Cerebral laterality effects in the dual processing of prose

The degree to which the concreteness of prose material presented in an auditory fashion would interact with learners' lateral preference under different right hemispheric presentation conditions was investigated with 96 normal adults. Forty-eight subjects with consistent right preference patterns and a like number of bilateral individuals were either instructed to image, given a visual-spatial interference task, or given no instructions before listening to passages which differed in abstractness. As predicted across conditions, learners recalled a significantly greater number of ideas when the passage was concrete. Importantly, the abstractness was found to interact with subjects' inferred cerebral dominance. Whereas instructions to image and visual interference had little significant effect on mixed dominant subjects, for more consistently lateralized subjects imagery instructions increased and right-hemispheric interference decreased concrete recall. The results were interpreted in terms of visual and verbal encoding concomitant with cerebral lateralization.     

The effect of modality on long-term recognition memory

Two experiments examined the effects of visual and auditory modes of input on long-term memory. In Experiment 1, 40 subjects learned a 40-word list presented in a blocked or random fashion. In the blocked conditions learners were presented half the nouns in one modality followed by the remaining 20 words in the other modality (See-Hear or Hear-See). Subjects in random conditions also received half the list in each modality, but the presentation was random (Mixed or Mixed Reverse). Following a 6-min delay, subjects completed an 80-item visual recognition test. Analysis of these data showed significantly (p < .05) greater recognition of words presented visually than those presented auditorily. Experiment 2 was designed to test the hypothesis that learners may visualize a “literal copy” of the stimulus item by controlling for the extent to which the recognition measure offered a visual cue. Two groups of 40 subjects were examined using the same procedure used in Experiment 1, with the exception that one group received a visual recognition test while the other was tested auditorily. These data showed that the lack of a visual cue hindered the recognition of visually presented words, while it had little effect on stimuli presented auditorily. The results of these experiments were interpreted as support for the hypothesis that physical characteristics of a stimulus may persist in memory well beyond immediate memory intervals. Subjects were seen to make modality-specific decisions by testing long-term memory for the presence or absence of a visual memory trace.     

Contributions of existing knowledge structure to retroactive inhibition in prose learning

This experiment tested the hypothesis that prose materials related to existing knowledge structure will be less subject to retroactive interference (RI) than will materials not as easily related to existing knowledge structure. Subjects read successive passages labeled with the names of famous or fictitious characters. In comparison to control groups, subjects receiving initial passages labeled with fictitious names experienced significant RI, whereas subjects receiving famous name initial passages did not.     

Prose organization and recall

In two experiments, subjects read prose materials with various organizations of the superordinate and subordinate conceptual structure of the passage. Variables included organizational salience, massed versus distributed repetition of the passage, nature of the cueing at recall, and number of exposures. In Experiment I, distributed repetition resulted in superior recall, extending the generality of that effect to prose materials; and an advance organizer treatment resulted in lower recall for scrambled materials, contrary to Ausubel's (1960) cognitive theory. High ability subjects recalled more categories than low ability subjects, but the same amount of within-category information. In Experiment II, materials which increased the salience of the organizational structure of the passage were better recalled than scrambled materials after three exposures, or on a test which cued the major categories in the passage. Cueing was detrimental to performance for subjects reading the scrambled passage. Results are discussed in terms of implications for educational practice.     

Reading comprehension and lateral preference in normal readers

The effect of lateral preference on passage comprehension and short-term memory function was examined for 48 normal fourth-grade males. Scores on a self-report measure of lateral preference were used to divide the children into groups who differed in their laterality. The subjects were tested for basic comprehension on written and aurally presented prose in standard and nonstandard phrase form. Consistently lateralized readers recalled more information under the auditory than under the written conditions, while bilateral readers showed no preference for mode of presentation. Between-group comparisons showed bilateral readers to comprehend significantly more in the written conditions than did the other group. Groups did not differ on recall of auditorily presented material or on short-term digit memory. These results may be interpreted as demonstrating that bilateral preference need not be tied to reading difficulty.     

