Completing the picture: the effects of video game practice on verbal and performance I.Q. scores in high functioning children

The strength and nature of the video game practice effect on tests of visual and perceptual skills were examined using high functioning Grades Four and Five students who had been tested with the WISC-R .for the purpose of gifted identification and placement. The control group, who did not own and .play video games on a sustained basis, and the experimental group, who did own a video game system and had some mastery of video games, including the -Nintendo game, "Tetris", were each composed of 18 juniorg:r;-ade students and were chosen from pre-existing conditions. The experimental group corresponded to the control group in terms of age, sex, and community. Data on the Verbal and Performance I.Q. Scores were· collected for both groups and the author was interested in the difference between the Verbal and Performance Scores within each group, anticipating a P > V outcome for the experimental group. The results showed a significant P > V difference in the experimental, video game playing group, as expected, but no significant difference between the Performance $cores of the control and experimental groups. The results, thus, indicated lower Verbal I.Q. Scores in the experimental group relat'ive to 'the control group.' The study conclu~ed that information about a sUbject's video game experience and "learhing style pref~rence is important for a clear interpretation of the Verbal and Performance I.Q. Scores of the WISC-R. Although the time spent on video game play may, 'indeed, increase P~rformance Scores relative to Verbal Scores for an individual, the possibilities exist that the time borrowed and spent away from language based activities may retard verbal growth and/or that the cognitive style associated with some Performance I.Q.subtests may have a negative effect on the approach to the tasks on the Verbal I.Q. Scale. The study also discussed the possibility that exposure to ,the video game experience, in pre-puberty, can provide spatial instruction which will result in improved spatial skills. strong spatial skills have been linked to improved performance and preference in mathematics, science, and engineering and it was suggested that appropriate video game play might be a way to involve girls more in the fields of mathematics and science.

Engineers and technicians : the effect of cognitive style and gender on visual information processing

The purpose of this project was to identify in a subject group of engineers and technicians (N = 62) a preferred mode of representation for facilitating correct recall of information from complex graphics. The modes of representation were black and white (b&w) block, b&w icon, color block, and color icon. The researcher's test instrument included twelve complex graphics (six b&w and six color - three per mode). Each graphics presentation was followed by two multiple-choice questions. Recall performance was better using b&w block mode graphics and color icon mode graphics. A standardized test, the Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) was used to identify a cognitive style preference (field dependence). Although engineers and technicians in the sample were strongly field-independent, they were not significantly more field-independent than the normative group in the Witkin, Oltman, Raskin, and Karp study (1971). Tests were also employed to look for any significant difference in cognitive style preference due to gender. None was found. Implications from the project results for the design of visuals and their use in technical training are discussed.

The effect of motor-encoding activities on memory and performance in a grade one reading program

This study examined the effectiveness of motor-encoding activities on memory and performance of students in a Grade One reading program. There were two experiments in the study. Experiment 1 replicated a study by Eli Saltz and David Dixon (1982). The effect of motoric enactment (Le., pretend play) of sentences on memory for the sentences was investigated. Forty Grade One students performed a "memory-for-sentences" technique, devised by Saltz and Dixon. Only the experimental group used motoric enactment of the sentences. Although quantitative findings revealed no significant difference between the mean scores of the experimental group versus the control group, aspects of the experimental design could have affected the results. It was suggested that Saltz and Dixon's study could be replicated again, with more attention given to variables such as population size, nature of the test sentences, subjects' previous educational experience and conditions related to the testing environment. The second experiment was an application of Saltz and Dixon's theory that motoric imagery should facilitate memory for sentences. The intent was to apply this theory to Grade One students' ability to remember words from their reading program. An experimental gym program was developed using kinesthetic activities to reinforce the skills of the classroom reading program. The same subject group was used in Experiment 2. It was hypothesized that the subjects who experienced the experimental gym program would show greater signs of progress in reading ability, as evidenced by their scores on Form G of the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test--Revised. The data from the WRM--R were analyzed with a 3-way split-plot analysis of variance in which group (experimental vs. control) and sex were the between subjects variables and test-time (pre-test vs. post-test) was the within-subjects variable. Findings revealed the following: (a) both groups made substantial gains over time on the visual-auditory learning sub-test and the triple action of group x sex x time also was significant; (b) children in the experimental and control groups performed similarly on both the pre- and post-test of the letter identification test; (c) time was the only significant effect on subjects' performance on the word identification task; (d) work attack scores showed marked improvement in performance over time for both the experimenta+ and control groups; (e) passage comprehension scores indicated an improvement in performance for both groups over time. Similar to Experiment 1, it is suggested that several modifications in the experimental design could produce significant results. These factors are addressed with suggestions for further research in the area of active learning; more specifically, the effect of motor-encoding activities on memory and academic performance of children.

