Danielle Gagne - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Danielle Gagne
Although her formal training is in discourse processing, her professional interests in learning a... more Although her formal training is in discourse processing, her professional interests in learning and cognitive theory have provided opportunities to serve as a consultant for classroom and program assessment across disciplines. In 2010 she served as Project Faculty for a U.S. Department of Education grant for Preparing Leaders in the Education and Training of the Next Generation of School Psychology Practitioners, and in 2012 served as an evaluator for an NSF grant on classroom-flipping in Calculus courses. Her teaching and research interests intersect with gerontology, with specific focus on ageism.
Two studies were conducted to determine whether proactive interference in discourse memory is in ... more Two studies were conducted to determine whether proactive interference in discourse memory is in part attributable to encoding. Using the Wickens paradigm, younger and older adults read a series of computer-presented sentences using the word-by-word “moving window ” technique and then recalled the sentences. In both studies, the younger adults ’ recall performance was greater than that of the older adults. In Experiment 1, resource allocation to conceptual integration decreased across trials and increased when a shift in topic was presented, suggesting that PI may diminish the effectiveness of processing for both older and younger readers. Experiment 2 assessed the effects of PI on processing efficiency but also included a mental model condition, in which all sentences were ordered to create coherent text. An analysis of encoding time (reading time per concept recalled) showed that older adults required relatively more time take significantly longer to process concepts in the proact...
Innovation in Aging
As America grapples with COVID-19, issues regarding mental health have been of rising concern, pa... more As America grapples with COVID-19, issues regarding mental health have been of rising concern, particularly among those who are isolated. According to the May 2021 American Perspectives Survey, “Americans report having fewer close friendships than they once did, talking to their friends less often, and relying less on their friends for personal support1.” Additionally, 49% have three or fewer close friends in 2021, compared to 27% in 1990. 17% have no friends in their core social network. Loneliness has been associated with physical and mental health risks. We sought to explore whether loneliness was also a barrier to seeking mental health services. 90 surveys were collected from rural New York. Respondents were aged 51 to 90, Caucasian (96.6%), and female (73.3% vs, 26.7%). Overall, 34.8% said they lived alone. 29.2% would seek mental health services for feelings of loneliness, while 75.4% would do so if isolated from family. Those who felt detached or isolated from others were sig...
Recent research in social cognition suggests one's self-efficacy beliefs regarding one's ... more Recent research in social cognition suggests one's self-efficacy beliefs regarding one's cognitive abilities can influence the effort expended on cognitive tasks (Bandura, 1989; 1997; Cavanaugh & Greene, 1990; Dunlosky & Hertzog, 1998), which may affect performance. This project was conducted to examine the relationship between age, self-efficacy beliefs, text difficulty, resource allocation to text comprehension processes, and memory for text. 82 younger adults and 74 older adults completed the Metamemory in Adulthood Questionnaire (MIA; Dixon, Hultsch & Hertzog, 1988), Reading Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (RSEQ), and Media Consumption Habits Questionnaire. Using the on-line word-by-word moving window method, participants read 24 two-sentence passages for immediate recall after reading either comparatively easier or more difficult texts. Younger adults reported higher Memory Self-Efficacy (MSE) and higher Reading Self-Efficacy Strength (RSE) than older adults; there were no ...
Even in the most well-equipped classroom, there are times when instructors struggle with conveyin... more Even in the most well-equipped classroom, there are times when instructors struggle with conveying complex or abstract concepts to students. In these instances, it is helpful to have an exemplar from which to base a discussion. This is especially true for students taking an Adult Development and Aging class, as 18 to 21 year olds rarely have the ability to see past the “old” age of 30, much less past retirement and beyond. For those in their peak of physical and mental ability, contemplating aching joints, brittle bones, and senile moments may be just as intangible and unfathomable as a full-fledged adult trying to grasp all of the technological facets of today’s social media, such as Twitter or Tumblr. In such situations, it is helpful to have common ground that provides concrete examples and gives concepts in a textbook meaning in real life. In an Adult Development and Aging course at Alfred University, students read Robert Sawyer’s novel, Rollback, in addition to a traditional te...
