Richard J Allen
Biographic Data
| ID | 969913 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Richard J Allen |
| GIVEN NAMES | Richard J |
| FAMILY NAME | Allen |
| SIGNATURE | ALLEN R J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Leeds |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5987-6283 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 36 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 42 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 36 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1960 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
The Relationship Between Cognitive Offloading and the Transient Information Effect
Within the Cognitive Load Theory framework, the transient information effect suggests that learning with transient information before learners can adequately process the information reduces performance, compared to learning information presented in a non-transient way. Cognitive offloading is a process whereby people externalise internal information onto the environment, making the information more accessible and so less transient, supporting tas…
How do individuals direct attention to valuable information in working memory tasks? Evidence from eye-tracking
There is robust evidence that individuals can direct their attention towards valuable information in working memory. However, the cognitive mechanisms underlying such effects are still under debate. Whilst attentional refreshing is considered to at least partially drive the effect, research has yet to establish whether other processes also contribute. One possibility is that participants preferentially encode high value information, creating a st…
Exploring techniques for encoding spoken instructions in working memory: A comparison of verbal rehearsal, motor imagery, self-enactment and action observation
Encoding and recalling spoken instructions is subject to working memory capacity limits. Previous research suggests action-based encoding facilitates instruction recall, but has not directly compared benefits across different types of action-based techniques. The current study addressed this in two experiments with young adults. In Experiment 1, participants listened to instructional sequences containing four action-object pairs, and encoded thes…
The role of attention and verbal rehearsal in remembering more valuable item-colour binding
Selectively remembering more valuable information can improve memory efficiency. Such value effects have been observed on long-term memory for item-colour binding, but the possible contributory factors are unclear. The current study explored contributions from attention (Experiment 1) and verbal rehearsal (Experiment 2). Across two experiments, memory was superior for item-colour bindings that were associated with high (relative to low) point val…
Do executive functions and processing speed mediate the relationship between socioeconomic status and educational achievement? Analysis of an observational birth cohort study
These results, and the theoretical mechanisms linking working memory to educational achievement, both indicate the importance of finding ways to support children with working memory difficulties in the classroom. This is an important avenue for future research and may be useful for closing the socioeconomic gap in educational achievement
Toward a Philosophy of Melodrama
This article proposes a philosophy of melodrama, following the example of Noël Carroll in The Philosophy of Horror (1990). Melodrama is defined by a distinctive mode of address in which morality is dramatized through an appeal to our emotions. More narrowly conceived as the “tearjerker,” it is designed to solicit tears through the orchestration of pathos. While melodrama is associated above all with a genre of nineteenth- century theater, it is c…
Intentional and incidental odour-colour binding in working memory
The question of how features are bound together in working memory has become a topic of much research in recent years. However, this is typically focused on visual and/or auditory stimuli. The purpose of this study is to apply established feature binding procedures to investigate odour binding in working memory. Across three experiments, memory for intentionally and incidentally formed odour-colour pairings was tested. Experiment 1 showed that fo…
Evidence, probability, and relative plausibility: A response to Aitken, Taroni, and Bozza
The Law's Aversion to Naked Statistics and Other Mistakes
A vast literature has developed probing the law's aversion to statistical/probability evidence in general and its rejection of naked statistical evidence in particular. This literature rests on false premises. At least so far as US law is concerned, there is no general aversion to statistical forms of proof and even naked statistics are admissible and sufficient for a verdict when the evidentiary proffer meets the normal standards of admissibilit…
Why does the probe value effect emerge in working memory? Examining the biased attentional refreshing account
People are able to prioritize more valuable information in working memory. The current study examined whether this value effect is due to the items of greater value being refreshed more than lower-value items during maintenance. To assess this possibility, we combined a probe value manipulation with a guided-refreshing procedure. Arrays of colored shapes were presented, and after a brief delay, participants reported the color of one randomly prob…
