Verbal encoding effects on the visual short-term memory of learning disabled and normal readers.

Investigated the hypothesis that reading difficulties of learning disabled children are attributable to deficiencies in verbal encoding. Adopting a probe-type serial memory task, 60 normal and learning disabled readers matched on CA (9 yrs old), IQ, and sex were compared on recall performance after pretraining of named and unnamed stimulus conditions. The named condition for normal readers was superior in terms of recall performance. Consistent with the findings of F. Vellutino et al (1972, 1973, 1975), no difference was found in recall of nonverbal stimuli between normal and learning disabled readers. These data suggest that primary reading deficits in learning disabled children are related to verbal encoding deficiencies (visual–verbal integration) and not to deficiencies of visual memory, as suggested by the perceptual deficit hypothesis. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The operative basis of performance on Piagetian memory tasks: Evidence from normal and learning disabled children.

Investigated the role of operative schemes in explaining older children's superior memory on past Piagetian memory tasks. In Exp I, 60 1st–4th grade concrete operational children—half with deficits in visual memory (learning disabled, LD)—reconstructed 2 stimuli in which operative schemes were or were not relevant (a seriated array vs an arbitrary color sequence). As predicted, LD children performed significantly worse than normals on the arbitrary stimulus only. Exp II tested whether this difference resulted simply from differential task difficulty. 28 preschoolers who either could or could not seriate reconstructed both stimuli. Only seriaters performed significantly better on the operative stimulus than on the arbitrary stimulus, supporting the Piagetian position. (2 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of methylphenidate on normal children's mood, event-related potentials, and performance in memory scanning and vigilance.

Investigated the effects of 0.3 mg/kg methylphenidate on 18 8–14 yr old normal children. Results show that the drug produced effects similar to those for normal adults and attention deficit disorder (ADD) patients. Results suggest that for normal children, methylphenidate enhances the quality of stimulus evaluation and, in vigilance tasks, the speed of response processes. Because these reactions parallel those of ADD patients and normal adults, they contradict the hypothesis that stimulants have a paradoxical effect on ADD. (67 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Phonological ambiguity and lexical ambiguity: Effects on visual and auditory word recognition.

Three experiments in Serbo-Croatian were conducted on the effects of phonological ambiguity and lexical ambiguity on printed word recognition. Subjects decided rapidly if a printed and a spoken word matched or not. Printed words were either phonologically ambiguous (two possible pronunciations) or unambiguous. If phonologically ambiguous, either both pronunciations were real words or only one was, the other being a nonword. Spoken words were necessarily unambiguous. Half the spoken words were auditorily degraded. In addition, the relative onsets of speech and print were varied. Speed of matching print to speech was slowed by phonological ambiguity, and the effect was amplified when the stimulus was also lexically ambiguous. Auditory degradation did not interact with print ambiguity, suggesting the perception of the spoken word was independent of the printed word. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Short-term and working memory differences in language/learning disabled and normal adults

Fifteen adults who reported a childhood history of speech-language and/or learning disability (L/LD) were tested on two verbal memory tasks. Their performance on sentence repetition and reading span measures was compared with that of a matched control group who reported no childhood history of L/LD. Results indicated statistically significant group performance differences on both short-term and working memory tasks. This suggests that verbal memory difficulties may be a longterm component of L/LD.     

Effects of visual, haptic, and manipulatory experiences on infants' visual recognition memory of objects.

To determine the effects of visual, haptic, and manipulatory experiences on visual recognition of objects' shapes, 108 6-, 9-, and 12-mo-old infants were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 stimulus familiarization conditions in which they either only looked at an object (visual), looked at and manipulated an object (visual-haptic), or looked at an object encased in a transparent box that the infant manipulated (visual-manipulatory). Visual recognition memory was assessed by the paired-comparison technique in which memory is indexed by infants' differential preferences for novel and familiar stimuli. The major findings were that (a) 12-mo-olds showed evidence of memory in all conditions, (b) younger Ss showed evidence of memory only in the visual condition, and (c) at all ages Ss' preference for novel relative to familiar stimuli was significantly greater in the visual condition than in the visual-haptic and visual-manipulatory conditions, with the latter conditions not differing significantly. It is argued that the manipulatory activity per se depressed Ss' differential preferences in the visual-haptic and visual-manipulatory conditions. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's memory for auditory and visual information on television.

Examined the relationship between children's cognitive processing of video and audio information on TV. 96 5-yr-olds viewed a videotaped segment of Sesame Street followed by comprehension and recognition tests. Ss viewed experimental segments in which (a) the audio and video tracks were from the same segment (A/V match), (b) the audio and video tracks were not from the same segment (A/V mismatch), (c) the video track was presented alone, or (d) the audio track was presented alone. This design allowed unconfounded comparisons of modality-specific processing. In the A/V mismatch condition, memory for audio information was reduced more than memory for video information. However, comprehension and recognition of audio information was similar in the audio-only and A/V match conditions. Results suggest that in regular TV programs, the video information does not interfere with processing the audio information but is more salient and memorable than the audio material. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Vowel generalization in normal and learning disabled readers.

