Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2010, Speech-Language Science (Health Sciences and Professions)

Working memory is a system devoted to the maintenance of information in the service of complex cognitive processing and is conventionally measured using complex memory span tasks. Developmental memory research has examined how mechanisms such as short-term memory storage, processing efficiency, retention duration, and focus of attention (i.e., limited attentional resources for activating contents of working memory) constrain complex memory span. There continues to be a need, however, for the examination of specific attention control mechanisms in children's complex memory span performance.This dissertation examined the role of two attention control mechanisms; sustained attentional focus and attentional focus switching, in typically developing 7- to 11-year-old children's complex memory span performance. Sustained attentional focus was explored because of suggestions in the literature implicating its importance to higher-order cognitive functioning. Sustained attentional focus may be critical to complex memory span performance because there is a need to maintain general vigilance over multiple steps in a complex memory span task. Attentional focus switching was assessed because emerging data in the adult literature suggest that it predicts performance on complex memory span. It appears that individuals rapidly switch their focus of attention between storage and processing while performing complex memory span tasks. Efficient attention switching thus improves complex memory span. Children's sustained attentional focus was indexed by their ability to maintain attention over time on the standardized vigilance measures from the Gordon Diagnostic System. Using experimental measures, attentional focus switching was indexed by the accuracy and speed to switch the focus of attention between two different simple stimuli. Two measures were used for each of the predictor constructs (sustained attentional focus, attentional focus switching) and the dependent variable (complex m (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Dr. James Montgomery Ph.D. (Advisor); Dr. Alex Sergeev Ph.D. (Committee Member); Dr. John McCarthy Ph.D. (Committee Member); Dr. Joann Benigno Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Developmental Psychology; Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2021, Neuroscience Graduate Studies Program

Tasks in everyday life are not completed in isolation. We each uniquely maneuver in an environment rich with information that undoubtedly influences our behaviors. For example, searching for your keys in the kitchen does not happen in the absence of drawers, counter tops, plates on the table, a stack of mail etc. Rather this contextual information can influence your search. This dissertation is focused on exploring how the contexts we are exposed to during a task can affect how information is processed, and eventually behavioral outcomes. Two specific types of context will be explored: spatial and Gestalt grouping cues. Additionally, due to individual differences in task context utilization, I sought to explore a method that could be used to study brain-behavior relationships. The first study examines how context may not be learned when faced with increased task demands. When exposed to the same spatial layout of a target and distractors on a computer screen multiple times, participants become faster at finding the target when searching through repeated displays, i.e. the contextual cueing effect. However, when a secondary task had to be completed immediately after the search task, subjects did not always exhibit the expected search facilitation for repeated displays. It is speculated that the attenuation of cueing due to the secondary task results from attentional resources being redirected during the critical consolidation period after the search concludes. Thus, a spatial context was not always able to influence performance. The second study examines how individuals can overcome visual working memory capacity limitations through the use of an illusory grouping context. Illusory objects like the Kanizsa triangle, have been shown to produce benefits to visual working memory performance, possibly by allowing the inducers forming the object to be perceived as an individual unit rather than separate distractors, but it was unknown exactly how the triangle led to b (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Andrew Leber PhD (Advisor); Julie Golomb PhD (Committee Member); Benedetta Leuner PhD (Committee Member); Zeynep Saygin PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Cognitive Psychology; Neurosciences; Psychology

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2016, Psychology/Experimental

This thesis tested whether using meaningful trigraphs in the three letter memorization paradigm used by Ecker, Oberauer, and Lewandowsky (2014) changed the nature of working memory update. Participants were undergraduate students from a mid-sized midwestern US university. The results replicated Ecker, Oberauer, and Lewandowsky's findings in all conditions where participants memorized a non-meaningful trigraph (memorizing a trigraph that was one letter different than the previous trigraph was significantly faster than memorizing a trigraph with two changes and memorizing a trigraph with three changes was faster than making two changes but slower than one change). Compared to the control condition there was a compression of reaction times in the meaningful condition. Two and three changes were significantly faster in the meaningful condition compared to the not meaningful condition (p < .05) and one change was non-significantly slower (p = .19). There was no main effect of direction of changes (p = .18). The inclusion of meaningful trigraphs did not appear to change the pattern of working memory update, as might be predicted by a serial updating paradigm. Possible explanations and future research directions are discussed in the discussion.

