Urvashi Pitre

Effects of Scripted Cooperation and Knowledge Maps on the Processing of Technical Material.

This study replicates and extends prior investigations of scripted cooperation and knowledge maps by examining (a) their independent and interactive effects on procedural knowledge acquisition and (b) the transfer of these effects to individual learning. The instrumental uses and limitations of knowledge maps are discussed

Effectiveness of Node-link Mapping Enhanced Counseling for Opiate Addicts: A 12-month Posttreatment Follow-up

Drug abuse counseling was enhanced by node-link mapping, a visual representation technique, and evaluated in a posttreatment follow-up study. Clients randomly assigned to receive mapping counseling reported less criminal activity 12 months after treatment than did clients in the standard counseling condition. It was also found that among clients staying less than 6 months in treatment, those in the mapping group had fewer urine samples that tested positive for opiates at follow-up. Thus, mapping-enhanced counseling may be especially beneficial for clients who leave treatment prematurely.

Scripted Cooperation and Knowledge Map Supplements

AbstractThis study examined the independent and interactive effects of supplement format (knowledge map vs. text vs. no supplement) and strategy (cooperative learning vs. cooperative teaching vs. individual study) on learning. After training and practice sessions, subjects studied a science and math passage over which they were tested. Two individual difference measures were also taken and combined into a general ability score. Repeated-measures analysis of variance of the recall variables indicated that (a) high ability subjects outperformed low ability subjects, and (b) cooperative learning with map supplements had a mutually facilitative effect on the low ability subjects’ recall.

Mapping Techniques to Improve Substance Abuse Treatment in Criminal Justice Settings

Node-link mapping, a graphic representation tool, was used to improve mandated substance-abuse treatment in a 4-month residential criminal justice program. Three hundred eighty probationers (residents) were randomly assigned to either mapping-enhanced or standard counseling. Compared to those in standard counseling, residents receiving mapping gave more favorable evaluations to their group meetings, counselors, co-residents, and security staff. They also rated themselves higher on treatment effort and self-efficacy measures than did their counterparts. These findings suggest that mapping-enhanced counseling fosters more effective communication during meetings, promotes stronger therapeutic alliances, and thus enhances the perceptions of the effectiveness of the program and of the people associated with it.

Encoding Operations and the Next-in-Line Effect

In a verbal interaction, people take turns speaking. Later, they may have difficulty remembering certain parts of the interaction. In particular, they may not recall what was said just before they began to speak. Previous research indicates that this next-in-line memory deficit reflects a failure at encoding, rather than retrieval. The current study assessed two explanations for the next-in-line encoding failure. One explanation locates the failure in a peripheral encoding operation, eye contact; the other locates it in a central operation, elaborative rehearsal. In the current study, verbal elaboration eliminated the next-in-line effect, and eye contact did not. As these results suggest, the next-in-line memory deficit reflects a failure at elaborative rehearsal.