The performance and strategies of adolescents in learning to read artificial words /

The present study explored processing strategies used by individuals when they begin to read c;l script. Stimuli were artificial words created from symbols and based on an alphabetic system. The words were.presented to Grade Nine and Ten students, with variations included in the difficulty of orthography and word familiarity, and then scores were recorded on the mean number of trials for defined learning variables. Qualitative findings revealed that subjects 1 earned parts of the visual a'nd auditory features of words prior to hooking up the visual stimulus to the word's name. Performance measures-which appear to affect the rate of learning were as follows: auditory short-term memory, auditory delayed short-term memory, visual delayed short- term memory, and word attack or decod~ng skills. Qualitative data emerging in verbal reports by the subjects revealed that strategies they pefceived to use were, graphic, phonetic decoding and word .reading.

Representations of swinging London in 1960s British cinema : Blowup (1966), Smashing Time (1967), and Performance (1970)

This thesis explores the representation of Swinging London in three examples of 1960s British cinema: Blowup (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1966), Smashing Time (Desmond Davis, 1967) and Performance (Donald Cammell and Nicolas Roeg, 1970). It suggests that the films chronologically signify the evolution, commodification and dissolution of the Swinging London era. The thesis explores how the concept of Swinging London is both critiqued and perpetuated in each film through the use of visual tropes: the reconstruction of London as a cinematic space; the Pop photographer; the dolly; representations of music performance and fashion; the appropriation of signs and symbols associated with the visual culture of Swinging London. Using fashion, music performance, consumerism and cultural symbolism as visual narratives, each film also explores the construction of youth identity through the representation of manufactured and mediated images. Ultimately, these films reinforce Swinging London as a visual economy that circulates media images as commodities within a system of exchange. With this in view, the signs and symbols that comprise the visual culture of Swinging London are as central and significant to the cultural era as their material reality. While they attempt to destabilize prevailing representations of the era through the reproduction and exchange of such symbols, Blowup, Smashing Time, and Performance nevertheless contribute to the nostalgia for Swinging London in larger cultural memory.

Early Development of Auditory-Verbal and Visual-Spatial Short-Term Memory: Age and Sex Effects

Memory is a multi-component cognitive ability to retain and retrieve information presented in different modalities. Research on memory development has shown that the memory capacity and the processes improve gradually from early childhood to adolescence. Findings related to the sex-differences in memory abilities in early childhood have been inconsistent. Although previous research has demonstrated the effects of the modality of stimulus presentation (auditory versus verbal) and the type of material to be remembered (visual/spatial versus auditory/verbal) on the memory processes and memory organization, the recent research with children is rather limited. The present study is a secondary analysis of data, originally collected from 530 typically developing Turkish children and adolescents. The purpose of the present study was to examine the age-related developments and sex differences in auditory-verbal and visual-spatial short-term memory (STM) in 177 typically developing male and female children, 5 to 8 years of age. Dot-Locations and Word-Lists from the Children's Memory Scale were used to measure visual-spatial and auditory-verbal STM performances, respectively. The findings of the present study suggest age-related differences in both visual-spatial and auditory-verbal STM. Sex-differences were observed only in one visual-spatial STM subtest performance. Modality comparisons revealed age- and task-related differences between auditory-verbal and visual-spatial STM performances. There were no sex-related effects in terms of modality specific performances. Overall, the results of this study provide evidence of STM development in early childhood, and these effects were mostly independent of sex and the modality of the task.

Age-Related Changes in Visual Spatial Working Memory Cognits: Frontal-Parietal EEG Coherence During Delay

This study explored changes in scalp electrophysiology across two Working Memory (WM) tasks and two age groups. Continuous electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded from 18 healthy adults (18-34 years) and 12 healthy adolescents (14-17) during the performance of two Oculomotor Delayed Response (ODR) WM tasks; (i.e. eye movements were the metric of motor response). Delay-period, EEG data in the alpha frequency was sampled from anterior and parietal scalp sites to achieve a general measure of frontal and parietal activity, respectively. Frontal-parietal, alpha coherence was calculated for each participant for each ODR-WM task. Coherence significantly decreased in adults moving across the two ODR tasks, whereas, coherence significantly increased in adolescents moving across the two ODR tasks. The effects of task in the adolescent and adult groups were large and medium, respectively. Within the limits of this study, the results provide empirical support that WM development during adolescence include complex, qualitative, change.