Committee: Mary Hare (Advisor); Richard Anderson (Committee Member); Sheri Beth Wells-Jensen (Committee Member) Subjects: Cognitive Psychology; Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2019, Psychology

Working Memory (WM) plays a large role in higher order cognitive functioning. Previous research has shown that it is highly related to fluid intelligence, reasoning ability, and academic achievement (Conway, Cowan, Bunting, Therriault, & Minkoff, 2002; Conway, Getz, Macnamara, & Engel de Abreu, 2011). Consequently, as a construct, WM has been widely included in psychological research. However, there is still no consensus on the operational definition of WM and different theories of WM are still being proposed and tested. Currently, WM is generally considered to be a cognitive system with a global component that interacts with a system of domain specific subcomponents. As a result, there are a multitude of tasks that are used as acceptable measures of WM, despite evidence that some of these tasks do not correlate strongly enough to be considered measures of the same construct. This research examines the strength of the relationship between 3 common types of WM measures, maintenance and manipulation, maintenance and interference, and updating, using Structural Equation Modeling. The model that had all 9 WM measures on a single WM factor fit the data well, while the model that separated the measures onto three distinct factors that correspond to the task's paradigm specific demands did not fit the data. However, the best fitting model for the data was a hierarchical model which was applied in post-hoc analyses with a second order latent factor for broad working memory ability.

Committee: Lee Thompson Ph.D (Committee Chair); Brooke Macnamara Ph.D (Committee Member); Robert Greene Ph.D (Committee Member); Jessica Kelley-Moore Ph.D (Committee Member) Subjects: Cognitive Psychology; Psychological Tests; Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2009, Speech-Language Science (Health Sciences and Professions)

Deficits in working memory are a critical subset of nonlinguistic impairments in aphasia. Previous studies indicated that individuals with aphasia made more errors on working memory tasks compared to individuals without cognitive or neurological impairments. Also, an association between working memory capacity and general language abilities in people with aphasia was demonstrated. Unfortunately, the study of working memory in aphasia is fraught with methodological limitations, thus reducing validity and generalization of findings. The goal of this current study was to reduce confounds associated with existing tasks and measures by developing working memory span tasks suited for individuals with aphasia and establishing the psychometric properties of associated performance measures.Participants engaged in four working memory tasks. In the traditional listening span task, participants without aphasia listened to long compound sentences, verified their semantic plausibility, remembered a set of separately presented words, and then recalled them at the end of a sentence set. In the modified listening span task, participants heard sentences, pointed to an image within a multiple-choice display that best matched that sentence, and remembered a set of words for later recall. In the counting span task, participants counted the number of target shapes within each display and remembered the final tally for recall. In the eye-movement working memory task, participants' eye movements were monitored during presentation of verbal and visual stimuli. This was an eye-tracking version of the modified listening span task, with colors and symbols as items to be remembered. Recall performance on all working memory tasks was significantly correlated. Significant differences in processing and storage scores emerged between participants with and without aphasia. No relationship was observed between storage scores and scores on a standardized aphasia language test. Results highlight a diss (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Brooke Hallowell (Advisor) Subjects: Psychology; Speech Therapy

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2012, Psychology

Previous research has reported positive correlations between math achievement and the cognitive constructs of spatial visualization, working memory, and general intelligence; however, no single study has assessed variance in math achievement attributable to all three constructs, examined in combination. The current study fills this gap in the literature by demonstrating that general intelligence is a strong predictor of math achievement, with spatial visualization and working memory playing smaller, yet still significant roles. Spatial visualization and working memory differentially predicted math achievement in a domain-specific manner. In addition, evidence was found for variance in math achievement attributable to domain-specific working memory constructs.

Committee: Lee Thompson PhD (Advisor); Douglas Detterman (Committee Member); Betsy Short (Committee Member); Gerry Taylor (Committee Member) Subjects: Experimental Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2013, Psychology

