Age differences in learning serial patterns: Direct versus indirect measures.

Adult age differences in learning and retention of a nonverbal sequence were examined using the serial reaction-time (RT) task of M. J. Nissen and P. Bullemer (see record 1987-13436-001), with 20 younger and 20 older Ss. An asterisk appeared in one of 4 spatial locations, and the Ss responded with a corresponding key press. The first 4 blocks each contained 10 repetitions of a 10- or 16-element spatial sequence, and the 5th block contained a random sequence. The difference between response time on Blocks 5 and 4 served as an indirect measure of pattern learning. The direct measure was accuracy in a final generation block in which the Ss predicted which location would appear next. Results were similar to those with verbal materials; the indirect measure revealed age similarity for patterns of both lengths, but the direct measure yielded age differences favoring the young. For both ages and types of measures, the long patterns led to poorer learning than did the short patterns. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adult age differences in the rate of learning serial patterns: Evidence from direct and indirect tests.

Ss performed a serial reaction time (RT) task (adopted from M. J. Nissen and P. Bullemer, 1987) that contained a repeating pattern of spatial locations. In Exp 1, following 20 repetitions of a 10- or 16-element pattern, RT was equally disrupted for both younger and older people when the sequence became random. In Exp 2, the response times for Ss encountering the 10-element pattern were compared with those of Ss encountering a random sequence. These response time functions diverged at the same point in training for the 2 age groups. Thus, on this indirect measure of response time facilitation, both experiments revealed age similarity in the rate of pattern learning. In contrast, on a subsequent direct test of pattern learning that required prediction, the younger people earned a higher percentage correct score than the older in both experiments. Age-related dissociations between direct and indirect measures of learning and comparisons with memory-impaired populations are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of visual pattern classification in preschool children: Prototypes and distinctive features.

Studied the use of prototypes and distinctive features in visual pattern classification with 12 Ss at each of 3 age levels: 4, 5, and 6 yrs. All Ss attended day-care centers in middle-class neighborhoods of metropolitan Canadian areas. Two tasks were performed: (a) an oddity task requiring selection of the odd pattern in problems containing 2 patterns generated from 1 prototype and 1 from another, and (b) a sequential task requiring designation from memory of each pattern's class membership. There was a marked improvement in oddity task classification accuracy between the 4- and 5-yr age levels. Performance at each age level could be predicted from measures of deviation from prototype and 2 distinctive features unrelated to pattern class membership. In the more difficult sequential task, the preschoolers did not respond to an entire set of features as subsumed in prototype measures, but a single class-defining feature significantly predicted the classifications of the 4- and 5-yr-olds. It is concluded that the ability to use single features develops prior to the ability to use a feature list or prototype and that both distinctive features and prototypes are important for perceptual learning and development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A children's social desirability questionnaire.

A Children's Social Desirability (CSD) questionnaire was constructed and administered to 956 Ss in Grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, and 12. A direct question ("yes-no") form of the scale was presented to children in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades in individual testing sessions, and a true-false form was given older Ss in group sessions. For both forms of the questionnaire, split-half reliabilities and test-retest (1-month interval) reliabilities were high. Socially desirable responses were more frequently given by younger children than by older children, by dull Ss than by bright Ss, by girls than by boys, and by Negro children than by white children. Social class, size of family, and ordinal position were not associated with CSD responses. Questions were raised pertaining to the generality of this response and pertaining to the premises on which this measure of social desirability, as well as that of Crowne and Marlowe, is based. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social agreement and the learning of matching behavior.

College Ss were exposed to 3 variations in amount of agreement by a partner in responding to a judgmental task. Training to imitate the partner was then carried out. The competence of the partner was varied during the imitation trials. During the 1st block of imitative trials, reciprocation of agreement was indicated. Over the remaining trials, amount of prior agreement was inversely related to imitation. High Model's Competence led to greatest facilitation of imitative learning following disagreement. Variations in social agreement were interpreted as affecting imitative learning in a manner similar to direct indications of task success or failure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Extended mnemonic instruction with learning disabled students.

