Contributions of survey research to the understanding of memory

This article reviews the results of survey methodological research that illustrate phenomena of potential interest to investigators of memory, and also reviews psychological research designed to explore some of these phenomena under controlled laboratory conditions. We classify the phenomena reviewed into broad categories of remembering what events occurred, remembering when events occurred, and estimation and reconstruction processes used in reporting recurring events. We delineate the contributions of this research for our understanding of memory phenomena and show where this research has revealed gaps in our existing theories and knowledge. These findings present challenges for future collaboration between cognitive psychologists and survey methodologists.     

Effects of active student response during error correction on the acquisition and maintenance of geography facts by elementary students with learning disabilities

An alternating treatments design was used to compare the effects of Active Student Response (ASR) error correction and No Response (NR) error correction during instruction of the capitals of states and countries. Three students with learning disabilities were provided one-to-one daily instruction on four sets of 14 unknown capitals (7 ASR capitals and 7 NR capitals). Student errors during instruction on ASR capitals were immediately followed by the teacher stating the capital and the student repeating it (an active student response). Errors on NR capitals were immediately followed by the teacher stating the capital while the student visually attended to a geography card with the correct capital handwritten on it (an on-task response). During instruction each of the three students correctly stated more capitals taught with ASR instruction than he or she stated with NR error correction. Results of same-day and next-day tests show that all three students learned more capitals with ASR error correction than with NR error correction The students also correctly stated more ASR error correction capitals on 1-week maintenance tests.     

Family preservation using multisystemic treatment: Long-term follow-up to a clinical trial with serious juvenile offenders

In a randomized clinical trial, multisystemic family preservation was shown to significantly reduce rates of criminal activity and incarceration in a sample of 84 serious juvenile offenders and their multi-need families. In the current study, archival records were searched for re-arrest an average of 2.4 years post-referral. Survival analysis showed that youths who received multisystemic family preservation were less likely to be re-arrested than were youths who had received usual services. Such results represent the first controlled demonstration that family preservation, when delivered via a clearly specified treatment model, has lasting effects with serious juvenile offenders. Implications for family preservation and juvenile justice research are discussed.