Trial lecture title: Memory versus remembering: Different views of Cognitive Psychology and Behavior Analysis.
Ordinary opponents:
- First opponent: Professor Andreia Schmidt, University of Sao Paulo
- Second opponent: Professor Mark R. Dixon, University of Illinois Chicago
- Leader of the committee: Professor Espen Borgård Johansen, OsloMet
Leader of the public defense is Head of Studies Christoffer Eilifsen, OsloMet.
The main supervisor is Professor Erik Arntzen, OsloMet and the co-supervisor is Associate Professor Torunn Lian, OsloMet.
Abstract
The studies in this dissertation build on and contribute to the knowledge of remembering with the use of conditional discrimination in older adults and older adults with dementia. Variables affecting responding in older adults and older adults with dementia in the conditional-discrimination procedure have been examined in several studies.
However, only a modest number of studies have been published where these findings have been used in applied settings involving patients with dementia.
Four studies
The focus on using basic research in applied settings involving patients with dementia may contribute to the non-medical treatment of the disease.
This dissertation includes four studies. The first study is an experimental study, comparing responding in older adults and younger adults in a conditional-discrimination procedure. The aims were to identify differences between the age groups and to detect the most effective training structure and stimuli presentation when establishing conditional discriminations in older adults.
In the remaining three studies, participants with dementia were presented with individually adjusted conditional discrimination tasks. In Study 2, a participant with dementia was presented with repetitive training sequences of simultaneous matching-to-sample and delayed matching-to-sample 0 s, in order to find out how identity matching responding was affected.
The application of the conditional-discrimination procedure is presented in Studies 3 and 4. The aim of these studies was to identify stimulus control issues in recognizing relatives, re-establishing relations, and maintaining skills over time.