Improving older adults’ ability to follow instructions: Benefits of actions at encoding and retrieval in working memory
The ability to follow instructions is critical for learning new skills and may support successful aging. Recent evidence indicates a close link between following instructions and working memory, and that action-based processing at encoding and retrieval can improve this ability. In this study, we examined the ability to follow instructions and the benefits of action-based processing in young and older adults. In Experiment 1, participants were pr…
Socioeconomic disadvantage and ethnicity are associated with large differences in children’s working memory ability: Analysis of a prospective birth cohort study following 13,500 children
Working memory is a limited capacity system that stores and processes information over short time periods and is essential for learning new information. Some studies have investigated the associations between socioeconomic position and working memory, however none have examined this across potentially dissociable aspects of working memory. Further, there are very few studies about children's working memory differences across and within different …
Exploring the understanding and experience of working memory in teaching professionals: A large-sample questionnaire study
Working memory (WM) underpins learning and is strongly associated with academic achievement. Children with poor WM need support in the classroom, but little is known about teachers’ understanding of WM. An online questionnaire (N = 1425) assessed educational professionals’ understanding of key concepts related to WM. Respondents generally showed some understanding, although most overestimated WM duration. There was also considerable variability i…
Following Instructions in Working Memory: Do Older Adults Show the Enactment Advantage
Our findings suggest that additional spatial-motoric information is beneficial for older adults when the actions are demonstrated to them, but not when the individual must enact the instructions themselves
Relative plausibility and its critics
Within legal scholarship there is a tendency to use (perhaps overuse) “paradigm shift” in ways far removed from the process famously described by Thomas Kuhn. Within the field of evidence, however, a phenomenon very similar to a paradigm shift, in the Kuhnian sense, is occurring. Although not on the scale of the transformation from Newtonian to Einsteinian physics or other tectonic shifts in science, the best understanding of juridical proof is s…
Clarifying relative plausibility: A rejoinder
This rejoinder replies to the twenty published commentaries on our article, “Relative Plausibility and Its Critics.” Our response has four objectives: 1) presenting further details regarding relative plausibility and the scope of our project in order to address some of our critics’ claims of ambiguity; 2) examining some important methodological considerations; 3) clarifying the significance of the conjunction problem and its role in the “probabil…
Debate: Legal Probabilism—A Qualified Rejection: A Response to Hedden and Colyvan
Can children prioritize more valuable information in working memory? An exploration into the effects of motivation and memory load
Recent research found no evidence that children aged 7-10 years are able to direct their attention to more valuable information in working memory. The current experiments examined whether children demonstrate this ability when the reward system used to motivate participants is engaging and age-appropriate. This was explored across different memory loads (3- vs. 4-item arrays) and modes of presentation (sequential vs. simultaneous). Younger (7-8 y…
The limits of visual working memory in children: Exploring prioritization and recency effects with sequential presentation
Recent research has demonstrated that, when instructed to prioritize a serial position in visual working memory (WM), adults are able to boost performance for this selected item, at a cost to nonprioritized items (e.g., Hu, Hitch, Baddeley, Zhang, & Allen, 2014). While executive control appears to play an important role in this ability, the increased likelihood of recalling the most recently presented item (i.e., the recency effect) is relatively…
The nature of juridical proof: Probability as a tool in plausible reasoning
The different contexts of forensic science and juridical decision making are explored to identify the nature of juridical proof, the role of formalized probability theory in it, and how factual inquiry proceeds in the differing domains
Rinsing, independent of energy and metabolism, improves ego depleted self-control performance
Memory Binding
Beginning, Middle, End of an Era: Has Technology Trumped Aristotle
Research Article| April 01 2013 Beginning, Middle, End of an Era: Has Technology Trumped Aristotle? Richard J. Allen Richard J. Allen Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Journal of Film and Video (2013) 65 (1-2): 9–22. https://doi.org/10.5406/jfilmvideo.65.1-2.0009 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Twitter Permissions Search Site Citation Richard J. Allen; Beginning, Middle, End of an Era: Has Technology Trumped Aristotle?. J…
Probability, Explanation and Inference: A Reply
This essay, published in a symposium issue on the “reference class problem” and legal evidence, replies to articles by Dale Nance, Mark Colyvan and Helen Regan, Robert Rhee, and Larry Laudan. We discuss the limits of probabilistic modeling of evidence and the relationship between such modeling and explanatory accounts of legal proof