The present study investigated whether working memory training (WMT) would improve working memory (WM), planning/organization, executive functioning, attention, hyperactivity/impulsivity, and reading comprehension in individuals with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Twenty-eight children and adolescents with ADHD completed WMT, which consisted of 25 sessions lasting 30-45 minutes completed over about 6 weeks. Participants were randomly assigned to either a difficult adaptive WMT program or a control program, which maintained a low-level of difficulty. We predicted that the experimental group would show greater improvements than the control group. The experimental group showed a trend towards improving more than the control group on nonverbal short-term memory (STM), one measure of verbal WM, parent-rated inattention, After WMT participants in both groups improved on verbal STM, nonverbal STM, nonverbal WM, one measure of verbal WM, parent-reported WM, a WM composite, parent-rated inattention, reading comprehension, one participant-administered measure of planning/organization, parent-rated planning/organization, and parent-rated executive functioning. Participants did not improve on one measure of verbal WM, parent-rated hyperactivity/impulsivity, and a participant-administered measure of attention, one participant-administered measure of planning/organization, and a participant-administered measure of executive functioning. There was not enough teacher-report data to come to any meaningful conclusions. This lends some support that WMT can lead to improvements in broad cognitive functions. It is unclear whether the training needs to be difficult and adaptive in order to lead to improvements. Future studies need to investigate the necessary components of WMT and whether the improvements following WMT are clinically significant, stable over time, and not just due to practice effects, rater expectancy effects, or regression to the mean. Addit (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Steven Beck (Advisor) Subjects: Clinical Psychology

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2024, Psychology

Word segmentation, splitting spoken language into individual words, is important in language perception. Listeners cannot correctly comprehend continuous spoken language without segmenting it into individual words first. Previous research demonstrated that participants differed in the number of word pairs they segmented when relying only on their word knowledge, suggesting the presence of other cognitive processes that are associated with word segmentation. The current study explores the word segmentation process by identifying what cognitive abilities are involved in it. Participants completed four tasks: a word segmentation task, and a task for each cognitive ability that is suggested to be involved in word segmentation: lexical reliance, working memory capacity, and language experience. Results show that there are no significant correlations between word segmentation and the other three cognitive abilities. The findings of the current study contribute to the research of speech perception by demonstrating the absence of these cognitive abilities in word segmentation.

Committee: Mark Pitt (Advisor); Andrew Leber (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2023, Speech-Language Science (Health Sciences and Professions)

I explore the hypothesis that comprehension of spoken sentences by typically developing children is influenced by a fundamental memory ability, verbal chunking. I argue that, under memory constraints, this fundamental principle facilitates retention and recall of spoken utterances by helping the memory mechanism to store and process verbal information on a chunk-by-chunk basis. In Chapters 1 and 2, I discuss connections to the structure-based, memory-based, and experience-based approaches to comprehension. Further, the study's argument motivates two experimental tasks in Chapter 3, focusing on the relationship between verbal chunking and complex sentence comprehension. Analyses in Chapter 4 suggest that comprehension under attention-demanding conditions is predicted by children's verbal chunking ability. This suggests that language complexity invokes an automatic chunking process in working memory that is operated and facilitated by language knowledge from long term memory. The study also provides evidence that the chunking process is language-dependent: just as it can be facilitated by the advantage of language regularities and redundancies, it can also be impeded by factors such as interference/decay and structural irregularities in verbal input. These findings have important theoretical and clinical implications that are addressed in Chapter 5.

Committee: James Montgomery (Advisor); Joann Benigno (Committee Member); Chao-Yang Lee (Committee Member); Darcy Allan (Committee Member) Subjects: Cognitive Psychology; Experimental Psychology; Health Sciences; Language; Linguistics; Speech Therapy

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, 2016, Psychology-Adult Development and Aging

It is well-accepted that higher level cognitive abilities exhibit the greatest declines with the aging process. One aspect of executive function, working memory, is no exception to this trend. Older adults demonstrate clear deficits in working memory function which coincide with different patterns of neural activation compared to younger adults. The reliability of these effects and the strong relationship between age-related working memory losses and losses in other areas of cognitive function have led researchers to propose working memory function as a driving factor behind the majority of age-related losses in cognitive function. However, by treating working memory as a core factor behind cognitive losses with aging, it diminishes the conceptualization of working memory as a highly complex concept in itself. Indeed, as researchers have proposed multiple working memory theories from cognitive, neural, and computational perspectives in an effort to unify and understand the structure and function of the system, pointing to working memory as an explanatory factor behind age-related losses in cognitive performance provides nominal value. In contrast, by examining the working memory system using a process approach that breaks down the component subprocesses of the working memory system, we can gain a better understanding of how and why the complex concept of working memory has such strong associations with age-related losses in cognitive function. The principal goal of this doctoral thesis was to examine the role played by one such subcomponent of the working memory process, context integration, in age-related differences in working memory performance. A multiple experiment study examined how younger and older adults integrated contextual information in a working memory task by manipulating the predictability of source information in a repetition detection working memory paradigm. Behavioral (accuracy and response time) and neurophysiological (EEG) measures were taken (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Philip Allen Ph.D. (Advisor) Subjects: Psychology

