▼ It has been demonstrated that the very act of remembering can itself cause forgetting of related information. This retrieval-induced forgetting (Anderson, Bjork, & Bjork, 1994) has been demonstrated in a variety of cued and free recall studies and has been attributed to an inhibitory mechanism activated during retrieval in order to deactivate the memory representations of competing items in order to facilitate correct recall of target items. The current study generalizes the effect of retrieval-induced forgetting to recognition memory. Experiment 1 demonstrated a typical retrieval-induced forgetting effect using a test of item recognition. Recognition performance was higher for practiced items than for control items from unpracticed categories, while recognition performance for the remaining items from practiced categories was lower than recognition performance seen for control items. Experiment 2 found a similar pattern in subjective remember responses when old recognition decisions were further discriminated by a remember/know test. The results from these two experiments support the active suppression explanation for retrieval-induced forgetting. Experiment 3 failed to support the competition assumption that is important in the active suppression hypothesis. The amount of retrieval-induced forgetting was not affected by the strength of competing items. In fact, no impairment was seen at all when item strength was controlled. In addition, Experiment 4 failed to show evidence of retrieval-induced forgetting using an independent practice cue. Therefore, results from Experiments 3 and 4 may illustrate that the retrieval-induced forgetting mechanism operates differently in recognition than in free and cued recall. Advisors/Committee Members: Greene, Dr. Robert L.

▼ The purpose of this study was to: 1) examine the cognitive and temperament correlates of math achievement through structural equation modeling and 2) apply genetic analyses to test for shared variance across intelligence, specific cognitive abilities, temperament, and math achievement. Participants were a subsample of 324 (87 monozygotic, 75 dizygotic) twins from the Western Reserve Twin Project. Structural equation modeling indicated that there is a hierarchical organization to math skill and cognitive abilities mediate the relationship between general intelligence and math achievement. Multivariate genetic analyses indicated that 1) general intelligence accounts for over half the covariance between specific cognitive abilities and math achievement and 2) temperament factors show a genetic pattern distinct from general intelligence or cognitive ability. Advisors/Committee Members: Thompson, Lee.

▼ An Examination of How Visual Perception Abilities Influence Mathematics Achievement Abstract by TREENA EILEEN ROHDE, M.A. The purpose of the present study was to determine if components of visual perception could add to the prediction of three aspects of mathematics achievement (solving applied mathematics problems, correctly identifying mathematics-concepts, and applying basic number comprehension) after controlling for general intelligence. The sample consisted of 204 young adults —18 to 27 years of age . The Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices and SAT Combined scores represented general intelligence and overall academic achievement respectfully. SAT Mathematics and WCJ-III: Applied Problems evaluated applied mathematics. WCJ-III: Quantitative Concepts and WRAT-3: Arithmetic evaluated mathematics-concepts. WCJ-III: Number Series evaluated number comprehension. An exploratory factor analysis of a battery of 16 measures of spatial ability identified three factors of visual perception: Perceptual Speed, Visualization, and Speed of Closure. Visualization was a significant predictor across all achievement measures—with the exception of WCJ-III: Numbers Series. After controlling for general intelligence, Perceptual Speed accounted for unique variance when predicting SAT Mathematics and WRAT-3: Arithmetic; Visualization accounted for unique variance when predicting SAT Mathematics and WCJ-III: Applied Problems; and Speed of Closure accounted for unique variance when predicting SAT Combined and SAT Critical Reading. Additional research will be needed to gain a full understanding of the implications of these findings. Advisors/Committee Members: THOMPSON, LEE ANNE.