Erika Fulton | Idaho State University (original) (raw)

Papers by Erika Fulton

Applied neuropsychology. Adult, Apr 2, 2024

Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology

Objective: This study examined if the relationship between generalized appraisals and task-specif... more Objective: This study examined if the relationship between generalized appraisals and task-specific appraisals of one’s prospective memory (PM) and actual PM performance (i.e., meta-PM accuracy) differed between healthy and suspected mild cognitive impairment (sMCI) older adults. Method: 50 healthy and 30 sMCI older adults were recruited from a rural community and outpatient neuropsychology clinic. Data collected included self-reported appraisals and task-specific predictions/postdictions of PM performance, objective PM performance, and executive functioning (EF) measures. Results: The sMCI group had significantly lower scores on objective PM tasks (t = 5.13, p<.001), as well as EF measures related to simple (t = -3.72, p<.001) and complex task-switching (t = 4.82, p<.001). Moreover, sMCI participants displayed higher task-specific meta-PM inaccuracies compared to the healthy group (t = -3.72, p < .001), but displayed relatively equivalent generalized meta-PM (Z = 1.58, ...

The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 2019

Objectives Metacomprehension monitoring accuracy in older age may be underestimated because of ho... more Objectives Metacomprehension monitoring accuracy in older age may be underestimated because of how it has been measured. Metacomprehension in the present study was uniquely measured by comparing summary quality to summary quality judgments. The effect of age on this accuracy was assessed and results were compared to those measured with the typical approach. The moderation of age effects by reading goal was also assessed but was an exploratory objective.1 Method Younger adults (141) and older adults (138) read and orally summarized six expository texts. Participants were randomly assigned to a reading goal condition, with half of each age group summarizing for a professor/boss and half summarizing for an acquaintance. Participants made judgments about the quality of their summaries before and after summarizing, took a multiple-choice test of their comprehension, and made judgments about the accuracy of their answers. Results Age deficits in metacomprehension were generally smaller wh...

Research on Aging, May 26, 2022

Growth mindset of aging (MA) refers to the belief that aging processes are malleable, while fixed... more Growth mindset of aging (MA) refers to the belief that aging processes are malleable, while fixed MA is the belief that how one ages is predetermined and unchangeable. Using experimental methods, we manipulated MA and explored its impact on implicit old-age attitudes and self-perceptions of aging. Eighty-six older adults were randomly placed into a growth or fixed MA condition. Next, we assessed implicit old-age attitudes and self-perceptions of aging. The experimental manipulation was successful in that group MA scores differed, but MA did not significantly influence implicit old-age attitudes or self-perceptions of aging. However, a regression analysis revealed a novel finding: More growth MA was related to less negative implicit old-age attitudes and more positive self-perceptions of aging. These findings are an important contribution to the MA literature, which is in its infancy.

Applied Neuropsychology: Adult

The SAGE Encyclopedia of Human Communication Sciences and Disorders

Metacognition, the monitoring and regulation of cognitive processes, is crucial for optimizing pe... more Metacognition, the monitoring and regulation of cognitive processes, is crucial for optimizing performance in both professional and academic settings. As with other physiological functions, cognition has been shown to be affected by use of stimulants. Given the prevalence of caffeine use, it is important to examine the interaction between beliefs about caffeine\u27s effects and its actual physiological effect on performance. Caffeine has well-documented effects on reaction time and sustained attention, but its effects on metacognitive processes are under-researched, the few extant studies inconclusive. One possible explanation for these inconsistencies could be expectancy effects, previously shown to affect cognitive processes. The relationship between metacognitions and expectancy effects due to consumer beliefs, particularly beliefs about caffeine\u27s effects on cognition, has yet to be fully researched. The results of an online survey of 358 U.S. citizens indicate that caffeine is believed to enhance a variety of cognitive processes. An exploratory factor analysis of this data suggests these processes can be assigned to four categories: executive functioning, memory and reasoning, verbal abilities, and divergent thinking. The next phase of this study will explore the effect of expectancy upon objective performance both in the presence of caffeine and placebo

Metacognition and Learning, 2021

Metacomprehension refers to the ability to monitor and control reading comprehension. It is impor... more Metacomprehension refers to the ability to monitor and control reading comprehension. It is important for individuals to be accurate in their judgments of comprehension, as this can affect academic performance. One type of accuracy, relative accuracy, tends to be low, meaning individuals cannot adequately differentiate well-known from less well-known information. Fortunately, past research has shown that relative accuracy increases with delayed summarization. The literature has only assessed written summaries as an intervention, but oral summaries tend to be faster and easier and therefore may be a better study tool. Individuals use cues to make judgments, which may differ between modalities. This study investigated whether modality impacts relative accuracy and if differences in cue use might explain these effects. We found that written summaries benefitted relative accuracy compared to a control group, with relative accuracy greater than chance. In contrast, oral summarizers only ...