MA, University of Cincinnati, 2015, Arts and Sciences: Psychology

Memory impairment is a common subjective complaint in those with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and also one of the best-documented performance deficiencies in this population on objective testing. Current clinical interventions do not treat these temporally-mediated memory problems directly. However, empirically validated interventions do exist for the related domain of working memory (WM; the ability to hold new information in mind and manipulate it). Current cognitive models suggest that both declarative and working memory are involved in directing attention to relevant information as well as encoding that information. This bridge between working memory and declarative memory suggests that if working memory can be enhanced, it may enable more efficient everyday functioning. The present study was the first to examine the impact of providing short-term computer-based WM training to patients who have undergone surgery for treatment of medication refractory epilepsy. The sample consisted of 10 adult post-surgical TLE patients who had either right or left TLE and were at least eight months post surgery and seizure-free. Participants were randomized to either the treatment (N=6) or the active control (N=4) arm of the study. All participants were provided with access to the CogMed QM™ web-based software package, which consists of a variety of activities and tasks that challenge users in areas that require working memory. In the active treatment condition, task difficulty escalated based on increasing ability. Participants in the active control condition completed the same tasks as the other group, but the items stayed at the initial level of difficulty throughout the intervention. Participants completed eight tasks each day, 5 days a week, for 5 weeks. There was a high degree of acceptability of the training, with 80% of participants completing all or nearly all (>92%) training days. There were no significant differences between treatment conditions in the dire (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Paula Shear Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Quintino Mano Ph.D. (Committee Member); Michael Privitera M.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2014, Psychology

Visual short-term memory (VSTM) is commonly perceived as a temporary buffer into which information is moved for retention across relatively short intervals. Guided by work on the “standard model” of working memory, these buffers are assumed to reside in modality-specific areas of the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Recent converging evidence has begun to call these conventional views into question, with a growing consensus that working memory is the emergent result of attention-guided activity across many areas of the brain. This “emergent-property” view suggests that working memory is sustained in part by the very same sensory areas involved in encoding external input. If visual short-term memory is represented and maintained on the same neural populations involved in common perceptual tasks as evidence suggests, we might expect possible interactions. The current thesis describes a series of experiments designed to build a detailed profile of these interactions. In Chapter 2 we establish the utility of using visual aftereffects as investigative tools in two behavioral experiments. In the first experiment we measure the magnitude of static and dynamic motion aftereffects before and after perceptual learning on a motion discrimination task using identical stimuli. Our results indicate that learning does not affect the duration of the aftereffects, strongly suggesting that improvements in discrimination are not mediated by changes in the underlying perceptual representations of the stimuli. Rather, our evidence supports the view that practice changes the relative contributions of perceptual outputs to decision-making areas. A second experiment rules out a competing explanation in which the locus of learning does not share enough overlap with the neural populations responsible for the observed aftereffects. Next, in Chapter 3 we demonstrate the efficacy of analyzing multivariate response data over traditional reliance on accuracy or response time alone. We apply the diffusio (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Alexander Petrov Ph.D. (Advisor); James Todd Ph.D. (Committee Member); Julie Golomb Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Cognitive Psychology; Neurosciences; Psychology

PHD, Kent State University, 2014, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Modern and Classical Language Studies

Drawing on empirical research methods and design from cognitive psychology and translation studies, this dissertation focuses on cognitive effort during the translation process when translation memory is used. More specifically, two questions are addressed by means of an experimental study. The first question is whether the use of translation memory affects the cognitive effort of the translator during the process of translating segmented texts compared to translation without the use of a TM. The second research question addressed in this study is whether translators perceive translation memory proposals as useful to the translation task. Both of these questions are experimentally investigated in an attempt to illuminate the effects resulting from the use of translation memory. This study first provides an overview of translation technology, and outlines key concepts, such as translation memory, post-editing, working memory, and cognitive effort. These concepts are explored within the context of professional translation and the existing literature is reviewed. Next, a novel, Web-based data collection method is proposed to elicit translation process data from Spanish-to-English translators with four to seven years of professional experience. Following this description, the results are presented in light of the two overarching research questions. Moreover, the results are examined in light of Angelone's (2010) notion of triadic metacognitive bundles, consisting of problem recognition, solution proposal, and solution evaluation behaviors. The dissertation concludes by suggesting implications for translation pedagogy, research design, and translation tool design. Finally, the economics ramifications are highlighted, and potential avenues for future research are proposed.

