Date of Award

Spring 2004

Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

Degree Name

Master of Science in Human Factors & Systems

Department

Human Factors and Systems

Committee Chair

Christina M. Frederick

Committee Member

Jon French

Committee Member

Nancy Parker

Committee Member

Ronald John Lofaro

Abstract

Many studies have been interested in how people process information and follow instruction. The current study was developed to add to the existing knowledge about working memory through having participants receive instructions in different presentation mediums. It was further theorized that two processing preferences, need for cognition and need for affect, may moderate the relationship between instructions and performance. These processing constructs represent an individual's motivation to experience cognitive-based earning or emotion. Both the processing preferences and presentation types have been linked to hemispheric specialization. It was also hypothesized that an individual's level of creativity may influence their performance on a task. Two models were developed for each performance outcome (time and error). A multiple regression for categorical and continuous variables was used to determine whether presentation types, and processing preference can predict the performance based time and error scores. It was found that only presentation type predicted performance. The results of the study along with specific relationships that were found, have major implications for future research on training and working memory.

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