Executive control of stimulus-driven and goal-directed attention in visual working memory

We examined the role of executive control in stimulus-driven and goal-directed attention in visual working memory using probed recall of a series of objects, a task that allows study of the dynamics of storage through analysis of serial position data. Experiment 1 examined whether executive control underlies goal-directed prioritization of certain items within the sequence. Instructing participants to prioritize either the first or final item resulted in improved recall for these items, and an increase in concurrent task difficulty reduced or abolished these gains, consistent with their dependence on executive control. Experiment 2 examined whether executive control is also involved in the disruption caused by a post-series visual distractor (suffix). A demanding concurrent task disrupted memory for all items except the most recent, whereas a suffix disrupted only the most recent items. There was no interaction when concurrent load and suffix were combined, suggesting that deploying selective attention to ignore the distractor did not draw upon executive resources. A final experiment replicated the independent interfering effects of suffix and concurrent load while ruling out possible artifacts. We discuss the results in terms of a domain-general episodic buffer in which information is retained in a transient, limited capacity privileged state, influenced by both stimulus-driven and goal-directed processes. The privileged state contains the most recent environmental input together with goal-relevant representations being actively maintained using executive resources

Holding up mirrors: reflections on academic literacy development across course curricula

The aim of the HEPPP funded project presented here is to embed support for the development of academic literacies (Lea & Street 1998) by developing inclusive curricula in courses with a high percentage of students from low socioeconomic status (LSES) backgrounds (Devlin et al. 2012). Reflection is central in both the Bachelor of Early Childhood Education (BECE) and the Bachelor of Social Work, and the student profiles in these two courses mirror each other, but the approach taken differs. Many BECE students enter university through a TAFE pathway, some have low or no school exit scores and may have faced significant educational disadvantage in the past (Whitington et al. 2009). The BECE team responded to the invitation to use the Harper (2011) framework for academic literacy mapping by revising it and making it their own. Similarly, a large proportion of social work students are mature aged and first in their family to attend university with many entering via the TAFE sector (Goldingay et al. 2011). This earlier study found differences between staff and student perceptions of the academic skills needed for success, so resources developed through the project drew on the student voice and student perceptions to invite new students into disciplinary practices. This presentation will illustrate the approaches taken by Language and Learning Advisers (LLAs) working collaboratively with these two academic teams to help academic staff reflect on, scaffold and support the development of the academic literacies relevant to their discipline and provide more relevant feedback (Jolly 2001)

Lease hunting opportunities for Oklahoma landowners

The Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service periodically issues revisions to its publications. The most current edition is made available. For access to an earlier edition, if available for this title, please contact the Oklahoma State University Library Archives by email at [email protected] or by phone at 405-744-6311

Visual working memory phenomena based on categorical tasks replicate using a continuous measure : A simple interpretation and some methodological considerations

An increasingly popular method for investigating visuospatial working memory assumes stored features of objects such as color and orientation vary along continua subject to internal noise. It adapts the stimulus adjustment procedure from perceptual psychophysics to assess the precision with which stored features are represented in memory. This contrasts with methods using discrete, categorical measures of feature retention. The current study examined the replicability of some phenomena documented using conventional methodology when assessed using a continuous measure of feature recall. These concern memory for a short series of objects and include effects of recency, prioritizing an individual object, and presenting an irrelevant additional object after the last item (a poststimulus 'suffix'). In two experiments we find broadly similar results using a continuous measure of color-orientation binding to those obtained previously using categorical measures, with small differences we regard as minor. We interpret the convergence between methods in terms of a simple analogy between categorical memory and categorical perception whereby categorical retrieval involves the application of a discrete criterion to an underlying continuum of stored feature information. We conclude by discussing some of the advantages and limitations of continuous and categorical measures of retention

What Does a Person Have to Do to Use a Computer Here?

This presentation talks about how the presenters got started looking into authentication in academic libraries in NC and how the presenters got interested in this topic. It covers the methodology of their research and some of their findings, with charts and graphs of each question

User authentication in the public area of academic libraries in North Carolina

The clash of principles between protecting privacy and protecting security can create an impasse between libraries, campus IT departments, and academic administration over authentication issues with the public area PCs in the library. This research takes an in-depth look at the state of authentication practices within a specific region (i.e. all the academic libraries in North Carolina) in an attempt to create a profile of those libraries that choose to authenticate or not. The researchers reviewed an extensive amount of data to identify the factors involved with this decision

TeleHealth Improves Diabetes Self-Management in an Underserved Community: Diabetes TeleCare

OBJECTIVE To conduct a 1-year randomized clinical trial to evaluate a remote comprehensive diabetes self-management education (DSME) intervention, Diabetes TeleCare, administered by a dietitian and nurse/certified diabetes educator (CDE) in the setting of a federally qualified health center (FQHC) in rural South Carolina

Visual similarity effects on short-term memory for order: The case of verbally labeled pictorial stimuli

Four experiments examined the effect of visual similarity on immediate memory for order. Experiments 1 and 2 used easily nameable line drawings. Following a sequential presentation in either silent or suppression conditions, participants were presented with the drawings in a new, random order and were required to remember their original serial position. In Experiment 3, participants first learned to associate a verbal label with an abstract matrix pattern. Then they completed an immediate memory task in which they had to name the matrices aloud during presentation. At recall, the task required remembering either the order of the matrices or the order of their names. In Experiment 4, participants learned to associate nonword labels with schematic line drawings of faces; the phonemic similarity of the verbal labels was also manipulated. All four experiments indicate that the representations supporting performance comprise both verbal and visual features. The results are consistent with a multiattribute encoding view