Date of Award

8-1992

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Special Education and Communication Disorders

First Advisor

Thomas Lorsbach

Second Advisor

John W. Hill

Third Advisor

Joseph Brown

Abstract

Recognition memory and memory for source information were examined in learning disabled (LD) and nondisabled (NLD) children in two experimental conditions. In the listen-listen condition (external source monitoring), subjects watched a videotape in which two girls completed sentences that were constructed so as to highly constrain a terminal noun. In the think-listen condition (reality monitoring), subjects were asked to imagine themselves completing some sentences and to listen as a girl on the videotape completed other sentences. In each of the two experimental conditions, half of the stimuli were presented once, and half were presented twice. Recognition memory and source memory were tested for each of the terminal nouns.

This study observed that, while no differences were found between groups in regard to recognition memory, LD subjects were generally less able to discern the source of their memories than their NLD counterparts. These results confirm the hypothesis of Lorsbach et al. (1991) that, at least with verbal information, LD children possess a generalized deficit in remembering the source of their memories. The results also revealed that recognition and source memory were dissociated by the effects of population and acquisition condition. These dissociations support the proposition that recognition and source memory are based on different mechanisms (Johnson & Raye, 1981).

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