2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition Proceedings
Although her formal training is in discourse processing, her professional interests in learning a... more Although her formal training is in discourse processing, her professional interests in learning and cognitive theory have provided opportunities to serve as a consultant for classroom and program assessment across disciplines. In 2010 she served as Project Faculty for a U.S. Department of Education grant for Preparing Leaders in the Education and Training of the Next Generation of School Psychology Practitioners, and in 2012 served as an evaluator for an NSF grant on classroom-flipping in Calculus courses. Her teaching and research interests intersect with gerontology, with specific focus on ageism.
Models of self-regulation (cf., Carver & Scheier, 2000; Dunlosky & Hertzog, 1998) suggest that in... more Models of self-regulation (cf., Carver & Scheier, 2000; Dunlosky & Hertzog, 1998) suggest that individuals engage in a series of memory monitoring activities (e.g., judgments of learning, JOLs) and allocate their study time accordingly to maximize memory performance. Although research has investigated various factors that affect the allocation of study time (e.g., Dunlosky & Thiede, 1998), little research has specifically examined phenomena that impede the effective functioning of these processes, such as proactive interference. In light of research demonstrating that age differences in inhibitory mechanisms may be responsible for poorer memory performance among older adults (Hasher & Zacks, 1988) we examined the effect of proactive interference on both younger and older adults' allocation of study time, judgments of learning, and recall performance.
Psychology and Aging, 2008
Younger and older adults read a series of passages of three different genres for an immediate ass... more Younger and older adults read a series of passages of three different genres for an immediate assessment of text memory (measured by recall and true-false questions). Word-byword reading times were measured and decomposed into components reflecting resource allocation to particular linguistic processes using regression. Allocation to word and textbase processes showed some consistency across the three text types and was predictive of memory performance. Older adults allocated more time to word and textbase processes than the young did, but showed enhanced contextual facilitation. Structural equation modeling showed that greater resource allocation to word processes was required among readers with relatively low working memory spans and poorer verbal ability, and that greater resource allocation to textbase processes was engendered by higher verbal ability. Results are discussed in terms of a model of self-regulated language processing suggesting that older readers may compensate for processing deficiencies through greater reliance on discourse context and on increases in resource allocation that are enabled through growth in crystallized ability.
Memory & Cognition, 2004
Younger and older adults read a series of expository and narrative passages twice in order to ans... more Younger and older adults read a series of expository and narrative passages twice in order to answer comprehension questions. Reading time was used to index attentional allocation to word, textbase, and situation model processing and to assess shifts in the allocation policy from the first to the second reading. Older readers' comprehension was at least as good as that of younger readers. Analysis of reading times suggested that for both genres, older adults allocated more attention to situation model features than younger adults did on the first reading, whereas young and old allocated attention similarly to this level of representation on the second reading, suggesting that mature readers may give greater priority to situation model construction when fIrst encountering text. Also, for both genres, older adults showed relatively less facilitation than the young in word-level processing in rereading, suggesting that representation at this level is not as finnly established during reading or decays more quickly for older readers. For narrative texts only, this pattern also obtained for textbase processing. Collectively, these data show that age equivalence in text comprehension at the molar level may be accomplished through different processing routes at the molecular level. We are grateful for support from the National Institute on Aging (Grant ROI AG 13935). We thank Kerrie Griffin and Diane Cad for help with participant testing, scoring, and data entry and Matthew Shake for helpful commentary on the article.
International Journal of Behavioral Development, 2008
We investigated age differences in reading and rereading processes associated with problem solvin... more We investigated age differences in reading and rereading processes associated with problem solving and explored the extent to which prior information affects rereading processes. Participants' reading times were recorded as they read short mysteries, twice, at their own pace on a computer, with the goal of providing the solution to the mystery. We varied the amount of information provided prior to rereading the mysteries such that participants received: no new information, a hint (partial information), or the full solution. Reading times for trial 1 and for all three rereading conditions were decomposed to determine resource allocation to specific reading processes including conceptual integration, attention to critical regions, and instantiation of new characters in the narrative. We found that younger and older adults attended to critical regions of the problem similarly on trial 1 as well as when rereading with no information or a hint. Age differences were found, however, in...
Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 2005
Past work suggests that a strong sense of control over one&am... more Past work suggests that a strong sense of control over one's cognitive ability is associated with higher levels of cognitive performance and that control beliefs may be even more important in later life, due to age-related declines in cognitive processes. However, less is known about the effects of control beliefs on encoding strategies, and whether these effects are comparable for
Innovation in Aging
Unmet mental health care needs of older people living in rural areas have been identified as a fu... more Unmet mental health care needs of older people living in rural areas have been identified as a fundamental problem. This project engaged a rural consortium of service agencies to support recruitment through advertising, word of mouth, social media. So far, 100 rural participants aged 50 and older have completed our survey which includes the revised Barriers to Mental Health Services Scale, (BMHSS-R) which measures intrinsic barriers attributed to internal characteristics and beliefs, e.g. stigma, and extrinsic barriers, e.g. insurance costs, and lack of transportation. Preliminary results revealed increased services utilization compared to past research. However, several serious barriers remained, e.g. as lack of insurance/costs, distance/location, stigma, and lack of knowledge. The BMHSS-R results e demonstrate how the two types of barriers are related and interact within individuals. Implications are that internal barriers (e.g., stigma) and external ones (location, costs) can be ...
Two studies were conducted to determine whether proactive interference in discourse memory is in ... more Two studies were conducted to determine whether proactive interference in discourse memory is in part attributable to encoding. Using the Wickens paradigm, younger and older adults read a series of computer-presented sentences using the word-byword "moving window" technique and then recalled the sentences. In both studies, the younger adults' recall performance was greater than that of the older adults. In Experiment 1, resource allocation to conceptual integration decreased across trials and increased when a shift in topic was presented, suggesting that PI may diminish the effectiveness of processing for both older and younger readers. Experiment 2 assessed the effects of PI on processing efficiency but also included a mental model condition, in which all sentences were ordered to create coherent text. An analysis of encoding time (reading time per concept recalled) showed that older adults required relatively more time take significantly longer to process concepts in the proactive interference condition than in the mental model condition. Collectively, these results suggest that the effects of proactive interference may occur at both encoding and retrieval, but did not show age differences in susceptibility to proactive interference. The results also suggest that both younger and older adults may overcome the effects of PI in reading via organization provided by a mental model.
Psychology and Aging, 2003
To test the notion that aging brings an inability to self-initiate processing, the authors invest... more To test the notion that aging brings an inability to self-initiate processing, the authors investigated the effects of memory load on online sentence understanding. Younger and older adults read a series of short passages with or without a simultaneous updating task, which would be expected to deplete resources by consuming memory capacity. Regression analyses of word-by-word reading times onto text variables within each condition were used to decompose reading times into resources allocated to the array of word-level and textbase-level processes needed for comprehension. Among neither the young nor the old were word-level processes disrupted by a simultaneous memory load. However, older readers showed relatively greater levels of resource allocation to conceptual integration than the younger adults when under load, regardless of working-memory span or task priority. These results suggest that the ability to self-initiate the allocation of processing resources during reading is preserved among older readers.
Psychology and Aging, 2003
To test the notion that aging brings an inability to self-initiate processing, the authors invest... more To test the notion that aging brings an inability to self-initiate processing, the authors investigated the effects of memory load on online sentence understanding. Younger and older adults read a series of short passages with or without a simultaneous updating task, which would be expected to deplete resources by consuming memory capacity. Regression analyses of word-by-word reading times onto text variables within each condition were used to decompose reading times into resources allocated to the array of word-level and textbase-level processes needed for comprehension. Among neither the young nor the old were word-level processes disrupted by a simultaneous memory load. However, older readers showed relatively greater levels of resource allocation to conceptual integration than the younger adults when under load, regardless of working-memory span or task priority. These results suggest that the ability to self-initiate the allocation of processing resources during reading is pres...