Committee: Keiran Dunne (Advisor); Gregory Shreve (Committee Member); Erik Angelone (Committee Member); Jonathan Maletic (Committee Member); William Merriman (Committee Member) Subjects: Foreign Language; Language; Linguistics

Doctor of Education, Ashland University, 2013, College of Education

Working memory provides the important function of remembering and being able to process information. A child with low working memory may demonstrate deficits in academic achievement. A pragmatic interpretivist research approach asked if working memory and general intelligence could be improved for students. The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to determine whether the computerized program Jungle Memory® could improve working memory for intermediate grade students. The study followed the Baddeley and Hitch theoretical framework of working memory. Data were collected from pre and post assessments in working memory and general ability. Verbal working memory and general ability did not increase after the intervention using the Jungle Memory® brain training program. Visuo-spatial working memory did increase with a medium effect size (d=.51). Pretests showed verbal working memory had a positive correlation with general ability (r=.455, p<.01). Posttests showed visuo-spatial working memory positively correlated with general ability (r=.624, p<.01). Verbal working memory and visuo-spatial working memory did not correlate, substantiating the Baddeley and Hitch framework of working memory mediated by the phonological loop and visuo-spatial sketchpad. The study did not substantiate an improvement in working memory for students with deficits in working memory ability.

Committee: Carla Edlefson PhD (Committee Chair); Paul Milton PhD (Committee Member); Jane Piirto PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Psychology

Master of Arts, University of Toledo, 2010, Psychology

The role of interhemispheric interaction is confirmed by past studies on handedness that have shown a mixed handed advantage in recalling episodic memories. The current study aimed to investigate whether a similar pattern exists for prospective memory (memory for future intentions). The study was performed on undergraduate participants of the University of Toledo (N = 143) and incorporated cognitive tests to measure prospective memory (Memory for Intentions Screening Test), working memory (Digit span) and executive function performance (Pair Cancellation Task) and a meta memory questionnaire on one's assessment of everyday memory (Everyday Memory Questionnaire). Handedness differences were not observed for prospective memory, although mean scores were nominally higher for mixed-handers. However, a significant female advantage was present. Further analyses showed a) positive associations between working and prospective memories and b) executive functioning was a significant predictor for prospective memory, both of these findings which were specific to females only. Finally, a concordance between meta memory and objective prospective memory scores was observed in females only. Results are discussed in the light of past research.

Committee: Stephen Christman (Committee Chair); John. D. Jasper (Committee Member); Kamala London (Committee Member) Subjects: Cognitive Psychology

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2012, Music

Rhythm has received scant attention from modelers and experimenters in working memory, and the mechanisms by which we retain rhythms over the short-term are poorly understood. This is a substantial gap in our knowledge of how music may be learned. Furthermore, recent theories of musical origins and psychological research into differential processing of voice sounds have converged to point towards the possibility that “rhythm” may be derived from at least two processes; a vocally-derived component and a manual, drumming component. This background provokes questions into how we remember rhythm, and whether vocal and instrumental rhythms are treated differently by working memory. This thesis reviews the foundation of these questions and then presents two behavioural experiments designed to investigate working memory for voice and non-voice rhythm. Participants performed two recognition memory experiments in which they were asked to judge the rhythm in pairs of recordings as either “same” or “different.” These recordings were drawn from field recordings of the Dyirbal of Australia, and on each trial the participants were presented with both voice and clapstick rhythm but were instructed to respond solely to one or the other. In the first experiment, musicians and non-musicians were tested at two interstimulus intervals, short (500ms) and long (12500ms). Musician performance was found to be superior in the clapstick task, but not in the voice task. Furthermore, both musicians and non-musicians performed worse in the voice task at the long duration compared to the short duration, while performance for the clapstick rhythms was not significantly decremented by the increased duration. Reaction time analysis showed an effect of duration, condition (different or same), and a small interaction between musical training and task (clapstick or voice). In the second experiment, musicians were tested with the same stimuli at the long duration but with additional interference tasks (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Udo Will PhD (Advisor); David Huron PhD (Committee Member); Ryan Skinner PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Music; Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2006, Psychology

