Biomedical subjects

David E Copeland

Publications and source records attributed to David E Copeland.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

A novel study: investigating the structure of narrative and autobiographical memories.

In two experiments we assessed the degree to which memory for events are similar or differ depending on whether they were narrative or autobiographical events. Consistent with previous research on autobiographical memory, memories for events captured the sequential order of events. However, in contrast to autobiographical memory research, ratings of importance did not appear to be related to retrieval speed. An analysis of causal connectivity of the recalled events was significantly related to retrieval speed. Issues of narrative comprehension and memory, autobiographical memory, and their overlap are discussed.

Cues↗

PubMed2004

Reasoning, integration, inference alteration, and text comprehension.

This paper reports how the study of formal logical reasoning provides insight into more everyday types of reasoning, such as that involved in language comprehension. Both of these types of cognition are thought to involve the use of mental models, and so it is reasonable to think that the cognitive operations needed for formal logical reasoning would be involved in everyday reasoning as well. We focused on three aspects of formal reasoning: (a) the integration of information into a common mental model, (b) the drawing of inferences, and (c) the coordination of alternative possibilities. We were able to show that the integration and inference components were related to narrative comprehension processes, but the coordination of alternative models was not. Thus, there is evidence for some overlap in the mental processes used in formal and everyday reasoning. This further justifies the study of formal logical reasoning as a window into certain types of everyday reasoning.

Analysis of Variance↗

PubMed2004

Working memory span and situation model processing.

This study looked at how comprehension and memory processing at the situation model level is related to traditional measures of working memory capacity, including the word span, reading span, operation span, and spatial span tests. Issues of particular interest were the ability to remember event descriptions, the detection and memory of functional relationships, the detection of inconsistencies, sensitivity to causal connectivity, and memory for surface form, textbase, and situation-specific content. There was little evidence that traditional measures of working memory span were directly related to processing at the situation model level. However, working memory span was related to our few textbase-level tests.

Cognition↗

PubMed2003

Aging and functional spatial relations in comprehension and memory.

Previous research has suggested that, relative to younger adults, older adults devote a greater proportion of their discourse processing to the situation model level. The current experiment assessed whether this is due, in part, to a preserved ability to focus on functionally appropriate information. The focus here was on spatial relations. Both reading time and recognition data showed superior performance for functional over nonfunctional information, and this functional effect was similar in younger and older adults. This is consistent with the idea that older adults' ability to process information at the situation model level is relatively well preserved.

Adolescent↗