Taylor, Grant (2018) The Effect of Readable Language on Performance of the Letter E Task. Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
The Limited Strength Model posits that engaging in self-regulatory behaviour depletes a limited resource, with the diminishing of this resource called ego-depletion. Concerns have been raised about the model in recent years on both theoretical and empirical grounds, highlighting the need to clarify what the component processes are that underpin it. As such, the fundamental assumptions about what constitutes a depleting task were investigated using the letter E task. To achieve this, the present study focused on the influence of readable language on target identification by investigating the effect that story coherence and language characteristics had on task performance. Coherence of the original E task stimuli was reduced by randomising words within each of five stories, in the expectation that it would attenuate the automatic response to read the text. Language characteristics were investigated according to evidence showing that bigram frequency (the frequency that letter pairings occur in words) is associated with word identification. The present study demonstrated declines in performance within a depleting task that were consistent with Limited Strength Model assumptions. However, the randomization of text was unable to determine the influence of coherence on the automatic response to read the text, but it was able to show performance differences based on language characteristics. When compared with two previous salient studies, findings suggest that processes involved in resource use and performance decline are complex, and cannot be exclusively attributed to self-regulation. The implications of this on resource use, automatic responses and domain generality are discussed.
|
Statistics for this ePrint Item |
| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Honours) |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Psychology and Counselling (1 Jan 2015 - 31 Dec 2021) |
| Supervisors: | Gerry Tehan |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) |
| Date Deposited: | 07 Aug 2025 01:58 |
| Last Modified: | 07 Aug 2025 01:58 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | self-regulation, ego-depletion, limited strength model, letter E Task, reading processes, language characteristics |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52810 |
Actions (login required)
 |
Archive Repository Staff Only |