Divided 64 learning disabled (LD) 6th-, 7th-, and 8th-grade students into 24 instructional groups that were assigned at random to mnemonic and control conditions. Instructional groups were administered 3 daily lessons on dinosaurs in counterbalanced order. The lessons involved vocabulary on dinosaurs, attributes of dinosaurs, and reasons for dinosaur extinction. Mnemonic groups were taught the information using keyword and pegword techniques. Control instructional groups were taught the same information using the principles of direct instruction, including teacher-directed questioning, choral group responding, fast instructional pacing, and cumulative review. A test was given after each lesson on that lesson's content. On the 4th day, all Ss were given production and identification tests on the content of all 3 lessons. Results indicate that mnemonic groups outperformed control groups on the immediate and delayed tests. In addition, control Ss' responses revealed significantly more intralist intrusions than did those of mnemonic Ss. No meaningful trend across days of instruction was observed for either condition. Findings suggest that mnemonic instruction is a versatile and effective instructional technique for LD students. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Use of elaborative interrogation to help students acquire information consistent with prior knowledge and information inconsistent with prior knowledge.

32 factual statements were processed by 140 6th and 7th graders. Half of the statements were consistent with the Ss' prior knowledge, whereas the remaining facts were inconsistent with the Ss' prior knowledge. Half of the Ss were instructed to read the sentences for understanding (reading controls). The remaining Ss were instructed to use their prior knowledge to answer why each fact was true (elaborative interrogation). Two tests of recall (free and cued) and 2 tests of recognition (immediate and 14-day) followed. In Exp 2, Ss also completed 75-day and 180-day recognition tasks. Across all memory measures, elaborative-interrogation Ss performed significantly better than did reading controls. In general, the quality of the elaborative-interrogation study responses did not affect learning. All Ss recognized more prior-knowledge-consistent facts than prior-knowledge-inconsistent facts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attentional strategies, attention, and metacognition in Puerto Rican children.

60 2nd-, 5th-, and 8th-grade Puerto Ricans participated in a strategy assessment task and an incidental learning task that provided a measure of attentional performance. Metacognition concerning attention was assessed by asking Ss to predict how much incidental material they would recall. ANOVAs revealed no developmental changes in the use of an efficient attentional strategy, the amount of central recall, the amount of incidental recall, or in metacognitive knowledge. Results differ from a previous study by the 1st author and M. G. Weiss with 60 predominantly White, middle-class Florida children in which attention and strategies became increasingly efficient as a function of age. In comparison to the Florida sample, Puerto Rican 2nd graders' strategies were more efficient and the 8th graders' strategies were less efficient. Attention on the incidental learning task was less selective for the Puerto Rican Ss than the Florida Ss. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aiming, transfer of training, and knowledge of results.

"A minimum of knowledge of results is necessary for learning. The effect of additional knowledge of results on learning to aim at moving targets using a synthetic trainer is described. Thirty Ss were tested for two half-hourly periods on each of 10 days. Fifteen of these Ss received random intermittent knowledge of results for the first five days only. Analysis of the results showed that there were significant differences between the groups towards the end of the training period but these differences were no longer significant when the additional knowledge of results was removed." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Direct and indirect social influence on children's legal judgments.

Attempted to replicate the recent indirect influence phenomenon (H. D. Saltzstein et al, see record 1966-07558-001) with children and to demonstrate that direct influence declines with age while indirect influence increases with age. 176 3rd-8th graders from 2 parochial schools were required to make prison-sentence judgments based on tape recordings of 2 specially prepared criminal cases. Experimental Ss made initial judgments about sentence length in Case 1, were informed of the judge's sentence of 11 yrs and 6 mo, and made final decisions about sentence length. Experimental Ss then made decisions about sentence length for Case 2, were informed of the judge's sentence of 11 yrs 6 mo, and made final decisions about sentence length. Controls also made initial and final judgments for both cases but were not apprised of the judge's decision in either. Change from the initial to final sentence in Case 1 was the direct influence measure, while change from the initial sentence in Case 1 and Case 2 was the indirect influence measure. Data analysis revealed that there was a significant decline in direct influence with grade but no difference in indirect influence. Further research contrasting tests of indirect influence where the S either does or does not anticipate encounters with an influence agent is suggested. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Knowledge of text coherence and expository writing: A developmental study.