Studied vowel–sound associations in 20 learning disabled (LD) children, 20 normal readers matched with the LD children for reading vocabulary (the VM group), and 20 normal readers matched with the LD sample on age (the AM group). All Ss were drawn from a population of LD and normal children in Grades 2–6 in a middle-class school district. The 3 groups were given the Vowel Generalization Test, which includes 25 regularly spelled words, 25 irregularly spelled words, and 25 nonsense words. Responses to each of the 3 item sets were scored according to vowel pronunciation (regular, irregular, and ungeneralized—vowel responses that are never signaled by the orthographic construction of a particular word), consonant pronunciation (correct or incorrect), and overall correctness. Results of ANOVA with post hoc comparisons showed that the LD and AM groups differed on all measures. However, comparisons of the LD and VM groups primarily revealed a tendency of the LD Ss to apply regular vowel associations less frequently and to apply ungeneralized vowel associations more frequently than the VM group. It is concluded that LD children are less likely than normal readers to apply major pattern associations in decoding unknown words and tend instead to produce vowel sounds that are never signaled by the particular orthographic construction. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental differences in children's recognition memory for faces.

Tested 108 White, upper-middle-class children at 3 age levels for recognition memory of adult male faces following 3 different orienting activities at encoding. One group received standard intentional learning instructions, another group judged whether each face had a big nose, and a 3rd group judged whether each face appeared "nice." Memory improved with age, and judgments of niceness facilitated memory equally at all ages. The results pose difficulties for A. L. Brown's (1975) model of memory development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Enhancing visual recognition memory in preterm infants.

Tested 6-mo-old full- and preterm infants on tasks of visual recognition memory. In Study 1, with 54 Ss, preterms failed to differentiate between novel and familiar test stimuli following brief amounts of familiarization, whereas full-terms showed significant novelty preferences on 2 of the 3 problems. Preterm Ss who had received extra sensory stimulation during the early week of life showed long-term benefits in that their performance was indistinguishable from that of the full-terms. In Study 2, 36 preterm Ss who had not received any intervention showed visual recognition memory if the familiarization time was lengthened. This success suggests that in general, prematures were able to store and retrieve the information and to make the visual discriminations involved; they did, however, show a pronounced deficit in the speed of information processing. It is suggested that visual recognition memory is negatively affected by prematurity and that performance can be improved by altering early environmental conditions. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Short-term memory for the timing of auditory and visual signals.

Short-term memory for the timing of irregular sequences of signals has been said to be more accurate when the signals are auditory than when they are visual. No support for this contention was obtained when the signals were beeps vs flashes (Exps 1 and 3) nor when they were sets of spoken vs typewritten digits (Exps 4 and 5). On the other hand, support was obtained both for beeps vs flashes (Exps 2 and 5) and for repetitions of a single spoken digit vs repetitions of a single typewritten digit (Exp 6) when the Ss silently mouthed a nominally irrelevant item during sequence presentation. Also, the timing of sequences of auditory signals, whether verbal (Exp 7) or nonverbal (Exps 8 and 9), was more accurately remembered when the signals within each sequence were identical. The findings are considered from a functional perspective. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mnemonic facilitation of learning disabled students' memory for expository prose.

In two experiments, learning disabled adolescents read passages that described North American minerals, using materials that incorporated either mnemonic or nonmnemonic illustrations. In Experiment 1, the students were instructed to remember attribute dichotomies (e.g., hard vs. soft minerals), whereas in Experiment 2, the students had to remember specific attribute values (e.g., Hardness Levels 1–20). In both experiments, students learned significantly more when they studied passages with mnemonic pictures. This was true both on immediate performance tests (Experiments 1 and 2) and following a 1-week delay (Experiment 2). Moreover, in Experiment 2, mnemonic instruction facilitated student's ability to make correct inferences about attribute dichotomies—even though such information was never explicitly presented in the lesson. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Word familiarity and frequency in visual and auditory word recognition.

Four experiments investigated printed word frequency and subjective rated familiarity. Words of varied printed frequency and subjective familiarity were presented. A reaction time (RT) advantage for high-familiarity and high-frequency words was found in visual (Exp 1) and auditory (Exp 2) lexical decision. In Exps 3 and 4, a cued naming task elicited a naming response after a specified delay after presentation. In Exp 3, naming of visual words showed a frequency effect with no naming delay. The frequency effect diminished at longer delay intervals. Naming times for auditorily presented words (Exp 4) showed no frequency effect at any delay. Both naming experiments showed familiarity effects. The relevance of these results are discussed in terms of the role of printed frequency for theories of lexical access, task- and modality-specific effects, and the nature of subjective familiarity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Test-enhanced learning of natural concepts: Effects on recognition memory, classification, and metacognition.