Facts in Law and Facts of Law
The nature of the distinction between issues of fact and issues of law is considered. Courts in the United States and England have failed to articulate the distinction. Arguments that a distinction may be drawn on ontological, epistemological or analytical grounds are considered and rejected. It is argued that the law/fact distinction involves a complex interaction between three variables: (1) conventional meanings of the terms ‘law’ and ‘fact’; …
Relative plausibility and its critics
Within legal scholarship there is a tendency to use (perhaps overuse) “paradigm shift” in ways far removed from the process famously described by Thomas Kuhn. Within the field of evidence, however, a phenomenon very similar to a paradigm shift, in the Kuhnian sense, is occurring. Although not on the scale of the transformation from Newtonian to Einsteinian physics or other tectonic shifts in science, the best understanding of juridical proof is s…
Naturalized Epistemology and the Law of Evidence
This paper important developments in epistemology, and defends a theoretical framework for evidence scholarship from the perspective of naturalized epistemology.It demonstrates that naturalized epistemology provides a firm conceptual foundation for much research into law of evidence.These developments in epistemology have not been much noted in legal scholarship, despite their importance in philosophy and their coincidence with some widely shared…
Clarifying relative plausibility: A rejoinder
This rejoinder replies to the twenty published commentaries on our article, “Relative Plausibility and Its Critics.” Our response has four objectives: 1) presenting further details regarding relative plausibility and the scope of our project in order to address some of our critics’ claims of ambiguity; 2) examining some important methodological considerations; 3) clarifying the significance of the conjunction problem and its role in the “probabil…
The nature of juridical proof: Probability as a tool in plausible reasoning
The different contexts of forensic science and juridical decision making are explored to identify the nature of juridical proof, the role of formalized probability theory in it, and how factual inquiry proceeds in the differing domains
Debate: Legal Probabilism—A Qualified Rejection: A Response to Hedden and Colyvan
Can children prioritize more valuable information in working memory? An exploration into the effects of motivation and memory load
Recent research found no evidence that children aged 7-10 years are able to direct their attention to more valuable information in working memory. The current experiments examined whether children demonstrate this ability when the reward system used to motivate participants is engaging and age-appropriate. This was explored across different memory loads (3- vs. 4-item arrays) and modes of presentation (sequential vs. simultaneous). Younger (7-8 y…
Evidence, probability, and relative plausibility: A response to Aitken, Taroni, and Bozza
Exploring the understanding and experience of working memory in teaching professionals: A large-sample questionnaire study
Working memory (WM) underpins learning and is strongly associated with academic achievement. Children with poor WM need support in the classroom, but little is known about teachers’ understanding of WM. An online questionnaire (N = 1425) assessed educational professionals’ understanding of key concepts related to WM. Respondents generally showed some understanding, although most overestimated WM duration. There was also considerable variability i…
Beginning, Middle, End of an Era: Has Technology Trumped Aristotle
Research Article| April 01 2013 Beginning, Middle, End of an Era: Has Technology Trumped Aristotle? Richard J. Allen Richard J. Allen Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Journal of Film and Video (2013) 65 (1-2): 9–22. https://doi.org/10.5406/jfilmvideo.65.1-2.0009 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Twitter Permissions Search Site Citation Richard J. Allen; Beginning, Middle, End of an Era: Has Technology Trumped Aristotle?. J…
The expert as educator: Enhancing the rationality of verdicts in child sex abuse prosecutions
The Detection and Diagnosis of Phenylketonuria
The Detection and Diagnosis of Phenylketonuria Richard J. Allen CopyRight https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.50.11.1662 Published Online: August 29, 2011
Myself a Mandarin
Johann Daniel Falk and the Theory of Characteristic Art
German Baroque Poetry
Die deutsche Verssatire im Zeitalter des Barock
The expert as educator: Enhancing the rationality of verdicts in child sex abuse prosecutions
The expert as educator: Enhancing the rationality of verdicts in child sex abuse prosecutions
Reasoning and Its Foundation: Some Responses
Rationality, Algorithms and Juridical Proof: A Preliminary Inquiry
Clarifying the Burden of Persuasion and Bayesian Decision Rules: A Response to Professor Kaye
Naturalized Epistemology and the Law of Evidence
This paper important developments in epistemology, and defends a theoretical framework for evidence scholarship from the perspective of naturalized epistemology.It demonstrates that naturalized epistemology provides a firm conceptual foundation for much research into law of evidence.These developments in epistemology have not been much noted in legal scholarship, despite their importance in philosophy and their coincidence with some widely shared…
Facts in Law and Facts of Law