Attempted to relate coherence in the expository writing of 4th graders, 8th graders, and college students to their knowledge of the requirements of global coherence in expository texts. Ss performed a sentence-identification task designed to assess such knowledge and wrote 2 expository essays. Significant positive correlations were found between sentence identification and 3 measures of the rated coherence of the Ss' essays. With 1 exception, these correlations remained significant when grade was partialed out. Morever, performance on the sentence-identification and essay tasks improved from 4th to 8th grade. Scores on a holistic measure of essay coherence also improved through college age. Thus, it is likely that over a wide age range, knowledge of the requirements of global coherence in expository essays is a factor in one's ability to produce a coherent essay. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aging and memory for frequency of occurrence of novel, visual stimuli: Direct and indirect measures.

Memory for frequency of occurrence typically is investigated using familiar stimuli (e.g., words) and with "direct" tests of memory; that is, the S is required to state explicitly how often an item occurred or which item occurred more often. Exps 1 and 2 examined the effects of age on the ability to make judgments (i.e., direct tests) regarding the frequency of occurrence of words and of novel, visual stimuli (Japanese ideograms). In Exp 3, young and old Ss were compared on "indirect" measures of memory for frequency of occurrence of these ideograms, as indexed by the mere exposure effect. On the direct test of memory, elderly and young Ss did not differ when shown words, but elderly were impaired compared with young Ss when ideograms were presented. When tested indirectly, both groups were sensitive to the frequency of occurrence of ideograms. The pattern of results replicates and extends previous findings regarding performance dissociations between direct and indirect measures of memory in aging. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Direct versus projective measurement of achievement motivation.

Tested the predictive validity of 3 techniques for measuring need for achievement (n Ach): (1) TAT projection (scored in 2 ways), (2) Ss' self-reports on a rating scale, and (3) 2 self-peer ranking measures. Ss were 72 male undergraduates. In the self-peer ranking measures, each S listed 10 of his friends and then rated himself in relation to each friend. The criterion measures were class grades and 2 short laboratory tasks. Neither the scores derived from the TAT protocols nor the rating scale self-reports were related to any criterion measure. Both of the self-peer ranking scores were significantly correlated with grades. It was concluded that n Ach was conscious and subject to direct self-report if the means of responding is made specific. (20 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship between visual memory function and lesions detected by magnetic resonance imaging after closed head injury.

45 patients (aged 16–73 yrs) with closed head injuries were followed up 6 mo postinjury with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and neuropsychological assessments. Ss were tested on visual and verbal measures of short-term memory and learning: pattern span, pattern learning, path span, path learning, digit span, and digit learning. Visual memory for patterns and paths was tested using a recall procedure. Compared with 22 controls (aged 15–70 yrs), Ss were significantly impaired on pattern span. Ss were also significantly impaired on measures of path learning and digit learning. Performance on the visual memory tasks was related to a rating of ventricular enlargement derived from MRI. It appears that diffuse damage remains of importance in predicting neuropsychological impairment in head injury. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Facilitation of instrumental behavior by a Pavlovian appetitive conditioned stimulus.

In Exp I, 16 New Zealand white rabbits were trained to perform an instrumental head-raising response for sucrose reward. A jaw-movement CR was established to a 2-sec CS by pairing it with sucrose; a control stimulus was unpaired with sucrose. Instrumental responding maintained by a VI 40-sec schedule was enhanced during 10-sec presentations of the paired, but not the unpaired, CS. Responding on a VR 15 schedule was unaffected except on trials on which the pre-CS baseline response rate was low; in such cases the paired CS caused a long-lasting acceleration of responding. Noncontingent presentation of the sucrose reinforcer itself briefly suppressed responding but had no long-term effect. In Exp II (6 Ss), a CS that had been conditioned at a 10-sec duration produced the same pattern of effects as in Exp I, indicating that facilitation resulted from CS presentation rather than from the frustrative effects of nonreinforcement of the CS. In Exp III (16 Ss), an inhibitory CS blocked facilitation by the excitatory CS but did not itself affect instrumental responding. (53 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of cooperative and individualistic learning experiences on interethnic interaction.

