The purpose of this study was to compare the cognitive processing profiles of school-age children (ages 7 to 17) who met criteria for underachievement in oral reading accuracy based on three different methods: 1) use of a regression-based IQ-achievement discrepancy only (REGonly), 2) use of a low-achievement cutoff only (LAonly), and 3) use of a…

Although the role of individual differences in second language (L2) speech has been extensively studied, the impact of individual differences on the process of second language writing and the written product has been a neglected area of research. In this paper, I review the most important individual difference factors that might explain variations…

Considering the high risk for individuals with amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (A-MCI) to progress towards Alzheimer's disease (AD), we investigated the efficacy of a non-pharmacological intervention, that is, cognitive training that could reduce cognitive difficulties and delay the cognitive decline. For this, we evaluated the efficacy of a…

Although working memory has a highly constrained capacity limit of three or four items, both adults and toddlers can increase the total amount of stored information by "chunking" object representations in memory. To examine the developmental origins of chunking, we used a violation-of-expectation procedure to ask whether 7-month-old infants, whose…

We examined written expression performance in a sample of adolescents with ADHD and subthreshold ADHD using two different strategies: examining performance on standardized measures of written expression and using other indicators of written expression developed in this study. We examined associations between standardized measures of written…

Aim: Although approximately 40% of children with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) meet diagnostic criteria for attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the impact of ADHD on the executive functioning of children with NF1 is not understood. We investigated whether spatial working memory and response inhibition are impaired in children with…

Working memory (WM) is a cognitive system that strongly relates to a person's ability to reason with novel information and direct attention to goal-relevant information. Due to the central role that WM plays in general cognition, it has become the focus of a rapidly growing training literature that seeks to affect broad cognitive change through…

The current study dissociated and examined the two primary components of the phonological working memory subsystem--the short-term store and articulatory rehearsal mechanism--in boys with ADHD (n = 18) relative to typically developing boys (n = 15). Word lists of increasing length (2, 4, and 6 words per trial) were presented to and recalled by…

Although memory inhibition seems to underlie retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF), there is some controversy about the precise nature of this effect. Because normal RIF is observed in people with deficits in executive control (i.e., older adults), some have proposed that an automatic-like inhibitory process is responsible for the effect. On the…

Attachment Theory has received increasing interest as a framework allowing for a more refined understanding of the potential consequences of early relational trauma on psychological and social adjustment. Research has provided support for the role of disorganized attachment, both as a sequela of traumatic experiences and as a risk factor for…

The stress of multiple combat tours has created a combat-tested but combat-weary Army. While most soldiers have coped successfully with combat stress, many return home with problems that include posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, aggressive behavior, insomnia, and reduced memory and concentration skills. Education is…

Research Findings: This study examined whether children's executive functions before kindergarten would predict variance in executive functions after kindergarten. We obtained behavioral (working memory task performance), parent-reported (temperament-based inhibitory control), and psychophysiological (working memory-related changes in heart rate…

Long-term memory (LTM) is enhanced for emotional information, but the influence of stimulus emotionality on short-term memory (STM) is less clear. We examined the electrophysiological correlates of improved visual STM for emotional face identity, focusing on the P1, N170, P3b and N250r event-related potential (ERP) components. These correlates are…

Many accounts of working memory posit specialized storage mechanisms for the maintenance of serial order. We explore an alternative, that maintenance is achieved through temporary activation in the language production architecture. Four experiments examined the extent to which the phonological similarity effect can be explained as a sublexical…

Three experiments investigated whether spatial and nonspatial components of visual attention would be influenced by changes in (healthy, young) subjects' level of alertness and whether such effects on separable components would occur independently of each other. The experiments used a no-cue/alerting-cue design with varying cue-target stimulus…