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Biomedical subjects

C L Dulaney

Publications and source records attributed to C L Dulaney.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

Encoding processes and attentional inhibition in directed forgetting.

Lexical decisions were used to evaluate whether forget (F)-cued prime words affect subsequent encoding of target words relative to remember (R)-cued prime words. In 3 experiments, R-cued primes were better recalled than F-cued primes. Targets that followed F-cued primes were responded to faster than targets that followed R-cued primes in same-case and different-case identity priming. Semantic priming occurred for targets that followed both types of memory-cued primes. However, response times were longer for both related and unrelated targets following R-cued primes relative to F-cued primes. These results indicate that R and F items are processed to similar levels of representation and inhibitory mechanisms do not attenuate encoding of F items. However, there is slower access to working memory for information that follows R-cued items.

Adult↗

Cognitive representation of motion in individuals with mental retardation.

Participants with and without mental retardation were compared on their tendency to show the representational momentum effect when viewing a stimulus array that implied motion. The representational momentum effect occurs when, due to implied or apparent motion, an object is more likely to be remembered slightly shifted in the direction of motion rather than against the direction of motion. Participants with mental retardation showed the representational momentum effect as did participants without mental retardation, though the magnitude of the memory shift was smaller for participants with mental retardation. Results suggest that individuals with mental retardation cognitively process motion information in the same general way as do those without mental retardation, although less efficiently.

Adolescent↗

Mechanisms underlying reduction in Stroop interference with practice for young and old adults.

Age-related factors in the reduction of Stroop interference with practice were examined in 3 studies. Young and old adults received extensive practice on a modified version of the Stroop task. Both groups showed reduced interference on the Stroop task with practice. Results suggest that young adults' reduction in Stroop interference was due to general task factors plus the development of a reading suppression response. The old adults' reduction in Stroop interference was attributed primarily to general task factors. Results indicate that old adults have greater difficulty than young adults in developing new automatic processes and modifying existing automatic processes. The implication of these findings for current models of Stroop interference is that, in addition to automatic processing, attentional mechanisms must be incorporated to account for the age-related differences.

Adolescent↗

Automatized responding and cognitive inertia in individuals with mental retardation.

The relation between cognitive rigidity and cognitive inertia was examined. Results showed that cognitive inertia was greater in individuals with mental retardation than in CA- but not MA-matched subjects without mental retardation. For individuals with mental retardation, cognitive inertia was positively correlated with CA. Results of comparisons of MA-matched individuals with and without mental retardation were not consistent with Kounin's (1941) theory. However, the current findings provided some support for Kounin's notion that there are age-related inherent structural differences that lead to greater rigidity in older adults.

Adolescent↗

Further evidence for cognitive inertia of persons with mental retardation.

Two experiments confirmed and extended earlier research (Ellis, Woodley-Zanthos, Dulaney, & Palmer, 1989) showing that persons with mental retardation are more rigid than persons without mental retardation. In Experiment 1 subjects read Stroop words, practiced naming the colors of Stroop words, and then read the Stroop words again. Postpractice reading interference was related to amount of practice, and the interference effect was much greater in persons with mental retardation. We hypothesized that the practice led to automatization of a reading suppression response that had greater cognitive inertia for persons with mental retardation and, therefore, had a greater effect on postpractice reading for them. This cognitive inertia effect was shown to be quite durable in persons with mental retardation, lasting more than 3 months for 10 of 13 subjects. The effect disappeared within a month for persons without mental retardation.

Adolescent↗

Memory for spatial location in children, adults, and mentally retarded persons.

Two experiments extended earlier research showing age- and intelligence-invariance in memory for spatial location. Second and sixth graders, college students, and mildly retarded persons relocated pictures after looking through a 100-picture book. There were no differences due to age, IQ, or instruction (intentional or incidental) in location memory; there were differences in picture recall. In a second experiment persons with Down syndrome, as a group, were less accurate in location memory than were college students, but many individuals performed as accurately. A 3-month follow-up on the subjects with Down syndrome revealed greater consistency in location memory than in recall. Overall, the results show that young children and mildly mentally retarded persons process spatial location information as well as do college students. Some, but not all, of the more severely mentally retarded persons had deficits in processing memory for location. All persons with mental retardation had deficits in effortful processing as reflected by free recall.

Adolescent↗

Automatic-effortful processing and cognitive inertia in persons with mental retardation.

A modified Stroop Color-Word Interference Test (Stroop, 1935) was used to assess automatic-effortful processing in persons with mental retardation and college students in three experiments. In Experiment 1, retarded persons experienced greater Stroop interference than did college students. This was attributed to a failure of control (effortful) processing needed to suppress the automatic reading responses of retarded subjects. In Experiments 2 and 3, all subjects practiced the Stroop color-naming task over three or four daily sessions. Changes in Stroop interference over practice were viewed as reflecting automatization of the suppression of the reading response. Both groups automatized the suppression response at about the same rate, but the automatized responses had far greater and more durable suppression effects for retarded subjects. This persistence of automatized responses, which were no longer adaptive, was described as cognitive inertia, a phenomenon similar to cognitive rigidity as defined by Kounin (1948).

Adolescent↗