51 4th graders were assigned to conditions on a stratified random basis controlling for ethnic membership, ability, and sex. Ss participated in an instructional unit for 45 min/day for 16 instructional days. Behavioral measures were taken for cross-ethnic interaction within the instructional situation and during daily free-time periods. A number of attitude measures were also administered. Results indicate that cooperative learning experiences, compared with individualistic ones, promote more cross-ethnic interaction in both instructional and free-time activities. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Isolation effects, free recall, and organization.

Studied the influence of isolated words upon free recall and clustering of categorized lists. For Exp. I with 104 undergraduates, the list contained 10 words from each of 4 conceptual categories and the category names, and for Exp. II with 96 Ss, 11 members of 4 categories and no names. Category members were presented in blocked or random order for 4 presentation-recall periods. Isolation effects occurred for random presentation with either category names or members as isolates. The superior recall of isolates was at the expense of other words in the list. Clustering of the categories with an isolate or for the over-all list was not affected by isolates, indicating that they did not influence the organization of the lists. Recall and clustering with block presentation were superior to random presentation. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Facilitative training: Acquisition, retention, and modes of assessment.

Examined 10 hr. of didactic-experiential training in facilitative functioning for acquisition, retention, and equivalence of modes of assessing levels of facilitative functioning. 20 prerated moderate-level and 20 low-level functioning counselors-in-training were assigned to treatment and control groups according to a randomized block design. Results confirm previous research indicating that levels of facilitation can be increased, whether assessed from written or oral modes of responding. Prerated moderate Ss appeared more able to use the training for formulating higher facilitative oral responses in a counseling interview than low-level Ss. Posttraining levels of functioning were maintained throughout the 4-wk latency period by both prerated moderate- and low-level Ss. Equivalence in levels of facilitative functioning between written and oral modes of responding was not found for any of the prerated subgroups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Variables affecting stimulus fading and discriminative responding in psychotic children.

Overselective attention in autistic children has proven detrimental to learning when prompt-fading techniques are used, as autistics often respond exclusively to the prompt (the extra guiding stimulus) and fail to learn about the training stimuli. Exp I investigated stimulus variables in prompt fading that might reduce the attentional requirements for discrimination learning. Ss were 8 institutionalized autistic children, each of whom was either mute or echolalic, with minimal intelligible verbal behavior. Two variables were assessed: distinctive vs nondistinctive feature fading, which signified whether a prompt was a feature contained only in the positive stimulus (S+) or contained both in S+ and in the negative stimulus, and within- vs extrastimulus fading, which signified whether the prompt was superimposed on S+ during fading or presented spatially separate from S+. Significant main effects were found for both variables, due to the success of the within-stimulus and the distinctive feature conditions; the combination of within-stimulus and distinctive feature fading was the most effective procedure. Exp II was conducted with the same Ss to assess whether they were still responding only to that pretrained feature after fading. Results show that discriminative responding was maintained when the pretrained feature was made irrelevant, showing that Ss attended to multiple features of S+, but that it was disrupted when the whole letter containing the pretrained feature was made irrelevant, showing that Ss still learned a restricted portion of the S+ word. (48 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Topographic changes in responding during habituation to water-stream simulation in sea anemones (Anthopleura elegantissima).

Investigated habituation of contraction responses in 2 experiments with a total of 7 sea anemones using response-independent and response-dependent intertrial intervals (ITIs). In Exp I, repeated presentation of water-stream stimulation at 4 stimulus durations produced replicable response decrements in 5 out of 6 Ss in the response-independent ITI conditions. 3 Ss habituated repeatedly in the response-dependent ITI condition. Instances of both dishabituation and retention of habituation were observed, and habituation was often accompanied by changes in the topography of responding. In Exp II, habituation retention intervals were assigned values of 30, 60, or 90 min. 2 out of 3 Ss exhibited less responding at the shorter intervals. The data constitute nonassociative learning in individuals of a species lacking a central nervous system. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)