Although her formal training is in discourse processing, her professional interests in learning a... more Although her formal training is in discourse processing, her professional interests in learning and cognitive theory have provided opportunities to serve as a consultant for classroom and program assessment across disciplines. In 2010 she served as Project Faculty for a U.S. Department of Education grant for Preparing Leaders in the Education and Training of the Next Generation of School Psychology Practitioners, and in 2012 served as an evaluator for an NSF grant on classroom-flipping in Calculus courses. Her teaching and research interests intersect with gerontology, with specific focus on ageism.
Two studies were conducted to determine whether proactive interference in discourse memory is in ... more Two studies were conducted to determine whether proactive interference in discourse memory is in part attributable to encoding. Using the Wickens paradigm, younger and older adults read a series of computer-presented sentences using the word-by-word “moving window ” technique and then recalled the sentences. In both studies, the younger adults ’ recall performance was greater than that of the older adults. In Experiment 1, resource allocation to conceptual integration decreased across trials and increased when a shift in topic was presented, suggesting that PI may diminish the effectiveness of processing for both older and younger readers. Experiment 2 assessed the effects of PI on processing efficiency but also included a mental model condition, in which all sentences were ordered to create coherent text. An analysis of encoding time (reading time per concept recalled) showed that older adults required relatively more time take significantly longer to process concepts in the proact...
Innovation in Aging
As America grapples with COVID-19, issues regarding mental health have been of rising concern, pa... more As America grapples with COVID-19, issues regarding mental health have been of rising concern, particularly among those who are isolated. According to the May 2021 American Perspectives Survey, “Americans report having fewer close friendships than they once did, talking to their friends less often, and relying less on their friends for personal support1.” Additionally, 49% have three or fewer close friends in 2021, compared to 27% in 1990. 17% have no friends in their core social network. Loneliness has been associated with physical and mental health risks. We sought to explore whether loneliness was also a barrier to seeking mental health services. 90 surveys were collected from rural New York. Respondents were aged 51 to 90, Caucasian (96.6%), and female (73.3% vs, 26.7%). Overall, 34.8% said they lived alone. 29.2% would seek mental health services for feelings of loneliness, while 75.4% would do so if isolated from family. Those who felt detached or isolated from others were sig...
Recent research in social cognition suggests one's self-efficacy beliefs regarding one's ... more Recent research in social cognition suggests one's self-efficacy beliefs regarding one's cognitive abilities can influence the effort expended on cognitive tasks (Bandura, 1989; 1997; Cavanaugh & Greene, 1990; Dunlosky & Hertzog, 1998), which may affect performance. This project was conducted to examine the relationship between age, self-efficacy beliefs, text difficulty, resource allocation to text comprehension processes, and memory for text. 82 younger adults and 74 older adults completed the Metamemory in Adulthood Questionnaire (MIA; Dixon, Hultsch & Hertzog, 1988), Reading Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (RSEQ), and Media Consumption Habits Questionnaire. Using the on-line word-by-word moving window method, participants read 24 two-sentence passages for immediate recall after reading either comparatively easier or more difficult texts. Younger adults reported higher Memory Self-Efficacy (MSE) and higher Reading Self-Efficacy Strength (RSE) than older adults; there were no ...
Even in the most well-equipped classroom, there are times when instructors struggle with conveyin... more Even in the most well-equipped classroom, there are times when instructors struggle with conveying complex or abstract concepts to students. In these instances, it is helpful to have an exemplar from which to base a discussion. This is especially true for students taking an Adult Development and Aging class, as 18 to 21 year olds rarely have the ability to see past the “old” age of 30, much less past retirement and beyond. For those in their peak of physical and mental ability, contemplating aching joints, brittle bones, and senile moments may be just as intangible and unfathomable as a full-fledged adult trying to grasp all of the technological facets of today’s social media, such as Twitter or Tumblr. In such situations, it is helpful to have common ground that provides concrete examples and gives concepts in a textbook meaning in real life. In an Adult Development and Aging course at Alfred University, students read Robert Sawyer’s novel, Rollback, in addition to a traditional te...