Individual differences in children's ability to profit from picture adjunct aids

A paired-associate memory task with pictures and words as items was used to categorize fourth graders into four learner types: HH, high picture-high word; HL, high picture-low word; LH, low picture-high word; LL, low picture-low word. Some children in each classification read prose passages with picture adjunct aids; other children read the passages without adjunct aids. Although free recall for the prose passage yielded inconclusive data, a constructed response test for facts in the prose passages revealed significant Aptitude × Treatment interactions, such that poor paired-associate learners (i.e., LLs) profited more than did good paired-associate learners (i.e., HHs) from picture aids on the prose task. The children's standardized reading scores were positively related to memory performance, but good and poor readers did not differ in their ability to profit from picture aids. It was suggested that less-strategic learners, such as those who perform poorly on paired-associate tasks, are more likely to be helped by externally provided mediational aids, while more-strategic learners are more likely to be helped by instructions to generate their own mediational aids.     

Effect of pictures on recall of written prose: How durable are picture effects?

There is now substantial evidence that pictures can be used to facilitate the recall of information presented in prose passages. There is also evidence that the presence of pictures in prose passages does not hinder the recall of information that is not pictured. Are the picture effects durable over longer periods (55 days) of time? Do pictures included in prose passages help or hinder subjects' recall of information that is not pictured? Results of this study provide evidence that picture effects are durable. In addition, the inclusion of pictures in prose passages did not interfere with the recall of information presenter' only in the prose passage.     

The effect of sensory modalities on learning

As the importance of modalities to learning becomes increasingly apparent, the dearth of modality tests and assessment techniques becomes a critical problem. A classroom model for assessing modality strengths is suggested in which students learn to spell nonsense words via six different modalities: visual, auditory, audiovisual, vocal, motor, and tactile. The technique was used and proven effective in a study involving 396 eighth-grade students. Results of the study indicated that the presentation modality did significantly affect the amount of information learned (F = 12.36, p < .01), and that the auditory and visual modalities were most effective for this particular learning task. It is felt that this assessment technique can facilitate application of modality theory in classroom teaching.     

Cognitive load theory and the effects of transient information on the modality effect

Based on cognitive load theory and the transient information effect, this paper investigated the modality effect while interpreting a contour map. The length and complexity of auditory and visual text instructions were manipulated. Experiment 1 indicated that longer audio text information within a presentation was inferior to the equivalent longer visual text information demonstrating a reversal of the modality effect due to transient information imposing a heavy working memory load. However, the expected modality effect was not obtained from the equivalent shorter auditory text presentation compared to shorter visual text information. It was hypothesised that the shorter text still contained too much auditory information for working memory to readily process. Experiment 2 further decreased the shorter auditory text information which then resulted in a traditional modality effect including a modality by text length interaction in which shorter, audio-visual information was better than visual only information but longer, audio-visual information was worse than visual only information.     

The Effect of Extraversion,Detail Importance and Interference on the Recall of Prose by Eleven‐year Old Children

This study considered the relationship between extraversion and the recall of details in prose passages under conditions of two levels of detail importance (main and elaboration), two types of passage (thematic and sequential) and two degrees of interference (absent and present). The subjects were 96 11‐year old children who were divided into introverts, ambiverts and extraverts on the basis of their score on the Junior Eysenck Personality Inventory. A different extraversion subgroup listened to a prose passage containing 40 details under each of the experimental conditions and one hour later was required to free recall the material. Overall recall performance was not significantly affected by extraversion, but there was a significant interaction (P < 0.05) between extraversion and detail type in their effect on recall. Generally the recall of elaborative detail decreased with increasing extraversion, while for the main detail recall remained fairly constant. No other significant interactions were found. A post hoc inspection of the recall of the details suggested that introverts performed best when the content described appearance, construction or position, ambiverts did well on quantity and numerical information, while extraverts favoured simile‐type details.     