Perceptions of reading comprehension and knowledge of strategy, called generalized metacomprehens... more Perceptions of reading comprehension and knowledge of strategy, called generalized metacomprehension (GM), can influence study habits and metacognition accuracy, ultimately influencing academic success. One factor that may influence GM is personality. Personality likely relates to GM, as it is correlated with other types of cognitive and metacognitive outcomes. Because personality is stable, a moderate relationship with personality may suggest GM is also stable. We hypothesized that personality traits would relate to the Metacomprehension Scale (MCS), and were most interested in perceptions of comprehension ability and control-related subscales. A series of regressions demonstrated openness most strongly predicted overall MCS and related to the most subscales. Specifically, openness was related to our subscales of interest. Additionally, conscientiousness and extraversion were related to GM, although conscientiousness was related to more subscales of interest. This relationship sugg...

Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 2021

This study explored whether age differences in task-specific metacomprehension accuracy are partl... more This study explored whether age differences in task-specific metacomprehension accuracy are partly explained by age differences in generalized metacomprehension (GM) or the use of GM as a task-specific judgment anchor. GM was measured before and after a summarization and metacomprehension judgment task and then correlated with prediction judgment magnitude to assess anchoring, and correlated with comprehension and task-specific metacomprehension accuracy to assess GM accuracy. Age differences in these relationships were then tested. GM was related to judgment magnitude but despite age differences in GM ratings, age did not moderate anchoring or GM accuracy. Age differences in task-specific metacomprehension accuracy do not seem to be explained by age differences in GM accuracy or its use as a judgment anchor. However, results are the first to show that older adults anchor task-specific metacomprehension judgments on their GM, providing unique evidence for the Anchoring and Adjustment Model of Metacomprehension in advanced age.

2018 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE), 2018

In this research work in progress paper, we discuss the possible benefits of separating syntax pr... more In this research work in progress paper, we discuss the possible benefits of separating syntax practice from problem-solving learning in an Introductory Computer Programming course. We propose a curriculum and associated development tool called Phanon that teach the rudiments of programming language through exercises done online outside of class. Having students complete exercises before class frees up classroom time and instructor face time for the higher-order learning tasks of problem decomposition and solving. We report results from a pilot study that are consistent with our hypothesis that these techniques result in improved student outcomes and attitudes and we discuss a future follow-up study.

Acta Psychologica, 2015

It is unclear why women have superior episodic memory of faces, but the benefit may be partially ... more It is unclear why women have superior episodic memory of faces, but the benefit may be partially the result of women engaging in superior processing of facial expressions. Therefore, we hypothesized that orienting instructions to attend to facial expression at encoding would significantly improve men&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;s memory of faces and possibly reduce gender differences. We directed 203 college students (122 women) to study 120 faces under instructions to orient to either the person&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;s gender or their emotional expression. They later took a recognition test of these faces by either judging whether they had previously studied the same person or that person with the exact same expression; the latter test evaluated recollection of specific facial details. Orienting to facial expressions during encoding significantly improved men&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;s recognition of own-gender faces and eliminated the advantage that women had for male faces under gender orienting instructions. Although gender differences in spontaneous strategy use when orienting to faces cannot fully account for gender differences in face recognition, orienting men to facial expression during encoding is one way to significantly improve their episodic memory for male faces.

Memory & Cognition, 2013

We tested the hypothesis that the feeling of knowing (FOK) after a failed recall attempt is influ... more We tested the hypothesis that the feeling of knowing (FOK) after a failed recall attempt is influenced by recalling aspects of the original encoding strategy. Individuals were instructed to use interactive imagery to encode unrelated word pairs. We manipulated item concreteness (abstract vs. concrete) and item repetitions at study (one vs. three). Participants orally described the mediator produced immediately after studying each item, if any. After a delay, they were given cued recall, made FOK ratings, and attempted to recall their original mediator. Concreteness and item repetition enhanced strategy recall, which had a large effect on FOKs. Controlling on strategy recall reduced the predictive validity of FOKs for recognition memory, indicating that access to the original aspects of encoding influenced FOK accuracy. Confidence judgments (CJs) for correctly recognized items covaried with FOKs, but FOKs did not fully track the strategy recall associations with CJs, suggesting emergent effects of strategy cues that were elicited by recognition tests but not accessed at the time of the FOK judgment. In summary, cue-generated access to aspects of the original encoding strategy strongly influenced episodic FOKs, although other influences were also implicated.

Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 2008

We assessed the effects of cigarette abstinence (non-abstinent vs. minimum 8 hours abstinent) and... more We assessed the effects of cigarette abstinence (non-abstinent vs. minimum 8 hours abstinent) and nicotine gum (0 mg vs. 2 mg nicotine) on sustained attention, free recall, and metacognition using a within-subjects design. Moderate smokers (10 women and 22 men) received one training session followed by 4 test sessions on consecutive days. Nicotine gum improved sustained attention in both abstinent and non-abstinent states, but had no significant effect on predicted or actual recall levels. Cigarette abstinence significantly impaired free recall and reduced the magnitude of participants' predictions of their own performance. In addition, participants were significantly more overconfident about their future memory when abstinent. Thus, nicotine gum can improve smokers' performance in basic aspects of cognition (e.g., sustained attention) but may not alleviate the detrimental effects of cigarette abstinence on higher-level processes such memory and metacognition.