USE OF ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPH (EEG) DATA TO EXAMINE A VISUAL‐VERBAL LITERACY MODEL

ABSTRACT

In this study a theoretical model, which attempts to explain the relation between visual ability and verbal written composition in terms of hemispheric activity, was tested. Twenty‐one freshmen and sophomores in a variety of programs at Rutgers University were subjected to the Visual Compositions teaching technique while being monitored by an EEG machine. For the collection and initial analysis of the data we adopted the Amplitude Integration method, developed by Goldstein at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey

The results support the principal tenets of the model for right‐handed subjects but suggest that modifications are in order. Further research needs to be conducted before it can be adopted with confidence.     

By Any Other Name: Patriotism and Civic Virtue in a Global Context

Studies in Philosophy and Education -     

Effects of lexical competition on immediate memory span for spoken words

Current theories and models of the structural organization of verbal short-term memory are primarily based on evidence obtained from manipulations of features inherent in the short-term traces of the presented stimuli, such as phonological similarity. In the present study, we investigated whether properties of the stimuli that are not inherent in the short-term traces of spoken words would affect performance in an immediate memory span task. We studied the lexical neighbourhood properties of the stimulus items, which are based on the structure and organization of words in the mental lexicon. The experiments manipulated lexical competition by varying the phonological neighbourhood structure (i.e., neighbourhood density and neighbourhood frequency) of the words on a test list while controlling for word frequency and intra-set phonological similarity (family size). Immediate memory span for spoken words was measured under repeated and nonrepeated sampling procedures. The results demonstrated that lexical competition only emerged when a nonrepeated sampling procedure was used and the participants had to access new words from their lexicons. These findings were not dependent on individual differences in short-term memory capacity. Additional results showed that the lexical competition effects did not interact with proactive interference. Analyses of error patterns indicated that item-type errors, but not positional errors, were influenced by the lexical attributes of the stimulus items. These results complement and extend previous findings that have argued for separate contributions of long-term knowledge and short-term memory rehearsal processes in immediate verbal serial recall tasks.     

Book reviews

Paul Ricoeur. Freud and Philosophy: An Essay On Interpretation (trans. Denis Savage). New Haven: Yale University Press, 1970. Pp. 1–551. Indexed. $15.00.

Keith Campbell. Body and Mind. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1970. Pp. vi, 150. Indexed. $1.45 (paper).

D. J. O'Connor. Free Will. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday Anchor Books, 1971. Pp. 1–150. Indexed. $1.45.

Dwight van de Vate, Jr. (ed.). Persons, Privacy, and Feeling: Essays in the Philosophy of Mind. Memphis: Memphis State University Press, 1970. Pp. vii, 140. Indexed. $5.00.