Variations in perceptual and cognitive demands (load) play a major role in determining the efficiency of selective attention. According to load theory (Lavie, Hirst, Fockert, & Viding, 2004) these factors (a) improve or hamper selectivity by altering the way resources (e.g., processing capacity) are allocated, and (b) tap resources rather than…

Working memory updating (WMU) has been identified as a cognitive function of prime importance for everyday tasks and has also been found to be a significant predictor of higher mental abilities. Yet, little is known about the constituent processes of WMU. We suggest that operations required in a typical WMU task can be decomposed into 3 major…

Pettigrew's Category Width Scale was administered to 150 first-year psychology students in a study designed to relate a cognitive style dimension, category width, to individual preferences in information processing strategies. (Author/CM)

This empirical study of Finnish University students reports on cognitive activities when hypertext readers construct interpretations, appreciate multiple perspectives and become able to manipulate the knowledge-construction process itself. Discusses knowledge acquisition, cognitive flexibility theory, reading strategies, individual differences,…

This quantitative study of imagery in 96 undergraduates addresses the problem of individual differences in the characteristics of mental imagery workspaces. A 20-item questionnaire embodying nine characteristics of mental imagery workspaces was administered to 78 females and 18 males. Analysis of variance by gender disclosed significant higher…

Previous research has indicated that Type A's have a higher need to control their environments, and respond more reactively to control loss than Type B's. To clarify the role of information processing in the control relinquishment decisions of Type A's and B's, 147 male and female college students took part in a problem solving experiment. Pairs…

In recent years, the study of the self has been concentrated in the areas of self-esteem, individual differences in self-relevant cognition, and the processes of self-relevant cognition. To validate understanding of the individual difference dimensions of public and private self-consciousness and self-esteem, college students (N=101) completed the…

Factors affecting the failure to use world knowledge to complete an otherwise incomplete linear ordering was examined. Failure persisted after three repetitions was unaffected by order of presentation or nature of test procedure. Performance was affected by overall amounts of known and new information and by their relation. (Author/RD)

The extent to which college students performed differentially on 3 x 3 figural analogies administered under two elaborative testing conditions was investigated. Results indicated that subjects who demonstrated a preferred testing condition performed more effectively upon retesting than did a control group not displaying differential performance as…

The impact of individual differences on the performance of roles of learner and learning facilitator was studied during dyadic cooperative learning with 80 college students in same-sex groups of 4. The learner role accounted for more than 70% of the variance in total recall. The influence of cognitive and rapport factors is discussed. (SLD)

The verbal organizing abilities of the bilingual, multilingual, and monolingual, as measured by four subscales of the Goyer Organization of Ideas Test (GOIT), were investigated. A total of 163 subjects from 5 universities having high populations of multilingual students were administered the GOIT. Bilinguals were not as effective on the sequential…

In a study of individual differences in long-term memory access, university undergraduates verified (1) whether an item was a member of a category; (2) whether two items belonged in the same category; and (3) whether two words had the same name. Reaction times from these tasks were correlated with verbal ability, as measured by performance on a…

Subjects scaled 48 positive and 32 negative assertion vignettes according to similarity of difficulty to determine how people cognitively present complex social situations. Analyses indicated each dimension could be described according to major component(s) that contributed to it and dimensions varied in importance as a function of assertion…

Twenty-two college students from each of three different epistemological groups--dualistic, multiplistic, and relativistic--completed both a syllogism and ink blot problem-solving task. Findings indicated that the three epistemological groups reliably differed in how they mentally organized the ink blot stimuli but not the syllogism problems.…

Administered a battery of psychometric ability tests to 211 undergraduates and 622 other adults ranging in age from 43 to 78. Findings were consistent with the view that speed of information processing can be an important correlate of individual differences in rates of intellectual aging and a performance-specific confound that distorts estimates…