Biomedical subjects

T C Rickard

Publications and source records attributed to T C Rickard.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1998

Losing their configural mind. Amnesic patients fail on transverse patterning.

A configural theory of human amnesia is proposed. The theory predicts that amnesic patients will exhibit selective deficits on tasks that normal subjects perform by learning new configurations of stimulus elements. This prediction is supported by results for four amnesic patients who learned a nonconfigural control task but failed to learn the configural transverse patterning task even after extensive practice. Matched normal subjects easily learned both tasks. The theory provides unique and viable accounts of the central results in the human amnesia literature. Relations between the configural approach and other theories are discussed.

Adult↗

PubMed1996

Some tests of an identical elements model of basic arithmetic skills.

Two experiments tested an identical elements model of the organization of basic arithmetic skills (T. C. Rickard, A. F. Healy, & L. E. Bourne, 1994). This model assumes a distinct abstract representation for each unique combination of the basic elements (i.e., the operands and the required operation) of a problem. Participants practiced multiplication and division problems and were then tested on various altered versions of these problems. Experiment 1 confirmed the prediction of no positive transfer when the presented elements of a test problem do not exactly match those of a practice problem. Experiment 2 confirmed the prediction that there is complete transfer when the elements of the test problem match exactly with those of a practice problem. Experiment 2 also confirmed that there is both perceptually specific and nonspecific speed-up with practice. Implications for number processing and arithmetic are discussed.

Adult↗

PubMed1996

Neurophysiological correlates of mental arithmetic.

Thirteen subjects were extensively trained on nine multiplication problems varying in difficulty. Practice was associated with a reaction time speed up and an attenuation of the problem size effect. The introduction of previously unpracticed problems led to a performance rebound to pretraining levels, indicating practice specificity. The eventrelated potentials were characterized by a late positive complex, followed by a positive slow wave. Offset latency of positive slow wave and preresponse amplitude at parietal electrodes showed practice specificity effects that systematically changed with practice and problem size, indicating an association with the load imposed on working memory. The peak of the late positive complex probably reflects task learning or adaptation effects because it was attenuated by practice predominantly at frontal electrodes, showed no practice specificity, and was not affected by problem size.

Adult↗

PubMed1994

Brain potentials during mental arithmetic: effects of extensive practice and problem difficulty.

Recent behavioral investigations indicate that the processes underlying mental arithmetic change systematically with practice from deliberate, conscious calculation to automatic, direct retrieval of answers from memory [Bourne, L.E.Jr. and Rickard, T.C., Mental calculation: The development of a cognitive skill, Paper presented at the Interamerican Congress of Psychology, San Jose, Costa Rica, 1991: Psychol. Rev., 95 (1988) 492-527]. Results reviewed by Moscovitch and Winocur [In: The handbook of aging and cognition, Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ, 1992, pp. 315-372] suggest that consciously controlled processes are more dependent on frontal lobe function than are automatic processes. It is appropriate, therefore to determine whether transitions in the locus of primary brain activity occur with practice on mental calculation. In this experiment, we examine the relationship between characteristics of event-related brain potentials (ERPs) and mental arithmetic. Single-digit mental multiplication problems varying in difficulty (problem size) were used, and subjects were trained on these problems for four sessions. Problem-size and practice effects were reliably found in behavioral measures (RT). The ERP was characterized by a pronounced late positivity after task presentation followed by a slow wave, and a negativity during response indication. These components responded differentially to the practice and problem-size manipulations. Practice mainly affected topography of the amplitude of positivity and offset latency of slow wave, and problem-size mainly offset latency of slow wave and pre-response negativity. Fronto-central positivity diminished from session to session, and the focus of positivity centered finally at centro-parietal regions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