Can interpolated testing reduce retrieval-induced forgetting?

Testing can improve retention of tested information (see Roediger & Karpicke, 2006a for review), but it can also impair memory for nontested, related information: an effect termed retrieval-induced forgetting (Anderson, Bjork, & Bjork, 1994). To my knowledge, retrieval-induced forgetting has only been shown in experiments where participants study all exemplars and then perform one retrieval practice phase (see Anderson, 2003; Raaijmakers & Jakab, 2013; Storm & Levy, 2012 for reviews). Researchers have demonstrated that interpolating memory tests during the learning phase can reduce the amount of proactive interference one experiences when one learns new information (Szpunar, McDermott, & Roediger, 2008). In this dissertation, I examined how studying information in multiple blocks rather than one block influenced the buildup of proactive interference. Previous researchers (Szpunar et al., 2008) examined how testing can reduce the buildup of practice interference when all previously studied information was tested. I examined whether testing only a subset of the exemplars in a block would inoculate participants against the buildup of proactive interference. Furthermore, I examined how the presentation order of the Rp- exemplars (i.e., nontested exemplars from the tested categories) relative to the Rp+ (tested) exemplars influenced the magnitude of retrieval-induced forgetting. Retrieval-induced forgetting researchers generally endorse one of two accounts: the inhibition (Anderson, 2003) or blocking account (Raaijmakers & Jakab, 2013). I predicted that if blocking drives retrieval-induced forgetting, I would find retrieval-induced forgetting regardless of presentation order of the Rp- and Rp+ exemplars. However, if inhibition drives retrieval-induced forgetting, I would only find retrieval-induced forgetting in conditions where Rp- exemplars were presented prior to retrieval practice. In three experiments, to-be-learned information was presented either in one block followed by retrieval practice (the cumulative retrieval practice condition), or presented in four blocks. For the latter participants, some were given math instead of retrieval practice between each block (the interim math condition), some participants studied the Rp- exemplars in blocks prior to the presentation and retrieval practice of the Rp+ exemplars (the high competition condition), and the remaining participants studied and received retrieval practice over the Rp+ exemplars before learning the Rp- exemplars (the low competition condition). Then participants either had a 20-minute (Experiments 1 and 3) or 10-minute distractor period (Experiment 2). Finally, participants either were given a category cued recall test (Experiment 1) or a category-plus-stem cued recall test (Experiments 2 and 3). In Experiment 1, participants demonstrated retrieval-induced forgetting in the cumulative retrieval practice, high competition, and low competition conditions. However, in Experiment 2, participants only demonstrated retrieval-induced forgetting in the cumulative retrieval practice and high competition conditions. The results of Experiment 3 were inconsistent with Experiments 1 and 2 and may have been due to chance. The current dissertation provides evidence for both the inhibition and blocking accounts

Providing Corrective Feedback During Retrieval Practice Does Not Increase Retrieval-Induced Forgetting

Recalling a subset of studied materials can impair subsequent retrieval of related, nontested materials. In two experiments, we examined the influence of providing corrective feedback (no feedback, immediate feedback, delayed feedback) during retrieval practice on this retrieval-induced forgetting effect. Performance was assessed with category cued recall (e.g., recall all exemplars studied under Weather), category-and-stem cued recall (e.g., Weather–B___), and recognition. We report a dissociation between the effects of feedback on memory of the tested materials and the nontested materials. Whereas providing immediate or delayed feedback (compared to no feedback) improved recall and recognition of the tested items, it had no influence on retrieval-induced forgetting. These results are consistent with the inhibition account of retrieval-induced forgetting. From an applied perspective, this finding is encouraging for students and educators who use testing to foster learning

How is Death Penalty Used in China?

Strike hard Campaigns. The Views of the People and of the Elite. Comments on the interplay between penal populism, leadership from the front and human rights. To what extent are hard strike campaigns formed as penal populism in the provinces or as a result of leadership from the front centrally. The hard strike campaigns in the future. (Preliminary Symposium Program for The first Oslo international Symposium on Death penalty in Asia)published_or_final_versio

The Subcellular Distribution of Alpha-Tocopherol in the Adult Primate Brain and Its Relationship with Membrane Arachidonic Acid and Its Oxidation Products

The relationship between α-tocopherol, a known antioxidant, and polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) oxidation, has not been directly investigated in the primate brain. This study characterized the membrane distribution of α-tocopherol in brain regions and investigated the association between membrane α-tocopherol and PUFA content, as well as brain PUFA oxidation products. Nuclear, myelin, mitochondrial, and neuronal membranes were isolated using a density gradient from the prefrontal cortex (PFC), cerebellum (CER), striatum (ST), and hippocampus (HC) of adult rhesus monkeys (n = 9), fed a stock diet containing vitamin E (α-, γ-tocopherol intake: ~0.7 µmol/kg body weight/day, ~5 µmol/kg body weight/day, respectively). α-tocopherol, PUFAs, and PUFA oxidation products were measured using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), gas chromatography (GC) and liquid chromatography-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC-GC/MS) respectively. α-Tocopherol (ng/mg protein) was highest in nuclear membranes (p < 0.05) for all regions except HC. In PFC and ST, arachidonic acid (AA, µg/mg protein) had a similar membrane distribution to α-tocopherol. Total α-tocopherol concentrations were inversely associated with AA oxidation products (isoprostanes) (p < 0.05), but not docosahexaenoic acid oxidation products (neuroprostanes). This study reports novel data on α-tocopherol accumulation in primate brain regions and membranes and provides evidence that α-tocopherol and AA are similarly distributed in PFC and ST membranes, which may reflect a protective effect of α-tocopherol against AA oxidation

Viral discovery and sequence recovery using DNA microarrays

Because of the constant threat posed by emerging infectious diseases and the limitations of existing approaches used to identify new pathogens, there is a great demand for new technological methods for viral discovery. We describe herein a DNA microarray-based platform for novel virus identification and characterization. Central to this approach was a DNA microarray designed to detect a wide range of known viruses as well as novel members of existing viral families; this microarray contained the most highly conserved 70mer sequences from every fully sequenced reference viral genome in GenBank. During an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in March 2003, hybridization to this microarray revealed the presence of a previously uncharacterized coronavirus in a viral isolate cultivated from a SARS patient. To further characterize this new virus, approximately 1 kb of the unknown virus genome was cloned by physically recovering viral sequences hybridized to individual array elements. Sequencing of these fragments confirmed that the virus was indeed a new member of the coronavirus family. This combination of array hybridization followed by direct viral sequence recovery should prove to be a general strategy for the rapid identification and characterization of novel viruses and emerging infectious disease

Prototypical Coronavirus Genome Structure

<p>Red bars indicate physical location of virus microarray DNA elements mapped to a generic coronavirus genome. Portions of the coronavirus genome sequenced by physical recovery and PCR methods are highlighted with homologies to known coronaviruses. Abbreviations: aa, amino acid; nt, nucleotide</p