Pictorial organization in prose learning

Ninety undergraduates of high and low prior knowledge of geology read a difficult prose passage concerning the formation of a meander. Two groups of learners were forced to process a map-like organizer either before or after they read the passage, while a control group was provided no pictorial support. The results showed that subjects with little prior knowledge who were provided with the organizer prior to reading recalled at a level similar to that of subjects with a good deal of background knowledge. The findings were interpreted as support for the use of map-like organizers in the primary position to aid comprehension.     

Assessing the importance of subvocalization during normal silent reading

A concurrent speaking paradigm was used to assess the importance of subvocalization during the reading of lengthy natural prose passages. Experiment 1 showed that having subjects count aloud while reading interfered with their comprehension and recall of the text's details as well as its gist, but did not affect the durability of the memory trace. Experiment 2 replicated these findings and established the validity of using concurrent speaking as a technique to interfere with speech-specific processes during silent reading. By pitting concurrent speaking against a nonverbal concurrent task, Experiment 2 provided evidence that its detrimental effect on comprehension was due to a competition for speech-related resources rather than a general competition for cognitive resources. Interfering with speech recoding during silent reading led to an average decrement of 10–12% in comprehension performance. However, Experiment 2 also showed that there were substantial individual differences in the magnitude of the speech interference effect and that these differences were systematically related to subjective reports about the concurrent speaking manipulation.     

How writers integrate information in written text production: a developmental study

The aim of this work is to study the acquisition and development of the ability to co-ordinate information in a written text. Fourth, 6th and 8th graders and undergraduates were assigned two conditions: they were presented with either two prose passages, describing two different peoples, or only one passage giving out the same information in a single text. The subjects read the passages and had to produce a text containing the comparison between the two peoples. The analysis of the texts produced by the subjects evidenced six different information integration levels. Two dependent variables were used:

1. the highest level present in each protocol
2. the percentage of level presence in each protocol.

For both variables, data show a developmental trend: older subjects tend to use more complex levels. In the older subjects the highest and the most frequent levels coincide in most cases; in the other age groups a differentiation between these two variables is observed. The two conditions produce different results: subjects perform better when presented with the single text. Moreover the use of the levels in the two conditions depends on and interacts with age. The younger subjects are more sensitive to the difficulty degree of the task and, as age increases, the two tasks give rise to performances more similar to one another.     

The influence of decision factors on what is reported in free recall of a brief narrative

In recent research on memory for prose, attention has focused on the influence of a reader's perspective or schema on what is encoded and subsequently recalled. Previous research has revealed that subjects were able to recall previously unrecalled information if they were directed to take a new perspective during a second recall trial. This has been termed the perspective shift effect. This paper describes two possible mechanisms to account for the perspective shift effect—a retrieval process and a decision process. Two experiments which investigated the roles of these processes in the perspective shift effect are described. Experiment 1 employed an incentive to influence the subjects' criterion for reporting recalled information. Experiment 2 obtained separate estimates for decision and memory processes by applying signal detection theory. The results of both experiments provide data that tend to rule out the decision process as an important factor in the perspective shift phenomena in recall.     

Interference effects on the recall of pictures,printed words,and spoken words

In an extension of the work of Pellegrino, Siegel, and Dhawan, nouns were presented in triads as pictures, printed words, or spoken words and followed by visual, acoustic, visual and acoustic, or no interference. Recall, presentation type, and confidence ratings were elicited after each triad. After all triads were presented, participants free-recalled as many nouns as possible, indicated presentation type, and rated confidence as measures of long-term memory. In short-term memory, pictorial superiority was noted under conditions of acoustic and visual and acoustic interference but not after visual interference. Long-term memory data showed superior recall for pictures. These results were compared to the Pellegrino et al. research and to Paivio's dual coding hypothesis, and differences in patterns of short-term and long-term memory data were interpreted within a levels of processing framework.     

