An Exploration of the Factors that Modulate Sensory Dominance.

Ph.D. Thesis. University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa 2018

The Process and Product of Coherence Monitoring in Young Readers:Effects of Reader and Text Characteristics

We examined sixth graders’ detection of inconsistencies in narrative and expository passages, contrasting participants who were monolingual speakers (N=85) or Spanish-English DLLs (N=94) when recruited in pre-kindergarten (PK). We recorded self-paced reading times and judgements about whether the text made sense, and took an independent measure of word reading. Main findings were that inconsistency detection was better for narratives, for participants who were monolingual speakers in PK, and for those who were better word readers. When the text processing demands were increased by separating the inconsistent sentence and its premise with filler sentences there was a stronger signal for inconsistency detection during reading for better word readers. Reading patterns differed for texts for which children reported an inconsistency compared to those for which they did not, indicating a failure to adequately monitor for coherence while reading. Our performance measures indicate that narrative and expository texts make different demands on readers

A computational investigation of relational reasoning in nonhuman animals

M.A. University of Hawaii at Manoa 2012.Includes bibliographical references.Since Darwin (1859) suggested that all animals share a common ancestry, researchers have attempted to assess how the divergence between human and nonhuman animal biology and cognition came about. Animals have a large repertoire of physical and behavioral adaptations that have afforded them the ability to overcome myriad obstacles to their existence. On the behavioral level, these adaptations are as diverse as the species that exhibit them. One merely has to select an animal species at random and do a cursory investigation in order to find many complex behaviors which make that animal a perfect fit for the environment that it inhabits. However, it is possible that the high degree to which an animal is adapted to its environment may limit that animal's ability to employ flexible behavior. For example, the digger wasp has a highly stereotypical set of behavioral steps for readying a nest. If any one of these steps is disrupted in the process of nest creation, the digger wasp will not alter its behavioral program, even if doing so would ensure the life of its offspring (Fabre, 1919). In short, the digger wasp lacks flexibility in its behavioral routine. Indeed, many animal species display rigidity in their behavior. Humans, on the other hand, appear to have much more control of their behavior as well as a flexibility that has allowed them to manipulate and change their environment. The mechanism that underlies this ability may be at the heart of what makes human and nonhuman animal cognition so qualitatively different

Effect of Aging on Inhibitory Attentional Mechanisms

The ability to inhibit the processing of irrelevant informationdeclines as adults age (Hasher & Zacks, 1988; Lustig, Hasherand Tonev, 2006; Mayr, 2001). However, previous researchinvestigating inhibitory control in older adults has notevaluated the extent to which irrelevant information isprocessed and later recognized. Using a dual task paradigmwith young adults, Dewald, Sinnett, and Doumas (2011)demonstrated inhibited recognition for previously ignoredwords, provided they had appeared infrequently with targetsin the primary task, compared to words that did not appearwith targets. The current study adapted this paradigm toexamine inhibitory mechanisms in a sample of older adults.Here, older adults exhibited inhibited recognition for allwords while young adults continued to show greaterinhibition for words that had appeared with targets comparedto words that had not. This finding suggests that older adultsmay experience a decline in the selective inhibition ofirrelevant information

Differential Processing for Actively Ignored Pictures and Words

Previous work suggests pictures may be processed more readily than words, likely because pictures appear tomaintain more direct access to semantic and conceptual representations (Amit, Algom, & Trope, 2009). However, it is unclearhow words and pictures may be processed differently when they are actively ignored. Our earlier work demonstrated a facilitatedrecognition for actively ignored words, provided they appeared frequently with an attended target in a previously presentedrepetition detection task (Dewald, Sinnett, & Doumas, 2012). The current study adapted this paradigm to examine the extentto which unattended pictures may be processed under analogous conditions. Overall, ignored pictures were recognized moreoften than ignored words. Moreover, recognition for ignored pictures did not benefit from target-alignment whereas ignoredwords did. These findings suggest that unattended pictures may continue to be processed more readily than words even underconditions in which attention is not directed toward them

Differential Processing for Actively Ignored Pictures and Words

This data set contains accuracy and reaction time (RT) scores for participants during a primary identification task and secondary surprise recognition test. For more information regarding the data set, please contact the researcher

Performance accuracy on the surprise recognition test.

<p>Recognition rates and standard error for TA items (dark grey bar) and NA items (light grey bar). “Words” and “Pictures” indicate the stimulus type in the recognition test. Asterisks (*) indicate a significant difference from chance; caret (^) indicates a significant difference between items within a group.</p

Dimensionality of Oral Language in Bilingual 6th Grade Children

We examined the dimensionality of oral language in Spanish-English bilingual 6th-grade children. Research indicates that oral language in bilingual children is multidimensional (LARRC, 2015). However, dimensionality may differ by age and the measures used. Few studies have included pragmatic skills or studied the structure of oral language in Spanish-English bilingual adolescents. We conduct confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) on a sample of 95 bilingual 6th-grade children to test oral language models with one to four (grammar, vocabulary, listening comprehension, and pragmatics) underlying factors, as well as bifactor and hierarchical models that include a general factor. In addition, we test two models with language-specific factors. Model parameters and appropriate fit statistics, including chi-square difference tests for nested models, are presented to aid in judging the adequacy of alternative models. The study is preregistered, and the data are collected and cleaned