Enhancing the learning of new words using an errorless learning procedure: Evidence from typical adults

Two experiments compared the efficacy of errorless and errorful training procedures in the acquisition of novel words in typical adults. One experiment involved learning novel names for novel objects, while a second involved learning obscure English words and their definitions. In both studies the errorless method led to significantly better learning as assessed by an immediate cued recall test. The errorless advantage was characterised by a reduction in extra-experimental intrusion errors and was still present when learning was re-tested 3–4 days after training. In contrast there was no errorless advantage in recognition of word-to-object pairings. Taken together, these results suggest that errorless learning procedures improve retrieval by leading to the creation of better-specified, retrievable representations in long-term memory

Serial Position Effects in Short-term Visual Memory: A SIMPLE Explanation?

A version of Sternberg’s (1966) short-term, visual memory recognition paradigm with pictures of unfamiliar faces as stimuli was used in three experiments to assess the applicability of the distinctiveness based SIMPLE model proposed by Brown, Neath & Chater (2002). Initial simulations indicated that the amount of recency predicted increased as the parameter measuring the psychological distinctiveness of the stimulus material (c) increased, and that the amount of primacy was dependent on the extent of proactive interference from previously presented stimuli. The data from experiment 1, which used memory lists of four and five faces varying in visual similarity confirmed the predicted, extended recency effect. However, changes in visual similarity were not found to produce changes in c. In Experiments 2 and 3, the conditions that influence the magnitude of c were explored. These revealed that both the familiarity of the stimulus class before testing, and changes in familiarity due to perceptual learning, influenced distinctiveness as indexed by the parameter c. Overall the empirical data from all three experiments were well-fit by SIMPLE

On the nature of the relationship between processing activity and item retention in children.

The concept of working memory emphasizes the interrelationship between the transient retention of information and concurrent processing activity. Three experiments address this relationship in children between 8 and 17 years of age by examining forgetting when a processing task is interpolated between presentation and recall of the memory items. Unlike previous studies, delivery of interpolated stimuli was under computer control and responses to these stimuli were timed. There were consistent effects of the duration of the interpolated task, but no effects of either its difficulty or similarity to memory material and no qualitative developmental differences in task performance. The absence of an effect of difficulty provides no support for models of working memory in which limited capacity is shared between the dual functions of processing and storage, but is compatible with an alternative “task switching” account. However, task switching did not explain developmental differences in recall. Other aspects of the results suggest that there can be interactions between processing and storage but it is argued that these cannot be straightforwardly explained in terms of either task switching or resource sharing

Executive and perceptual attention play different roles in visual working memory: Evidence from suffix and strategy effects

Four experiments studied the interfering effects of a to-be-ignored ‘stimulus suffix’ on cued recall of feature bindings for a series of objects. When each object was given equal weight (Experiment 1) or rewards favored recent items (Experiments 2 and 4), a recency effect emerged that was selectively reduced by a suffix. The reduction was greater for a ‘plausible’ suffix with features drawn from the same set as the memory items, in which case a feature of the suffix was frequently recalled as an intrusion error. Changing pay-offs to reward recall of early items led to a primacy effect alongside recency (Experiments 3 and 4). Primacy, like recency, was reduced by a suffix and the reduction was greater for a suffix with plausible features, such features often being recalled as intrusion errors. Experiment 4 revealed a trade-off such that increased primacy came at the cost of a reduction in recency. These observations show that priority instructions and recency combine to determine a limited number of items that are the most accessible for immediate recall and yet at the same time the most vulnerable to interference. We interpret this outcome in terms of a labile, limited capacity ‘privileged state’ controlled by both central executive processes and perceptual attention. We suggest further that this privileged state can be usefully interpreted as the focus of attention in the episodic buffer

Acute Renal Failure, Microangiopathic Haemolytic Anemia, and Secondary Oxalosis in a Young Female Patient

A 29-year old female presented with a one-week history of vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, and headache. On admission, she had acute renal failure requiring dialysis. Tests revealed a hemolytic anemia with thrombocytopenia. An initial diagnosis of thrombotic thrombocytopenic microangiopathy was made and plasma exchange was instigated. However, renal biopsy did not show thrombotic microangiopathy but instead revealed acute kidney injury with mild tubulointerstitial nephritis and numerous oxalate crystals, predominantly in the distal tubules. The patient had been taking large doses (>1100 mg daily) of vitamin C for many months. She also gave a history of sclerotherapy using injections of an ethylene glycol derivative for superficial leg veins. The patient completed five sessions of plasma exchange and was able to discontinue dialysis. She eventually achieved full renal recovery. She has now discontinued sclerotherapy and vitamin supplementation

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

Rumen Virus Populations: Technological Advances Enhancing Current Understanding

The rumen contains a multi-kingdom, commensal microbiome, including protozoa, bacteria, archaea, fungi and viruses, which enables ruminant herbivores to ferment and utilize plant feedstuffs that would be otherwise indigestible. Within the rumen, virus populations are diverse and highly abundant, often out-numbering the microbial populations that they both predate on and co-exist with. To date the research effort devoted to understanding rumen-associated viral populations has been considerably less than that given to the other microbial populations, yet their contribution to maintaining microbial population balance, intra-ruminal microbial lysis, fiber breakdown, nutrient cycling and genetic transfer may be highly significant. This review follows the technological advances which have contributed to our current understanding of rumen viruses and drawing on knowledge from other environmental and animal-associated microbiomes, describes the known and potential roles and impacts viruses have on rumen function and speculates on the future directions of rumen viral research