Describes lexical influences on selective adaptation using words with ambiguous phonemes as adapters. (Author/VWL)

Described misconceptions of elementary students participating in physical education, testing ways of recording and classifying types of misconceptions. Data from observations, videotapes, interviews, and document analysis indicated that misconceptions fell into categories representing motor skill execution and confusion over terminology, strategy,…

Describes the Verbal Transformation Effect (VTE): When listeners hear the same word repeated very many times at a rapid rate, the word tends to be perceived as other words. Reports lexical effects in the VTE and examines their cause. (Author/VWL)

These two issues of a newsletter address the use of computers in developing complex thinking skills. The first issue, for May 1986, includes articles on: environmental science computer applications; computers and higher order thinking in Mineola, New York; a description of case study research identifying effective uses of computers in developing…

Describes two exploratory studies of undergraduate and postgraduate students concerning the difficulties of learning to perform HTA (hierarchical task analysis) and how those difficulties might be overcome through proper training. Errors occurred with respect to all HTA criteria, suggesting that carrying out HTR itself is a complex cognitive task.…

Describes subjective-contour illusions and gives explanations for perception of shape and brightness in these figures. Supports cognitive mechanisms rather than psychological mechanisms. Gives examples of subjective-contour illusions and summarizes explanations of other psychologists with regard to this topic. (CW)

Describes the recording of protocols of student problem solving, some of the problems arising in this approach, and the difficulties faced by the researcher. (Author)

Describes how children switch from intuitive to scientific methods of explanation of motion when the numerical conditions in the presented problem are changed. Investigates a case study where significant numbers of students appear to draw on different models of motion. Indicates that many students exhibit combinations of Aristotelian-like…

Reviews some differences in the educating approach of environmental education and environmental interpretation and the cognitive processes involved. Also presents an interpretive field study based on the cognitive processes reviewed. The study evaluated the ability of 150 users of forest trails to recognize interpretive messages experienced during…

Describes a study comparing the translation of cognates from French into English by more-and less skilled bilinguals. More-skilled bilinguals experienced significantly greater translation intervals than less-skilled bilinguals, suggesting that a new model unique to the cognate must be considered. (Author/VWL)

This report is the first in a two-part series introducing an interactive activation model of context effects in perception. A model for the perception of letters in words and other contexts is described and applied to a number of experiments. It is proposed that the model accounts for (1) the perceptual advantage for letters in words compared to…

This report is the second in a two-part series introducing an interactive activation model of context effects in perception. In the first part, a model for the perception of letters in words and other contexts was described and applied to a number of experiments. This second part applies the same model to a number of new experiments designed to…

Examines problem-based small-group discussions and describes a study conducted in The Netherlands that investigated the thoughts of students, both content-related and non-task related, through a thought sampling method. Highlights include categories of students' thoughts; validity measures; and results of student questionnaires. (LRW)

Describes a four-stage model based on cognitive appraisal theory that attempts to specify the precise links between cognitive evaluations of events and resultant discrete emotions. Presents a case study with multicultural group members, which suggests that use of the model may be particularly constructive with these groups. By identifying linkages…

This Yugoslavian study aimed to describe the ways in which mothers are (or are not) using the opportunity, created by interacting with their children on tasks which are in the child's Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), to foster the child's metacognitive development. The underlying assumption of this study on metacognition is derived from the…