The comprehension of first and second-language prose

How does national culture interact with second-language reading comprehension? This study investigated the effect of cultural medium of presentation, language, and sequence of cultural/foreign and first-language/second-language presentation on the literal and interpretative comprehension of Form I (seventh grade) bilingual Nigerian students. Data were analysed using ANOVA. Previous studies concerning schema theories were upheld in that the present results for Experiment 1 revealed significantly superior scores for culturally related English language text when compared with scores for foreign-based passages written in English. The data from Experiment 2 also revealed similar results when the subjects were presented with the same Experiment 1 foreign-based passages written in English and with translations of these English passages to the mother tongue. In spite of sequencing, scores were higher for the first-language passages. For both experiments, scores were higher at the literal level and sequencing was found to have little effect in enhancing comprehension of culturally unfamiliar material.     

Role of proactive interference in infantile forgetting

Ontogenetic changes in the role of proactive interference in augmenting forgetting were tested with 444 rats as subjects. In Experiment 1, Phase 1 (the source of proactive interference) included events that were contingent or not contingent on responding in the context of either the Phase 2 training apparatus or a distinctly different apparatus. After learning a spatial discrimination for Phase 2, retention tests were given after intervals of 2 min, 1 day, 7 days, 30 days, or 65 days. The results indicated: (1) infantile amnesia, and (2) proactive interference for infant rats but not for adults, in spite of substantial simple forgetting among adults. Experiment 2 extended the test to a go/no-go avoidance task. The results of Experiment 2 gave some indication that infants were more susceptible than were adults to proactive interference over short intervals, but the generality of this relationship was sufficiently ambiguous as to suggest different mechanisms of interference for the discrimination and go/no-go tasks. These data indicate multiple mechanisms of infantile forgetting that may vary with certain characteristics of the task.     

Reading versus Listening in Children: the effects of extraversion and coding complexity

The degree of extraversion of 11‐year‐old children was determined and after excluding children whose reading attainment was below average, the subjects were randomly assigned, within sexes, to the two presentation conditions of listening and reading. They then received a prose passage followed by an immediate questioned test of recall. The details in the prose passage necessary to answer the questions were categorised as simple or complex to represent in verbal and imagery codes. The main finding was of significant interactions between extraversion‐introversion (verbal‐imagery learning style), coding complexity and mode of presentation in their effect on recall. The results were discussed in terms of the probable relationship between extraversion‐introversion and verbal‐imagery learning style. Extraverts were assumed to be verbalisers and introverts imagers. Recall was superior following listening when the details were simple to represent in the learner's preferred code, but best after reading when complex. For the non‐preferred mode the results were reversed.     

Prediction of the Probability of Graduation of Engineering Transfer Students

This study examined how retention of prose is affected by (1) outlines as advanced organizers, (2) preexperimentai familiarity with the material, and (3) text genre (i.e., narrative vs. expository prose). College students studied either a two-level outline, a one-level outline, or no outline before listening to 400 to 500 word passages that varied in familiarity and narrativity. Subjects were subsequently given a cued recall test or a 3-Alternative, Forced Choice test on the passages. Whereas outline condition and familiarity had no significant effects on retention, narrativity ratings on the passages predicted between 38% and 84% of the variance of retention scores. Stories were recalled much better than expository passages. These findings were discussed in the context of current theories in cognitive psychology, particularly those that have explored the structure, organization, and representation of knowledge and prose.     

Population differences in constructive memory

An experiment was conducted to evaluate constructive memory in fourth-grade low-SES black and middle-SES white children. The children were read nine short passages; each passage was composed of two premise statements and a filler sentence. The children were tested by a recognition procedure. Thirty-six test sentences were presented randomly. Four sentences were associated with each passage (true premise, false premise, true inference, and false inference). Subjects were asked to make yes/no recognition decisions based on whether the test sentence was identical to a sentence presented at study. Middle-SES white children made few errors, except to true inference test sentences. This pattern of performance is consistent with the constructive view of memory. Low-SES black children also had a high error rate to true inference items. However, this outcome may not reflect constructive memory because they also had a high error rate to some of the other types of test sentences.