The nature of the distinction between issues of fact and issues of law is considered. Courts in the United States and England have failed to articulate the distinction. Arguments that a distinction may be drawn on ontological, epistemological or analytical grounds are considered and rejected. It is argued that the law/fact distinction involves a complex interaction between three variables: (1) conventional meanings of the terms ‘law’ and ‘fact’; …
Probability, Explanation and Inference: A Reply
This essay, published in a symposium issue on the “reference class problem” and legal evidence, replies to articles by Dale Nance, Mark Colyvan and Helen Regan, Robert Rhee, and Larry Laudan. We discuss the limits of probabilistic modeling of evidence and the relationship between such modeling and explanatory accounts of legal proof
Beginning, Middle, End of an Era: Has Technology Trumped Aristotle
Research Article| April 01 2013 Beginning, Middle, End of an Era: Has Technology Trumped Aristotle? Richard J. Allen Richard J. Allen Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Journal of Film and Video (2013) 65 (1-2): 9–22. https://doi.org/10.5406/jfilmvideo.65.1-2.0009 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Twitter Permissions Search Site Citation Richard J. Allen; Beginning, Middle, End of an Era: Has Technology Trumped Aristotle?. J…
Memory Binding
The nature of juridical proof: Probability as a tool in plausible reasoning
The different contexts of forensic science and juridical decision making are explored to identify the nature of juridical proof, the role of formalized probability theory in it, and how factual inquiry proceeds in the differing domains
Rinsing, independent of energy and metabolism, improves ego depleted self-control performance
The limits of visual working memory in children: Exploring prioritization and recency effects with sequential presentation
Recent research has demonstrated that, when instructed to prioritize a serial position in visual working memory (WM), adults are able to boost performance for this selected item, at a cost to nonprioritized items (e.g., Hu, Hitch, Baddeley, Zhang, & Allen, 2014). While executive control appears to play an important role in this ability, the increased likelihood of recalling the most recently presented item (i.e., the recency effect) is relatively…
Relative plausibility and its critics
Within legal scholarship there is a tendency to use (perhaps overuse) “paradigm shift” in ways far removed from the process famously described by Thomas Kuhn. Within the field of evidence, however, a phenomenon very similar to a paradigm shift, in the Kuhnian sense, is occurring. Although not on the scale of the transformation from Newtonian to Einsteinian physics or other tectonic shifts in science, the best understanding of juridical proof is s…
Clarifying relative plausibility: A rejoinder
This rejoinder replies to the twenty published commentaries on our article, “Relative Plausibility and Its Critics.” Our response has four objectives: 1) presenting further details regarding relative plausibility and the scope of our project in order to address some of our critics’ claims of ambiguity; 2) examining some important methodological considerations; 3) clarifying the significance of the conjunction problem and its role in the “probabil…
Debate: Legal Probabilism—A Qualified Rejection: A Response to Hedden and Colyvan
Can children prioritize more valuable information in working memory? An exploration into the effects of motivation and memory load
Recent research found no evidence that children aged 7-10 years are able to direct their attention to more valuable information in working memory. The current experiments examined whether children demonstrate this ability when the reward system used to motivate participants is engaging and age-appropriate. This was explored across different memory loads (3- vs. 4-item arrays) and modes of presentation (sequential vs. simultaneous). Younger (7-8 y…
Following Instructions in Working Memory: Do Older Adults Show the Enactment Advantage
Our findings suggest that additional spatial-motoric information is beneficial for older adults when the actions are demonstrated to them, but not when the individual must enact the instructions themselves
Exploring the understanding and experience of working memory in teaching professionals: A large-sample questionnaire study
Working memory (WM) underpins learning and is strongly associated with academic achievement. Children with poor WM need support in the classroom, but little is known about teachers’ understanding of WM. An online questionnaire (N = 1425) assessed educational professionals’ understanding of key concepts related to WM. Respondents generally showed some understanding, although most overestimated WM duration. There was also considerable variability i…
The Law's Aversion to Naked Statistics and Other Mistakes
A vast literature has developed probing the law's aversion to statistical/probability evidence in general and its rejection of naked statistical evidence in particular. This literature rests on false premises. At least so far as US law is concerned, there is no general aversion to statistical forms of proof and even naked statistics are admissible and sufficient for a verdict when the evidentiary proffer meets the normal standards of admissibilit…
Psychology (20 works) · Cognition (13 works) · Philosophy (13 works) · Political science (12 works) · Working memory (12 works) · Computer Science (11 works) · Sociology (10 works) · Cognitive psychology (9 works) · Epistemology (9 works) · Law (8 works)