Both between- and within-group differences in children ages nine to eleven identified as having reflective or impulsive cognitive tempos. Cognitive tempo was first assessed using Kagan's Matching Familiar Figures test, and children were later tested on the Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices. (Author/RH)

In this quasi-experimental study, 142 fifth and sixth grade students at a suburban elementary school in Northwest Washington State participated in a week-long, 10-hour project using the "LEGO Mindstorms Robotics Invention System" (RIS). Partners constructed and programmed one robot from visually-based LEGO instructions and a second of…

This study investigated the relationship between Jensen's Level I-Level II mental abilities and how they correlate with problem solving in college students. The Level I-Level II correlation was not significant, but intelligence and problem solving were significantly correlated. Results are discussed in relation to prior findings. (Author/RD)

Attempted cognitive training of Raven's Progressive Matrices using guided self-discovery, but without directly providing strategies. Thirty-six older and 36 younger adults were pretested, underwent training, and were posttested. Found no significant difference in improvement between younger and older adults. Failed to find evidence for successful…

The comparison of cognitive and linguistic skills in individuals with developmental disorders is fraught with methodological and psychometric difficulties. In this paper, we illustrate some of these issues by comparing the receptive vocabulary knowledge and non-verbal reasoning abilities of 41 children with Williams syndrome, a genetic disorder in…

THE THREE MAIN PURPOSES OF THIS RESEARCH IN PROBLEM-SOLVING WERE (1) TO EVALUATE GROUP PERFORMANCE VERSUS PERFORMANCE NORMS BASED ON THE PROPERTIES OF THE PROBLEM, (2) TO STUDY INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE, AND (3) TO INVESTIGATE THE EFFECT THAT A PARTICULAR EDUCATIONAL LEVEL HAS ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THESE PROBLEMS. THE SUBJECTS USED CONSISTED OF A…

This article documents the eligibility procedures and student assessment result of a project for identifying university students with learning disabilities. Many legal issues are relevant in the classification of young adults with disabilities, including the use of standardized procedures for establishing disability status which are meant to…

Replicates and extends Riding and Powells' study of four-year-olds' problem-solving abilities using computer activities. Achieves similar results, namely significantly greater improvement between the pretest and posttest scores for the treatment group. Suggests that computers could aid worthwhile improvement in young children's thinking…

Using Raven Progressive Matrices Test items, this study developed an empirical measure of subjects' ability to create new problems. The relationship between this ability and problem solving skills was examined. A very low correlation was found between inventing and solving problems. Problem creation was more difficult than problem solving. (BS)

Studies of human problem solving have traditionally used deterministic tasks that require the execution of a systematic series of steps to reach a rational and optimal solution. Most real-world problems, however, are characterized by uncertainty, the need to consider an enormous number of variables and possible courses of action at each stage in…

A study of the responses made to problems selected from Raven's Progressive Matrices showed differences in the kinds of errors typically made by eighteen-year-old students. Nine problems were used and the 68 subjects were told to draw their answers on the answer sheets. There were two trials per puzzle. A classification system, devised for errors,…

Undergraduates were given complex figural analogies items, and eye movements were observed under three types of feedback: (1) elaborate feedback; (2) subjects verbalized their thinking and application of rules; and (3) no feedback. Both feedback conditions enhanced the rule-governed information processing during inductive reasoning. (Author/GDC)

The relative contributions of test anxiety and exam-taking skills to information-processing deficits were investigated in a dual-task paradigm comparing high and low test-anxious students with either good or poor exam-taking skills. Sixty-four undergraduate students (21 males, 43 females) were selected based upon pre-test scores on the Test…