Three experiments examined testing effects on learning of natural concepts and metacognitive assessments of such learning. Results revealed that testing enhanced recognition memory and classification accuracy for studied and novel exemplars of bird families on immediate and delayed tests. These effects depended on the balance of study and test trials during training. Metacognitive measures provided results suggesting that participants were aware of the beneficial effects of testing. A new measure of metacognition at the level of categories is introduced and shown to be potentially useful for theory and applied purposes. It is argued that focusing on optimizing the learning of natural concepts encourages the convergence of theorizing about memory, concept learning, and metacognition and holds promise for the development of applications to education. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differential effects of auditory and visual signals on clock speed and temporal memory.

The effects of signal modality on duration classification in college students were studied with the duration bisection task. When auditory and visual signals were presented in the same test session and shared common anchor durations, visual signals were classified as shorter than equivalent duration auditory signals. This occurred when auditory and visual signals were presented sequentially in the same test session and when presented simultaneously but asynchronously. Presentation of a single modality signal within a test session, or both modalities but with different anchor durations did not result in classification differences. The authors posit a model in which auditory and visual signals drive an internal clock at different rates. The clock rate difference is due to an attentional effect on the mode switch and is revealed only when the memories for the short and long anchor durations consist of a mix of contributions from accumulations generated by both the fast auditory and slower visual clock rates. When this occurs auditory signals seem longer than visual signals relative to the composite memory representation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Change in visual memory following discrimination learning.

Studied visual recognition memory for the size of circles for evidence of active memory change in 3 experiments with 34 paid volunteers and 83 undergraduates. In Exp. I the remembered difference in size between 2 circles which had been discriminated on the basis of size increased, while the remembered difference in size between the same 2 circles discriminated on the basis of brightness did not. In Exp. II, the remembered size of the smallest of 4 circles discriminated by size changed from 1 day to 1 wk. Each S in Exp. III inspected either 1 or 2 circles and was asked to remember their size. There was more memory distortion when 2 circles were remembered, but the distortion did not change over time. The evidence suggests that memory will actively change after a visual discrimination task. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of alphabet-letter instruction on young children's word recognition.

This study examined the influence of letter-name instruction on beginning word recognition. Thirty-three preschool children from low-socioeconomic-status families participated in 16 weeks of letter-name or comprehension-focused instruction. After instruction, children's ability to learn 3 types of word spellings was examined: words phonetically spelled with letters children had been taught (e.g., BL for ball), words phonetically spelled with letters children had not been taught, and words with visually distinct letter spellings that were nonphonetic. Children who received letter-name instruction learned words phonetically spelled with letters included in instruction significantly better than other words. Children receiving comprehension instruction performed significantly better on visually distinct word spellings. Results demonstrate the beneficial effects of alphabet-letter instruction on beginning phonetic word recognition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Spatial organization of distractors in visual search.

This paper investigates visual search in displays in which distractors are spatially grouped. The effect on detection of target position within a spatially grouped 2-dimensional display containing 2 distractor types were examined. The authors compared detection in grouped displays with detection in 2 kinds of control display, homogeneous (one distractor type) and ungrouped (2 distractor types), to determine whether detection in grouped displays would be more similar to efficient detection in homogeneous displays than to inefficient detection in ungrouped displays. Findings show relatively efficient detection in group displays. Detection of targets at the border of two regions where distractors are coherent is easier than can be predicted by models that do not take spatial organization into account. Thus, models of visual search need to incorporate effects of spatial organization in addition to bottom-up difference calculations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Feeding-based arousal effects on visual recognition memory in early infancy.

Arousal effects on a 1-trial visual recognition paired-comparison task were studied at newborn, 1-month, and 4-month test ages. Infants were tested before and after feeding, with arousal assumed to be lower after feeding. Newborns and 1-month-olds shifted from a familiarity preference before feeding to a novelty preference after feeding. A control group tested only after feeding confirmed that this shift was not due to increased stimulus exposure from the prefeeding test. By 4 months, infants showed novelty preferences independent of feeding. This age by arousal interaction for recognition memory extends previous knowledge by including endogenous arousal with age, stimulus, and length of exposure as contributors to familiarity–novelty preferences. It also extends and provides converging evidence for arousal effects on visual attention in early infancy found previously with preferential looking. A shift from subcortical to cortical dominance is supported. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Selective attention in human associative learning and recognition memory.

Four experiments examined the role of selective attention in a new causal judgment task that allowed measurement of both causal strength and cue recognition. In Experiments 1 and 2, blocking was observed; pretraining with 1 cue (A) resulted in reduced learning about a 2nd cue (B) when those 2 cues were trained in compound (AB+). Participants also demonstrated decreased recognition performance for the causally redundant Cue B, suggesting that less attention had been paid to it in training. This is consistent with the idea that attention is preferentially allocated toward the more predictive Cue A, and away from the less predictive Cue B (e.g., N. J. Mackintosh, 1975). Contrary to this hypothesis, in Experiments 3 and 4, participants demonstrated poorer recognition for the most predictive cues, relative to control cues. A new model, which is based on N. J. Mackintosh's (1975) model, is proposed to account for the observed relationship between the extent to which each cue is attended to, learned about, and later recognized. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)