Browsing by Author "Foorman, Barbara R."
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Item A cognitive structural analysis of referential communication performance of learning disabled second graders(1985) Parrott, Jean O.; Foorman, Barbara R.; Ghatala, Elizabeth S.; Williams, Robert E.; Morrow, James R., Jr.An exploratory study was conducted to interpret group differences in learning disabled and regular education second graders’ performance on a referential communication task in terms of neo-Piagetian theory of cognitive development. According to neo-Piagetian theory, there is a general ability (i.e., working memory) that enables a child to hold a certain number of features in mind at any one time. The study involved 30 learning disabled children and 30 regular education children from a metropolitan school district. The subjects served as speakers in a referential communication task where each speaker was asked to describe a black and white photograph well enough that an adult listener could identify the referent photograph from an array of the referent and three nonreferent photographs. The study focused on an interaction of speaker- and task- related variables. Speaker-related variables were listed as: (a) working memory, (b) understanding of the task, and (c) vocabulary repertoire. The manner in which the child understood and performed the task--executive schemes-- determined the style and accuracy of the encodings. Task- related variables were: (a) nature of the stimuli, (b) listener feedback, and (c) mode of presentation. Research questions were asked about the relationship of working memory and vocabulary to adequate descriptions, children's task understanding and encoding style, the relationship between potentially relevant features and steps of feedback, and the children's ability to use feedback in subsequent descriptions. Working memory was operationalized by two pretests, the Backward Digit Span Test and the Cucui Test. Stimuli for the referential communication task were 5 face photographs and 5 dog photographs. The child speaker was separated from the adult listener by an opaque screen. Feedback in the form of visual contrasts (i.e., nonreferent photographs) was given to the speaker if the message was not informative. Vocabulary repertoire was elicited by asking specific questions about each referent photograph. Independent variables were groups of learning disabled and regular education second graders and the 10 trials of face and dog photographs. Dependent variables for the communication task were number of potentially relevant features given in the initial encoding, number of adequate initial encodings, number of steps of feedback required before an accurate description was given, and number of relevant features in the posttest of vocabulary. Analyses of variance with repeated measures were performed on relevant features in the communication task, adequate initial encodings, and steps of feedback. Analysis of variance was performed on relevant features in the posttest of vocabulary. Intercorrelations were obtained for the dependent variables and Backward Digit Span and Cucui Tests. Additionally, proportions were used to determine effectiveness of feedback and styles of encoding. The groups differed not in the number of relevant features given in the communication task but in the accuracy of messages, in the need for feedback, and in vocabulary. The regular education group's performance was better in these measures of communicative effectiveness. There was no significant difference between groups in measures of working memory, indicating that differences in encoding style and accuracy of descriptions are not explained by amount of working memory but rather the utilization of working memory. An analysis of styles of encoding revealed that regular education children could switch from holistic to analytic styles as needed. LD children had more difficulty switching encoding styles and produced many irrelevant features. The results suggest that learning disabled children may differ from regular education children in the quality more than the quantity of their communication. Teachers can improve LD’s referential communication skills by (a) teaching relevant vocabulary and (b) using referential communication games to foster sensitivity to needs of a listener.Item A comparison of the effect of teacher-directed versus student-directed study skills methods on achievement of students of low socioeconomic level in ninth grade Social Studies(1983) Zirkelbach, Thelma Ann; Stetson, Elton G.; Foorman, Barbara R.; Shannon, PatrickThis study examined the effect of teacher-directed and student- directed study skills methods on achievement of low socioeconomic level students in ninth grade social studies. Competent and non-competent readers were assigned to one of five treatment groups. Two groups used student-directed methods of Sentence Generation or SQ3R; two used teacher-directed methods of S4R or Guided Reading Procedure; and a control group had no study skills instruction. Effectiveness of the various methods was measured with multiple choice (fact recognition) tests and with main idea recall tests administered at the ends of individual chapters and at the end of a unit covering four chapters. The eleven teachers who participated were assigned to methods which they maintained throughout the study. All teachers were asked to spend the same amount of time on each chapter so that students in each treatment group would receive equal exposure to the various methods. [...]Item A study of intellectual recovery following closed head injury(1988) Bailey, Cynthia A.; Fletcher, Jack M.; Francis, David J.; Foorman, Barbara R.; Hayden, Mary EllenPrevious studies have utilized the WAIS and WAIS-R to assess the level of intellectual functioning after closed head injury, and have found that the Full Scale scores are depressed within the first year, and show a gradual improvement over time. The Verbal scale is usually higher that the Performance scale and exhibits a faster recovery rate. The present study focused on identifying subject variables (such as premorbid IQ and severity of injury) which contribute to the initial depression of IQ scores, and on determining the reasons for the VIQ-PIQ discrepancy. Results indicated that premorbid intellectual levels and severity of injury were correlated with change in IQ scores over time. Also, the interval between injury and readiness to be tested was significantly related to IQ at follow-up. The VIQ-PIQ discrepancy appeared to be an artefact of deficits in visual discrimination and motor programming at baseline. At follow-up there was no overall discrepancy, but visual discrimination was correlated with Performance IQ. Implications of these results will be discussed.Item A study of visual and verbal memory in severe closed head injuries with lateralized mass lesions(1982) Madison, Charlene F.; Levin, Harvey S.; Sheer, Daniel. E.; Sheer, Daniel. E.; Breitmeyer, Bruno G.; Foorman, Barbara R.Neuropsychological research has shown that visual and verbal memory may be selectively impaired in relation to right and left hemisphere damage, respectively. With the use of computerized tomography, to identify lateralized mass lesions, this study investigated the presence of lateralization of memory dysfunction in closed head injury. The effect was expected in patients demonstrating lateralized mass lesions in addition to the diffuse pathology usually associated with these injuries. The results of the investigation indicated that patients sustaining right mass lesions demonstrated a greater impairment in visual memory than in verbal memory. Their acquisition of visual material, despite improvement, was consistently inferior to that of the controls. In addition, their rate of acquisition tended to be much slower than that of the other patient groups. They also demonstrated the severest deficit in registration and retrieval of visual material. In patients sustaining left mass lesions, the verbal memory impairment was more severe than the visual memory impairment. In the verbal memory task, these patients tended to rely more on short term memory mechanisms and make a greater number of extra-list word intrusions than did the other groups. However, their performance on the visual memory task, in many cases, was comparable to that of the controls. In patients sustaining bilateral/diffuse lesions, there was no significant evidence of modality specific memory deficits. In this patient group, visual and verbal memory functions were comparably impaired. Encoding processes were also investigated. Given similarities in neuropathology between closed head injury and Korsakoff syndrome, closed head injury patients were expected to demonstrate a perceptual-analytic encoding deficit comparable to that found in Korsakoff patients. The results of the investigation indicated that the closed head injury patients' performance was indeed characterized by a perceptual/analytic encoding deficit. On visual and verbal tasks, their performance reflected an inability to encode selective perceptual attributes of the stimuli. In addition, lateralization effects were evident in the encoding deficits, specific to the task modality. In the verbal memory task, all groups demonstrated an adequate ability in acoustic-phonemic processing. However, patients sustaining left lesions manifested an encoding deficit in semantic-associative operations. In the visual memory task, all patient groups showed an impairment in the encoding of gross perceptual differences within the target category. The group with right hemisphere injuries, however, manifested the severest dysfunction of this nature, as well as deficits in primary registration and encoding of subtle perceptual differences within the target category. The results of this study as outlined above carry meaningful implications for the treatment and rehabilitation of patients sustaining closed head injuries.Item Age effects in the recovery of motor, somatosensory, and visual-spatial skills following pediatric head injury(1988) Thompson, Nora M.; Fletcher, Jack M.; Levin, Harvey S.; Ewing-Cobbs, Linda; Foorman, Barbara R.; Miner, Michael E.; Power, Thomas G.This prospective, longitudinal study of the recovery of motor, somatosensory, and visual-spatial functions following pediatric closed head injury supports previous literature describing a systematic relationship of performance levels with injury severity. Furthermore, systematic relationships were demonstrated between injury severity and the rate of recovery during the first post-injury year. Age effects were found suggesting greater vulnerability for children on a somatosensory and a constructional task. In addition, adolescents were at greater risk for deficits in fine motor speed and on a grapho-motor task. These age effects lend support to the functional maturation hypothesis. Correlates of recovery from hemiparesis included the type of pathological process and proximity to the corticospinal pathways. Site of injury was not significantly related to performance in most task domains. Differential recovery patterns for speed and accuracy were demonstrated on a somatosensory task. Finally, this study supports the utility of Hierarchical Linear Modelling for assessing the correlates of change.Item An analysis of verbal-performance difference scores obtained on the WPPSI by Mexican-American children(1985) Walker, Todd B.(Todd Bruce); Johnson, Dale L.; Hook, Jay G.; Foorman, Barbara R.This study examined the verbal-performance difference scores obtained by Mexican-American children on the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence and their relation to a selection of language, home environment and maternal background characteristics. All children were from either the program or control group of the Houston Parent-Child Development Center (PCDC), an experimental parent-child education program directed towards low SES Mexican-American families. Program children participated with their parents in the PCDC from age one to age three. Follow-up data was collected from age four to age six. Three blocks of predictor variables, maternal traditionalism, home environment and child language ability, were employed in a multiple regression model. The results found that the combination of all three blocks accounted for a significant portion of the variance for Verbal IQ, Performance IQ and the difference score. In addition, child language ability uniquely predicted Performance IQ, and the home environment uniquely predicted the difference score. A series of correlational analyses were performed. Competence in English was positively related to Performance IQ. Dominant language competence was related to both Verbal IQ and Performance IQ among control children. Program effects and sex differences were also examined. Overall, a very complex relationship between the intelligence test scores and the predictor variables was found.Item Arithmetic error and neuropsychological test profiles among arithmetic disabled groups : external validation of academic subtypes(1986) Dowell, Richard Edward, Jr.; Fletcher, Jack M.; Copeland, Donna P.; Francis, David J.; Foorman, Barbara R.Neuropsychological deficits and arithmetic error types among learning disabled (Lp) children have been related to academic achievement patterns and attributed to a common underlying disability. A disability-based explanation predicts that groups of children showing similar (different) subtype patterns will exhibit similar (different) neuropsychological and arithmetic error patterns. Fifty-seven children, aged 8-16 years, with a history of a LD or cranial radiation therapy (CRT) were classified into four groups; A LD (arithmetic impaired), RA LD (reading and arithmetic impaired), A CRT, and N CRT (not subtype A). Neuropsychological composites representing ability areas were computed from intellectual, memory, and psychomotor test scores. Arithmetic errors were scored on the WRAT Arithmetic test using procedures adapted from Strang and Rourke (1985) and converted to composite scores. Profile analyses on composite scores compared groups showing similar (A LD vs A CRT) and different (A LD vs RA LD, A CRT vs N CRT) subtype patterns. Results indicated no significant group profile differences and did not support study predictions. The failure to replicate previous findings is discussed.Item Attention and memory in children and adolescents with traumatic brain injury(1988) Kaufmann, Paul M.; Fletcher, Jack M.; Breitmeyer, Bruno G.; Ewing-Cobbs, Linda; Foorman, Barbara R.; Levin, Harvey S.; Miner, Michael E.Attention and memory were investigated in fifty-two children and adolescents at one and two years following closed-head injury. Subjects were divided into three injury severity groups (mild, moderate, and severe) based on neurological criteria. Attention and memory skills were assessed using the following battery: 1) WISC-R Digit Span, 2) Continuous Performance Task, 3) Continuous Recognition Memory, and 4) Verbal Selective Reminding Task. Subjects with more severe brain injuries had a greater degree of attention and memory impairment. Children under 13 years of age demonstrated greater impairment on the CPT when compared to adolescents. Deficits were most pronounced on tasks requiring selective attention and inhibition of responses to distracting stimuli. Attention skills made a significant contribution to overall memory performance. These results support the view that attention is a prerequisite skill for memory. There was no evidence of greater sparing of attention in younger children. Implications for new learning and development were discussed.Item Children's comprehension of figurative language forms(1981) Loring, Debra Rogers; Kessel, Frank S.; Foorman, Barbara R.; Gratch, GeraldTo examine the effect of surface structure on children's comprehension of figurative language, a multiplechoice comprehension test was administered to seven, eight, and nine-year-old children. Subjects read a series of short stories ending in either a simile, a predicative metaphor, or a topicless metaphor. From a set of four alternatives, subjects selected the response which they believed explained the meaning of the figurative expression. At all ages similes and predicative metaphors were found to be more easily interpreted than semantically equivalent topicless metaphors. The results suggest that directness of form is an important variable in children's comprehension of figurative language and provide grounds for further examination of both the psychological processes underlying such comprehension and the related role of task demands.Item Comparison of psychosocial development and adjustment between Hong Kong and United States students attending the University of Houston, University Park(1984) Harrison, Christine S.; Atkinson, Gene; Foorman, Barbara R.; Burke, Jack D.; Gaines, AnitaThe study deals with psychosocial development and adjustment problems of college-age students. Nineteen U.S. students and 18 international students from Hong Kong responded to statements from the Student Developmental Task Inventory-2 (SDTI-2). The results indicated that U.S. students demonstrated significantly greater psychosocial development including issues of autonomy, educational and career planning, and interpersonal relationships. Adjustment problems experienced by the Hong Kong students were also assessed using the Michigan International Student Problem Inventory (MISPI). This population reported the greatest concentration of problems concerning financial matters, English language difficulty, and lack of contact with Americans. These results are consistent with previous studies of other international student groups. However, when analyzing the adjustment problems and the psychosocial development of these students, there was no significant relationship found between the two. Finally, the implications of these results for U.S. college student personnel professionals are discussed along with alternatives to procedures currently used with international students.Item Developmental differences in deriving episodic and semantic inferences(1986) Bourg, Tammy; Naus, Mary J.; Siegel, Alexander W.; Fletcher, Jack M.; Foorman, Barbara R.Children's abilities to derive inferences requiring the integration of primarily episodic versus primarily semantic information were investigated. Kindergarteners, third, and seventh graders viewed 1 of 2 versions of an animated television program that varied in terms of continuity of presentation (integrated vs. separated). Age-related improvements in episodic inferencing, semantic inferencing, and verbatim memory were found. The differences between the third and seventh graders' performance on the episodic and semantic inference questions were due to differences in memory for the premise information. However, memory differences alone did not account for the difference between kindergarteners and third graders. [...]Item Differences in schema for text structure in the reading comprehension of Filipino first-year college students(1988) Casuyon, Arminda G.; Yaden, David B.; Acton, William R.; Foorman, Barbara R.; Waxman, Hersholt C.Discussions of the basic processes of comprehending what is in texts revolve around the notion of schema, the fundamental element upon which all information-processing depends (Rumelhart, 1975). Several types of text organization have been identified in the literature to explain how readers activate their schema for text structure in order to comprehend both narrative and expository passage. Meyer (1975), for example, argued for the use of the readers' schema for top-level structure in comprehending expository texts. In her investigations, Meyer found a relationship between the readers' schema for top-level structure and the amount of idea units recalled and retained. Studies applying Meyer's theory to ESL readers gave indications that non-native readers of English had the schema for recalling and retaining superordinate ideas but could not use that schema for retrieving other information from texts. [...]Item Effects of auditory organization training on reading readiness(1985) Hightower, Nancy H.; Foorman, Barbara R.; Ghatala, Elizabeth S.; Rosner, Jerome; Siegel, Alexander W.; Swank, Paul R.The study examined the effectiveness of auditory organization training in improving reading readiness achievement scores. The training sessions consisted of three treatments: 1) conceptual categorization training in the processes and strategies of sorting objects, pictures or words according to their conceptual groupings, 2) sound categorization training in the processes and strategies of sorting of objects and words by their initial, medial or final sounds, and 3) multi-position categorization training which added to sound categorization training in the categorization of objects, pictures, and words into groups according to the occurrence of cannon phonenes in multiple positions. Auditory organization was conceptualized in terms of four skills: 1) rhyme production, 2) alliteration (i.e., categorization of words according to initial, medial, and final sounds), 3) deletion (i.e., analysis of spoken words into subcomponent parts), and 4) multi-position categorization (i.e., the identification of phonenes in multiple positions). These four skills, along with comprehension, were assessed three tines during the year: September, December and March. The Stanford Early School Achievement Test, Level 1 and 2 (SESAT, 1 and 2) were administered in September and March, respectively. Subjects were 54 children in an academically-oriented private school with a multisensory phonics-based reading program. [...]Item Effects of mediated instruction, the cesarean experience, and infant characteristics on maternal attachment behavior(1986) Moore, Lucille; Foorman, Barbara R.; Swank, Paul R.; Gaa, John P.; Power, Thomas G.Cesarean section delivery may be associated with less than optimum conditions for the type of interactions between mothers and newborns which promote bonding and the development of attachment. Mothers who have had cesarean sections are considered at risk for parenting failure. The purpose of this study was to identify problematic maternal, infant, and situational variables and to test an intervention to determine its influence on maternal behaviors toward the infant. The research question guiding this quasi-experimental study was as follows: what proportion of variance in maternal attachment behavior can be accounted for by the experimental intervention both in combination with and beyond that which can be accounted for by non-experimental maternal variables associated with childbirth and the cesarean section experience, and infant variables. The experimental intervention was a videotape, "Baby's Talking-Are You Listening?" which focuses on the manner in which infants from birth to nine months exhibit their multi sensory capabilities for communication, and how in interaction with the infant these capabilities can be enhanced. The hypothesis to be tested was as follows: a statistically significant amount of the variance in maternal attachment behavior will be explained by the experimental condition beyond the variance accounted for by the maternal and infant variables. [...]Item Environmental experience and environmental knowledge : a contextual analysis of cognitive mapping of large-scale environments(1984) Cousins, Jennifer Hays; Siegel, Alexander W.; Johnson, Dale L.; Baxter, James C.; Foorman, Barbara R.Most research on cognitive representations of large-scale environments has been based on an organismic model or metaphor and has neglected to consider cognitive representations in the context of everyday transactions with the environment. The purpose of the present investigation was to address this general problem by examining college students' cognitive representations of their campus environment from a contextual perspective. The study had three major objectives: (1) to investigate the nature of the relationship between cognitive representations and socioemotional representations of the environment; (2) to investigate the relationship between environmental experience, as indexed by students' residential status and gender, and cognitive and socioemotional measures of environmental meaning; and (3) to explore the usefulness of a variety of methodological procedures for a contextual analysis of environmental representations. Results indicated that cognitive and socioemotional representations were related in rather complex ways, as was environmental experience related to cognitive and socioemotional measures. In particular, subjects' ability to characterize features of the environment along the dimensions of sociability and safety was found to relate to their ability to geographically represent the environment. Multidimensional scaling (MDS) analyses revealed that subjects' socioemotional representations were fit well by a two-dimensional solution. Cluster analyses revealed a consistent relationship among buildings along a dimension other than social or safety, possibly according to their functional affordances. Residents and commuters, and males and females, differed slightly in terms of cognitive and socioemotional measures. Considerable variability was found among the four subgroups, (with resident males exhibiting the best organized representations of the environment on both cognitive and socioemotional measures). These results warrant further application of MDS techniques to the study of social and emotional representations, in order to more fully understand the nature of environmental meaning.Item External validation of learning disability subtypes using probe evoked potential methodology(1985) Moore, Bart D., III; Fletcher, Jack M.; Sheer, Daniel E.; Johnson, Dale L.; Foorman, Barbara R.The validity of classifying learning disabled children into subtypes based on patterns of academic achievement was tested using an electrophysiological measure of relative hemispheric activation during cognitive processing. Learning disabled children were placed into subgroups showing (1) poor computational arithmetic but average or above average skills in reading comprehension and spelling (n=ll), or (2) poor achievement primarily in reading comprehension and spelling (n=10). Control subjects were average or above average in all academic areas. Auditory probe evoked potentials were recorded from leads placed over the left and right temporal cortex (T3 & T4) while the subjects were engaged in a variety of cognitive tasks involving linguistic and non-linguistic skills. Analysis of the N1-P2 complex of the evoked potential revealed different patterns of cerebral activation depending on the type of task the subject was engaged in and the subject's group membership.Item Factors affecting recovery after head injury in children(1988) Gilliam, Denise; Fletcher, J. M.; Sheer, Daniel E.; Levin, Harvey S.; Johnson, Dale L.; Foorman, Barbara R.; Miner, Michael E.The present study examined the effects of severity, type of injury, age, and rate of change of developing memory functions on short-term recovery of memory after pediatric closed head injury (CHI). Memory was assessed utilizing verbal and nonverbal selective reminding tests and a recognition memory test. Subjects included 34 CHI subjects and 26 comparable controls. The results suggest the following conclusions: 1) No specific severity measure predicted memory impairment uniquely; 2) Left focal lesions resulted in poorer memory performance than right focal lesions, and verbal memory tended to be more affected in left-lesioned and bilateral/diffuse subjects; 3) Greater severity of injury increased memory impairment but younger age did not, except on the CRM false alarm score. This study points to the importance of considering both injury and developmental factors when studying the recovery of children after CHI.Item Intentionality and the background(1987) Walker, Valerie; Foorman, Barbara R.; Walker, Valerie; Leiber, Justin F.; Yoes, M. G., Jr.John Searle claims that because some mental states (viz., the Background) are non-Intentional, we cannot model them in a manner appropriate for artificial intelligence programming. Hence, the Al project is doomed. This paper disagrees. It argues the following: (1) Searle confuses two different types of mental states and erroneously forces them under the heading of "Background." The first type a sort of belief state, is Intentional after all; and the second, though not Intentional, is computer-encodable as a production system. (2) Searle makes the mistake that he does because he inappropriately extends his own linguistic analysis of Intentional mental states. Searle's model of mental states is incorrect, and the corrected model does not preclude the possibility of artificial intelligence.Item Korean children's reading and writing of the Korean alphabet (Hangul) and Chinese logographs (Hanja) with and without visual and auditory interference(1985) Cho, Mi Hyun; Foorman, Barbara R.; Swank, Paul R.; Mountain, Lee H.The way in which Korean children read and write is relevant as well to the study of English dominant Korean children's reading and writing English. The Korean reading and writing system is a combination of two main types of characters, the Korean alphabet (Hangul) and Chinese character (Hanja). In the reading experiment, twelve Korean dominant first graders and twelve English dominant first graders of Korean descent were given picture-word pairs and asked to sort them into two piles, the 'same' or the 'different' pile. In the writing experiment, the children were asked to write down the names of 10 pictures in the Hangul and Hanja scripts or English. Both groups of children read and wrote words with and without visual interference and with and without concurrent vocalization. Visual interference significantly disrupted the reading of Hangul, Hanja, and English and the writing of Hanja. Concurrent vocalization significantly disrupted the reading of Hangul and the writing of Hangul and English. It was concluded that Korean children read the Hanja script using visual strategies without phonological mediation, while they rely on a phonological strategy as well as a visual one in reading the Hangul script. It was also concluded that English dominant Korean children read single words as visual wholes. With respect to writing it was concluded that children seemed to use phnological analysis in both English and Hangul.Item Memory differences between subtypes of disabled learners(1986) Breiger, David; Siegel, Alexander W.; Fletcher, Jack M.; Naus, Mary J.; Foorman, Barbara R.Memory for verbal and nonverbal stimuli was evaluated in normally achieving children and two groups of disabled learners: (1) arithmetic disabled (A);and (2) reading-spelling-arithmetic disabled (R-S-A). Each child received a free-list verbal memory task consisting of twelve unrelated words (6 high imagery, 6 low imagery) and a free list nonverbal memory task consisting of organized dot patterns. Both of these tasks were administered using selective reminding procedures that permit the calculation of separate scores representing storage and retrieval memory processes. In addition, a visual recognition and reconstruction task consisting of an organized and unorganized scene was also administered. Each child was required to identify the objects viewed on a slide presented for 15 seconds. Following this they were instructed to place the correct objects in the same arrangement as that viewed in the slide. After administration of all the tasks (approximately 20 minutes) each child was asked to recall as many words as possible from the list after which, a multiple choice recognition task was administered. The results from the verbal selective reminding task revealed that the R- S-A children differed from the controls and A children on both retrieval and storage indices derived from the low imagery words. The R-S-A children also differed from the controls on the retrieval and storage indices derived from the high imagery words. [...]