The fact that a significant amount of release from proactive interference was obtained with subjects in this study by shifting between differentially arousing categories of words suggested that rated word arousal is an encoding dimension in short-term memory. (CM)

The idea was explored that different subjects may use qualitatively different encoding strategies with the same information presented within the same experimental situation. The premise was also studied that different strategies may be evoked by subtle differences in advance instructions or in the context of the task. (Author/MH)

The extent to which an orienting activity exerts control over the encoding process was studied. Two experiments were reported in which associative meaningfulness was varied under conditions of semantic and nonsemantic processing. Both experiments showed effects of meaningfulness following both semantic and nonsemantic tasks. (Author/MH)

In this study, cognitive processes hypothesized to be relevant to the digit symbol task of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) were examined. Fifty-two undergraduate education students were divided into four groups to receive four different treatments. All the students took the digit symbol test, followed immediately by a test of their…

Evidence is presented to demonstrate that arranging word lists on distinctive visual patterns results in better recall performance than does presenting the same word lists on a pattern that is always the same. Results of three experiments using college age students are reported. (Author/LMO)

In three experiments, fifth graders and college students watched a videotaped peer model executing two differentially effective associative-learning strategies. Observation of the model did not result in the consistent use of that strategy by fifth graders. College students did appear to benefit from the observational-learning opportunity.…

Studied prior knowledge as a mediator of effectiveness of the elaborative interrogation strategy for 50 male and 50 female undergraduates in a learning task. The elaborative interpretation group had significantly greater matching scores on an associative memory test for animal information than the control group only for familiar animals. (SLD)

Developmental differences in the acquisition of information about strategy efficiency gleaned from observation of a peer model were assessed among 60 second and 60 seventh graders and 60 undergraduate students. At each age level, 20 subjects were randomly assigned to each of 3 experimental conditions. Developmental differences were considerable.…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 25 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: reading achievement as it relates to child dependency, the development of phonological coding, short-term memory and associative learning, variables available in…