Development of Accelerometry as an Objective Measure of Motor Neglect
M. Leslie Box, University of Alabama at Birmingham
First-Place Allyn & Bacon Award Winner
Faculty Sponsor: Gitendra Uswatte, PhD

Stroke patients that display a discrepancy between spontaneous use of the affected side and motor impairment of the affected side have been described as exhibiting motor neglect, but no standard measures of this phenomenon exist. The purpose of this study was to develop accelerometry, a reliable measure of the duration of stroke-impaired arm movement, as such a measure.
     Seven outpatients with chronic stroke completed tests of spontaneous arm use and motor impairment and wore an accelerometer on each arm for three days at home as well as during testing. An independent observer also rated participants on the amount of motor neglect exhibited. The results suggested that accelerometer recordings provide valid measure of impaired-arm use and provide a valid measure of motor neglect, quantified by the variance in accelerometer recordings not accounted for by the variance in motor impairment, in the laboratory as well as at home. These findings provide preliminary evidence that accelerometery can be used to obtain objective laboratory and real-world measures of motor neglect.

Enhancing Recall of Names by Providing Feedback on the Use of Expanding Retrieval
Lindsey Root, Hope College
Second-Place Allyn & Bacon Award Winner
Faculty Sponsor: John J. Shaughnessy

This research evaluated whether participants could learn to implement an expanding retrieval schedule and whether doing so improved their recall of names with a concurrent memory load. Participants (96 college students) viewed one of two versions of a videotaped conversation and attempted to learn names and facts (one version paused every time a person appeared on the screen and one did not). Prior to watching the video, half of the participants were given four trials with feedback to try to implement an expanding schedule. The remaining participants completed a filler task. Eighty percent of participants who received feedback were able to do expanding retrieval and the feedback condition enhanced recall for participants who viewed the tape without freeze frames.

Assessing the Recollective Nature of Source Misattributions
Luciane M. B. Paula-Pereira, Saint Peter’s College
Third-Place Allyn & Bacon Award Winner
Faculty Sponsor: Maryellen Hamilton, Ph.D.

The present experiment assessed whether source-monitoring misattributions are directed to the source with the least qualitative characteristics or the source with the weakest memory trace strength. Specifically, we manipulated whether subjects saw pictures or formed mental images on Day 1 vs. Day 3. In addition, the strength of the memory trace was manipulated through repetition.
     We found the typical It-had-to-be-me effect in the image-picture group and the It-had-to-be-you effect in the picture-image group for the misattributions, regardless of the memory strength of the items. "Remember" and "Know" judgments were used to assess whether these two effects were due to qualitative differences in the recollective nature of memory for the source. It was found that the qualitative nature of the misattributions in these two effects differed only at one repetition.