognized with greater confidence than new class members indicated that recognition of stimuli from the acquisition set was based on stored copies, or specific memory.