Atypical Category Learning in Poor Comprehenders
Time Period: Fall 2014 - Fall 2018
Languages Used: R
Statistical Methods: Linear mixed-effects modeling
This project investigated how adolescents with poor reading comprehension ability learn new categories. I designed the experiment and the data analysis. We found that poor comprehenders exhibit performance consistent with poor cognitive flexibility – once they settle on a learning strategy, they tend to stick with that strategy even if it is suboptimal.
All of the data and code for this project is hosted on GitHub. For a walkthrough of the analysis, see the markdown file.
Output
January, 2019: A publication detailing these results has been published in Scientific Studies of Reading.
Ryherd, K., & Landi, N. (2019). Category Learning in Poor Comprehenders. Scientific Studies of Reading. http://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2019.1566908
April, 2018: I was invited to give a talk summarizing these results at first annual Cross-Disciplinary Colloquium in the Department of Psychological Sciences at the University of Connecticut.
July, 2017: I gave a talk summarizing these results at the 24th Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading (SSSR).
October, 2016: My master’s thesis reports results from a version of this task done on typically-developing undergraduate students.
April, 2016: Characterizing novel concept learning in poor comprehenders. Poster presented at the 7th University of Connecticut Language Festival, Storrs, CT.