2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition Proceedings
Although her formal training is in discourse processing, her professional interests in learning a... more Although her formal training is in discourse processing, her professional interests in learning and cognitive theory have provided opportunities to serve as a consultant for classroom and program assessment across disciplines. In 2010 she served as Project Faculty for a U.S. Department of Education grant for Preparing Leaders in the Education and Training of the Next Generation of School Psychology Practitioners, and in 2012 served as an evaluator for an NSF grant on classroom-flipping in Calculus courses. Her teaching and research interests intersect with gerontology, with specific focus on ageism.
Models of self-regulation (cf., Carver & Scheier, 2000; Dunlosky & Hertzog, 1998) suggest that in... more Models of self-regulation (cf., Carver & Scheier, 2000; Dunlosky & Hertzog, 1998) suggest that individuals engage in a series of memory monitoring activities (e.g., judgments of learning, JOLs) and allocate their study time accordingly to maximize memory performance. Although research has investigated various factors that affect the allocation of study time (e.g., Dunlosky & Thiede, 1998), little research has specifically examined phenomena that impede the effective functioning of these processes, such as proactive interference. In light of research demonstrating that age differences in inhibitory mechanisms may be responsible for poorer memory performance among older adults (Hasher & Zacks, 1988) we examined the effect of proactive interference on both younger and older adults' allocation of study time, judgments of learning, and recall performance.
Psychology and Aging, 2008
Younger and older adults read a series of passages of three different genres for an immediate ass... more Younger and older adults read a series of passages of three different genres for an immediate assessment of text memory (measured by recall and true-false questions). Word-byword reading times were measured and decomposed into components reflecting resource allocation to particular linguistic processes using regression. Allocation to word and textbase processes showed some consistency across the three text types and was predictive of memory performance. Older adults allocated more time to word and textbase processes than the young did, but showed enhanced contextual facilitation. Structural equation modeling showed that greater resource allocation to word processes was required among readers with relatively low working memory spans and poorer verbal ability, and that greater resource allocation to textbase processes was engendered by higher verbal ability. Results are discussed in terms of a model of self-regulated language processing suggesting that older readers may compensate for processing deficiencies through greater reliance on discourse context and on increases in resource allocation that are enabled through growth in crystallized ability.
Memory & Cognition, 2004
Younger and older adults read a series of expository and narrative passages twice in order to ans... more Younger and older adults read a series of expository and narrative passages twice in order to answer comprehension questions. Reading time was used to index attentional allocation to word, textbase, and situation model processing and to assess shifts in the allocation policy from the first to the second reading. Older readers' comprehension was at least as good as that of younger readers. Analysis of reading times suggested that for both genres, older adults allocated more attention to situation model features than younger adults did on the first reading, whereas young and old allocated attention similarly to this level of representation on the second reading, suggesting that mature readers may give greater priority to situation model construction when fIrst encountering text. Also, for both genres, older adults showed relatively less facilitation than the young in word-level processing in rereading, suggesting that representation at this level is not as finnly established during reading or decays more quickly for older readers. For narrative texts only, this pattern also obtained for textbase processing. Collectively, these data show that age equivalence in text comprehension at the molar level may be accomplished through different processing routes at the molecular level. We are grateful for support from the National Institute on Aging (Grant ROI AG 13935). We thank Kerrie Griffin and Diane Cad for help with participant testing, scoring, and data entry and Matthew Shake for helpful commentary on the article.
International Journal of Behavioral Development, 2008
We investigated age differences in reading and rereading processes associated with problem solvin... more We investigated age differences in reading and rereading processes associated with problem solving and explored the extent to which prior information affects rereading processes. Participants' reading times were recorded as they read short mysteries, twice, at their own pace on a computer, with the goal of providing the solution to the mystery. We varied the amount of information provided prior to rereading the mysteries such that participants received: no new information, a hint (partial information), or the full solution. Reading times for trial 1 and for all three rereading conditions were decomposed to determine resource allocation to specific reading processes including conceptual integration, attention to critical regions, and instantiation of new characters in the narrative. We found that younger and older adults attended to critical regions of the problem similarly on trial 1 as well as when rereading with no information or a hint. Age differences were found, however, in...
Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 2005
Past work suggests that a strong sense of control over one&am... more Past work suggests that a strong sense of control over one's cognitive ability is associated with higher levels of cognitive performance and that control beliefs may be even more important in later life, due to age-related declines in cognitive processes. However, less is known about the effects of control beliefs on encoding strategies, and whether these effects are comparable for
Innovation in Aging
Unmet mental health care needs of older people living in rural areas have been identified as a fu... more Unmet mental health care needs of older people living in rural areas have been identified as a fundamental problem. This project engaged a rural consortium of service agencies to support recruitment through advertising, word of mouth, social media. So far, 100 rural participants aged 50 and older have completed our survey which includes the revised Barriers to Mental Health Services Scale, (BMHSS-R) which measures intrinsic barriers attributed to internal characteristics and beliefs, e.g. stigma, and extrinsic barriers, e.g. insurance costs, and lack of transportation. Preliminary results revealed increased services utilization compared to past research. However, several serious barriers remained, e.g. as lack of insurance/costs, distance/location, stigma, and lack of knowledge. The BMHSS-R results e demonstrate how the two types of barriers are related and interact within individuals. Implications are that internal barriers (e.g., stigma) and external ones (location, costs) can be ...
Two studies were conducted to determine whether proactive interference in discourse memory is in ... more Two studies were conducted to determine whether proactive interference in discourse memory is in part attributable to encoding. Using the Wickens paradigm, younger and older adults read a series of computer-presented sentences using the word-byword "moving window" technique and then recalled the sentences. In both studies, the younger adults' recall performance was greater than that of the older adults. In Experiment 1, resource allocation to conceptual integration decreased across trials and increased when a shift in topic was presented, suggesting that PI may diminish the effectiveness of processing for both older and younger readers. Experiment 2 assessed the effects of PI on processing efficiency but also included a mental model condition, in which all sentences were ordered to create coherent text. An analysis of encoding time (reading time per concept recalled) showed that older adults required relatively more time take significantly longer to process concepts in the proactive interference condition than in the mental model condition. Collectively, these results suggest that the effects of proactive interference may occur at both encoding and retrieval, but did not show age differences in susceptibility to proactive interference. The results also suggest that both younger and older adults may overcome the effects of PI in reading via organization provided by a mental model.
Psychology and Aging, 2003
To test the notion that aging brings an inability to self-initiate processing, the authors invest... more To test the notion that aging brings an inability to self-initiate processing, the authors investigated the effects of memory load on online sentence understanding. Younger and older adults read a series of short passages with or without a simultaneous updating task, which would be expected to deplete resources by consuming memory capacity. Regression analyses of word-by-word reading times onto text variables within each condition were used to decompose reading times into resources allocated to the array of word-level and textbase-level processes needed for comprehension. Among neither the young nor the old were word-level processes disrupted by a simultaneous memory load. However, older readers showed relatively greater levels of resource allocation to conceptual integration than the younger adults when under load, regardless of working-memory span or task priority. These results suggest that the ability to self-initiate the allocation of processing resources during reading is preserved among older readers.
Psychology and Aging, 2003
To test the notion that aging brings an inability to self-initiate processing, the authors invest... more To test the notion that aging brings an inability to self-initiate processing, the authors investigated the effects of memory load on online sentence understanding. Younger and older adults read a series of short passages with or without a simultaneous updating task, which would be expected to deplete resources by consuming memory capacity. Regression analyses of word-by-word reading times onto text variables within each condition were used to decompose reading times into resources allocated to the array of word-level and textbase-level processes needed for comprehension. Among neither the young nor the old were word-level processes disrupted by a simultaneous memory load. However, older readers showed relatively greater levels of resource allocation to conceptual integration than the younger adults when under load, regardless of working-memory span or task priority. These results suggest that the ability to self-initiate the allocation of processing resources during reading is pres...