This is an editorial for a special issue "Innovations in Exploring Sequential Process Data" in the journal Zeitschrift für Psychologie. Process data refer to log files generated by human-computer interactive items. They document the entire process, including keystrokes, mouse clicks as well as the associated time stamps, performed by a…

If judiciously applied, cognitive terminology can encourage further examination of phenomena in useful ways that may not otherwise be studied. I give examples of 3 phenomena, the study of which have benefitted from a cognitive perspective. For the first, transitive inference behavior, it appears that non-cognitive accounts cannot satisfactorily…

T. F. Denson, M. Spanovic, and N. Miller (2009) meta-analytically tested the hypotheses that specific appraisals and emotions would predict cortisol and immune responses to laboratory stressors and emotion inductions. Although the cortisol data supported the integrated specificity hypothesis, G. E. Miller (2009) raised questions concerning the…

Comments on the article by E. Brandstatter, G. Gigerenzer, and R. Hertwig (2006). Resolution of debates in cognition usually comes from the introduction of constraints in the form of new data about either the process or representation. Decision research, in contrast, has relied predominantly on testing models by examining their fit to choices. The…

The paper by Rupp and Templin (2008) is an excellent work on the characteristics and features of cognitive diagnostic models (CDM). In this article, the authors comment on some substantial and methodological aspects of this focus paper. They organize their comments by going through issues associated with the terms "cognitive,"…

Reasons why there are few incentives for test publishers to make significant innovations in what is tested or how it is tested are given. A brief discussion of research on growth spurts in the brain, hemispheric differences, and other neurological phenomena is followed by a discussion of some conclusions drawn from this work. While skepticism is…

A cognitive process approach is applied to this discussion of the nature and relationship of skills, thinking, and social studies knowledge. To make understanding explicit, the paper addresses: (1) the meaning of cognitive skills and their role in thinking; (2) generic versus specific skills; and (3) implications for the National Assessment of…

In assessing the quality of science teaching for an effort such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), it is important to understand what is meant by scientific thinking--the search for explanations. Instruction should involve higher-order cognitive skill development, but it is difficult to measure reasoning and understanding…

The research and development of mental (standardized) testing and its relationship to educational practice is traced historically from its pre-World War I roots to its controversial national prominence in the 1970s. How standardized tests have been used in research and in schools is analyzed. (BS)

In Robbins, R. & McKone, E. (2006). No face-like processing for object-of-expertise in three behavioural tasks. "Cognition" this issue, we showed face-like holistic/configural processing does not occur for objects-of-expertise on standard paradigms including inversion, part-whole, part-in-configurally-transformed-whole, and the standard composite…

Three developments over the past 15 years--our understanding of cognition, new techniques in technical psychometrics, and the computer explosion--form the basis for a proposal for new intelligence tests. These developments are reviewed, and both leaps and steps in intellectual assessment are proposed. (Author/RD)

Examines several possible difficulties in interpreting the results of studies which employ Piagetian tasks, especially conservation tasks, with older individuals. Notes that Piaget's clinical method allows more flexibility in the assessment of competence than do more quantifiable techniques. Examines the possibility of task misinterpretation by…

Five major trends in the study of intellectual abilities are identified. These suggest that in the future several kinds of tests will be used to measure several kinds of basic processes of intelligence. There will be a corresponding decrease in concern to measure a single attribute of general intelligence. (Author/RD)

The history of the concept of intelligence is reviewed, and the construction and uses of psychological tests are explored. Skills consist of a large number of abilities. It is argued that the psychological entity, intelligence, is determined by particular contexts, contexts often induced by social demands. (SLD)

The Learning Potential Assessment Device (LPAD) is presented as an approach to the production and measurement of cognitive change. The paper presents three empirical studies illustrating how the LPAD may be applied in solving practical problems with important educational and social implications for teaching handicapped or disadvantaged students.…