The purpose of these experiments was twofold: The general purpose was to further investigate the properties of the phonological loop by extending the irrelevant sound effect paradigm to music (Schendel & Palmer, in press). The specific purpose was to investigate the similarity of content (Salame & Baddley, 1982; 1989) and similarity of process (Jones & Macken, 1993; 1995) hypotheses of working memory in order to determine which could best account for the irrelevant sound effects in both language and music. Experiment I consisted of serial recall of visually-presented nine-digit or nine-note sequences in the presence of irrelevant silence, instrumental music, vocal music, or Arabic speech. Experiment IIA and IIB used a six-digit or four-tone standard/comparison task with a retention interval under the same irrelevant sound conditions. Experiment III used the same procedure as IIA, but the irrelevant sound conditions were silence, low-overlap, and high-overlap sounds. In every experiment, a greater acoustic overlap between the to-be-remembered and to-be-ignored stimuli resulted in greater performance decrements. Aspects of both the similarity of process and similarity of content models were supported and integrated into a new model termed the Acoustic Overlap hypothesis which can more accurately account for the current findings.

Committee: Neal Johnson (Advisor) Subjects: Psychology, Cognitive

PHD, Kent State University, 2009, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Psychological Sciences

Simple and complex span tasks are thought to measure separate memory constructs. Recently, though, Unsworth and Engle (2006) proposed that simple and complex span tasks tap the same construct based on the reasoning that both similarly predict performance on measures of fluid intelligence (gF) when items in secondary memory (SM) are equated. Two studies were designed to evaluate (1) whether Unsworth and Engle's findings could be replicated and (2) whether individual differences in strategy use could account for their findings. Results demonstrated that, after equating the number of items retrieved from secondary memory, simple and complex span performance was similar and both equally predicted performance on gF tasks. Moreover, individual differences in effective strategy use partially accounted for these findings. That is, effective strategies were produced equally often on simple and complex span tasks after items in secondary memory were equated, but they did not account for the span-gF relationships.

Committee: John Dunlosky PhD (Committee Chair); Maria Zaragoza PhD (Committee Member); Joel Hughes PhD (Committee Member); Michael Kane PhD (Committee Member); Donald Bubenzer PhD (Other) Subjects: Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Toledo, 2013, Psychology

Past studies on strength of handedness, an individual difference variable, and working memory (WM) have shown their independent associations with episodic memory. The current study aimed to check for the associations between these three factors, in addition to assessing the role of strength of handedness in simple and complex WM tasks (measured by digit span and letter number sequencing tasks, respectively) and episodic memory (measured by verbal paired associates). Results revealed robust handedness differences in episodic memory echoing findings from a host of past studies, however, failed to show a significant association with WM. Further, a path model was attempted to check if handedness mediated via WM to influence episodic memory retrieval. Results revealed that the two were dissociated from one another and yet significantly affected episodic memory. The current findings are explained in the light of past evidence that support the roles of WM and handedness in encoding and retrieving episodic memories, respectively.

Committee: Stephen Christman Ph.D. (Committee Chair); John Jasper Ph.D. (Committee Member); Kamala London Ph.D. (Committee Member); Jason Rose Ph.D. (Committee Member); John McSweeny J.D., Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Cognitive Psychology; Experimental Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, Psychology

This dissertation investigates the developmental trajectory of cognitive mechanisms underlying category learning and decision-making, with a particular focus on the role of cognitive control, working memory, and metacognition. The research attempts to address how children's cognitive processes transition from reliance on simpler, more automatic to more complex, goal-directed strategies. Chapter 3 explores the influence of cognitive control, specifically inhibition failure, in category learning contexts. It was hypothesized that immature cognitive control drives children's distributed attention, resulting in compression-based learning. To test this hypothesis, we introduced a paradigm that substantially decreased cognitive control (i.e., filtering) demands. If immature cognitive control is the principal driver of distributed attention, reducing such demands should result in greater attentional selectivity. However, the experimental results did not support the immature cognitive control hypothesis, instead pointing toward working memory as a more critical factor. This led to the formulation of the working memory hypothesis –compression-based, not selection-based learning results from immature working memory that cannot provide reliable guidance for selective attention. Chapter 4 presents an adult study using a dual-task paradigm to manipulate working memory capacity and assess its impact on attention distribution during category iii learning. The findings that under working memory load, adults tend to distribute attention establish a causal link between working memory and attention distribution. They suggest that immature working memory, rather than cognitive control, is the primary driver of distributed attention and compression-based category learning in children. Chapter 5 shifts to a longitudinal study that tracks the development from uncertainty-driven to performance-optimizing decision-making, discussed within the framework of metacognitive development. Th (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Vladimir Sloutsky (Advisor); Hsin-Hung Li (Committee Member); John Opfer (Committee Member); Brandon Turner (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology