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Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program

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Office of Undergraduate Education

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Publication Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 18

Effects of Word Replacement on Juror Perceptions and Guilt Ratings During a Criminal Trial

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009-12) Coons, Courtney A.

This research was performed with the aim of improving the body of knowledge on juror perceptions during criminal trials. Three juries were formed of men and women at least 18 years old. The juries witnessed key excerpts of a criminal trial, either edited or unedited for content and then placed in a room for deliberation. Deliberations were videotaped and the juries had up to 45 minutes to return a verdict. Two juries viewed the content-edited trials, removing all instances of the word "rape". One of these juries was told of the editing, the other was not. After all juries had returned a verdict, each individual juror was asked to take an exit survey inquiring about their particular perceptions of the trial, and their personal conviction of guilt or lack thereof. All juries returned a verdict of 'not guilty' , however the exit surveys showed that more than 50% of the jurors that viewed the un-edited trial had an abiding conviction of guilt but rendered a not guilty verdict based on a lack of physical evidence. The content-edited conditions, however, had only 3 people between them that believed the defendant to be guilty of the crime of rape.
Training Novices on Hierarchical Task Analysis

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009-12) Felipe, Sarah

The training of a complex task such as task analysis is an area that very few have explored. This study examines how different training methods affect knowledge acquisition, focusing on content learned and errors made by novices in the initial phase of learning of Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA). Three types of declarative instructions were compared: procedures, decision/actions, and concept map, which were representative of different types of diagrams (matrix, network, hierarchy). Participants were assigned to one of the training conditions and instructed to perform task analyses of five different tasks (making a piece of toast, making a cup of coffee, painting a door, making a phone call, and making Vetkoek - a South African main course). Questionnaire data (declarative knowledge) and task analyses (procedural knowledge) were coded on five criteria: hierarchical representation, stating high-level goal, stating plan, stating subgoals, and satisfaction criteria. Results indicated that participants identified some criteria (goals, subgoals) more often than others as being representative of HTA (hierarchical representation). Furthermore, the nature of the task had a greater effect on the knowledge acquired about HTA than the differences in training material at this early stage of learning. During initial training of HTA it is important that more detailed instruction materials be distributed to allow for greater understanding of HTA. This study informs research about various types of diagrams and also adds to the literature on training HTA.
Environmental Effects on Variable Practice of Example Formats

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009-05-07) Kishi, Roudabeh

There is a lack of women in mathematics-related fields. This might be due to stereotype threat, when a person performs worse than usual when presented with a negative stereotype because they are worried they will prove the stereotype to be correct (Steele, 1997). As practice schedules can affect performance (Carlson & Yaure, 1990), this experiment measured math performance after implementing blocked or random practice schedules and an activated or inactivated negative stereotype. Forty-eight college students learned probability from worked examples and practice problems and were tested on overall math performance and other aspects of learning. Results suggest that, in general, a blocked order tends to yield greater math performance, especially under the effects of a negative stereotype. Future research should examine retention, in addition to acquisition, of the learning materials.
Functional Neuroimaging Investigation of the Neural Mechanisms for Successful Feeling-of-Knowing Judgments

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009-05-04) Greenberg, Ronit

A feeling-of-knowing (FOK) is a sense of knowing that an item would be recognizable if seen again later, despite one’s current inability to recall that item from memory. An FOK judgment occurs after a memory search and is a prediction of future recognition. The current study aimed to: (1) determine the brain regions involved in successful (accurate) and unsuccessful (inaccurate) episodic FOKs; (2) replicate the ability of FOKs to predict recognition outcomes and recollection/know (R/K) judgments; (3) explore the different effects of familiarity and recollection on high and low FOKs; and (4) determine the effect of overlearning on FOKs and their ability to predict recognition and R/K outcomes. Nine younger adults (ages 18-26) participated in 2 experimental sessions (encoding and testing), separated by a 48-hour delay (n = 4 for fMRI data). The amount of exposure to the studied items (1 versus 3 presentations) was manipulated. Statistically significant results include (1) a repetition effect such that the words that were repeated during encoding have higher mean recall, mean FOK rating, mean recognition accuracy, and mean R/K than those words presented only once; (2) activity in the ventral lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) for successful or accurate FOKs; (3) activity in the anterior PFC for accurate high FOKs; and (4) activity in the PFC and anterior cingulate for correctly recognized and remembered items. In future, additional participants are necessary to conduct further and more detailed analyses.
Development of a Cohesive Theory of Leadership

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009-05-04) Halter, Jeffery T., Jr.

Previous assessments of leadership have failed to fully take into account what leadership is. Therefore, the goal for this study was to combine existing theories into one cohesive theory. In this study, undergraduate psychology students (N = 21), were placed in groups of 3 and recorded during a modified game of "20 Questions." During the game, participants were observed and exhibited "leadership behaviors" were documented. Participants identified as leaders exhibited more leadership behaviors, but only as the experiment went on and no additional "power" was given to followers. Implications of results and possible means of improvement are discussed.
Investigating Color as Cue to Recalling Text Location

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009-05-04) Ivey, Kacey

This experiment compared the accuracy and latency of text location recall from color versus non-color images under five experimental conditions. Condition 1 contained images with constant color and text location. Condition 2 contained images with random color and text location. Condition 3 contained images with constant color and random text location. Condition 4 contained images with random color and constant text location. Condition 5 contained paired color and text in a random location each trial. The participants viewed the image and immediately were asked about the location of particular text within the image. It is expected that in Condition 1, 2, 3 and 4 accuracy percentages will be higher and latency scores will be lower for non-color trials, while the opposite will be true for Condition 5. This will suggest that color is assistive when a relationship is established. The results of the experiment show no significant differences between color and black and white conditions. Text pattern (whether the text changed or remained constant) was the most indicative variable of performance. This implies that the experimental conditions did not adequately associate text and color.
Repeated Testing of Working Memory Capacity

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008-05-05) Carter, Laura

Working memory capacity is measured by a variety of memory span tasks and can account for about 40% of inter-individual variation in fluid intelligence (Broadway &Engle, in preparation). In the present study, ten participants performed a widely accepted valid test of WMC, the Running Memory Span task (Pollack, Johnson, &Knaff, 1959), twenty-five times over five sessions to assess test-retest reliability and the extent of practice effects. Results confirmed expectations that memory performance would improve but that the rank ordering of individuals on performance would remain consistent over repeated testing.
Visual and Auditory Velocity Perception and Multimodal Illusions

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008-05-05) Gasaway, Katherine S.

Although ambiguous and conflicting sensory information from different sensory modalities is common, people seldom experience perceptual ambiguities or conflict between senses. Just as the retinal nerve blind spot is filled in and seldom seen, conflicting or otherwise confusing sensory information is resolved in favor of the most appropriate modality, eliminating the confusion from conscious experience. The ventriloquism effect and auditory driving are two examples of perceptual phenomena arising from this sensory override. This research explores the hypothesis that velocity perception is subject to the same effects. Subjects were presented with two bimodal (auditory-visual) stimulus pairs and asked to determine which of the visual stimuli was moving faster. In a V2A2/V2A1 condition, participants responded significantly more frequently that the first visual stimulus was faster than in any non-target condition. This effect was not found for V2A2/V2A3 trials.
The implications of attention control on working memory span

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008-05-05) Gay, Catherine E.

Previous research has suggested that attention control is strongly implicated in working memory span. The current study utilized participants who had previously been tested for working memory capacity with the operation span, symmetry span and reading span tasks. Participants with high or low working memory spans where included in this study. These participants completed the Go/No-Go, Global/Local and Stop-Signal tasks, which examined different aspects of attention control. No significant differences were found between the working memory span groups on these three tasks.
Individual Differences and Academic Behavior

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008-05-05) Morford, Zachary H.

SUMMARY This study investigates the relationship between procrastination and goal-setting behaviors. Undergraduate students (20 male, 24 female) completed a measure of the Five-Factor Model of personality (Mini-Markers) a test of procrastination (PASS), the Achievement Goal Questionnaire, a goal commitment questionnaire for a specific goal and a goal commitment questionnaire for a non-specific goal. In addition, a measure was created for this study that measures how many incidents of being late the students have had this semester. Also, the students completed three situational questions measuring academic procrastination tendencies.