A case study examined one college student's poor performances during timed-writing sessions to develop a method to allow students to maintain the quality and ease in writing they achieve in other writing situations. The student, assigned to write a movie review, volunteered to participate in two 90 minute talk-aloud protocol sessions to examine…

Previous studies indicate increasing, significant univariate and multivariate correlation between reaction time (RT) tasks and intelligence. Using multiple regression analyses, data from an earlier study by Brown and Boretz were reanalyzed to further investigate the relationship between the speed at which an individual is able to process stimuli…

This paper summarizes research in modern cognitive theory that relates to the role of computer drill and practice programs in learning and describes a prototype program that exemplifies recommended characteristics. Focus is on four major issues that are relevant to the design and optimization of computer drills: interference, spaced practice,…

This study explored sex differences in the Future Temporal Perspectives (FTP) of children. The influences of age, social class and intelligence were also investigated, or FTP was generally believed to be affected by them. Subjects were 96 boys and 96 girls, selected from 26 schools in Nova Scotia, from three age groups: 9.6-11.0, 12.0-13.6, and…

To investigate developmental differences in timesharing performance, 60 boys, 20 in each of three age groups (7-, 10- and 13-year-olds), performed an auditory matching task and a tracking task alone and concurrently, the latter under two sets of instructions. Decrements produced by concurrent performance were compared for the three age groups.…

Naming tasks were used in two studies to test for conceptual organization in young children by comparing the latencies for naming objects in primed vs. non-primed conditions. In the primed condition, a taxonomic category was primed by prior activation of a coordinate member of the same category. In Study 1, 54 kindergarten children were randomly…

An information processing model was fitted to individual learning of paired associates and word definitions for 378 fifth to tenth-grade students. Reliable individual differences in acquisition rate and long-term retention were found. Correlations with traditional aptitude and achievement scores were discussed; no significant sex or ethnic group…

The purpose of this article is to examine the capacity limitations of the active memory system as seen in the nature of the forgetting mechanisms. (Author/NCR)

Brain-injured (N=24), cultural-familially retarded (N=24), and nonretarded (N=28) adolescents and young adults were compared on a letter priming task requiring recognition of matched pairs. Response time in both retarded groups was considerably slower than in the nonretarded group, and effortful processing was also slower to develop. (JW)

An information-processing model was tested for a laboratory visualization task that represents one adaptation of a standardized spatial ability test. The pattern of results suggests that individual differences are a function of differences in the accuracy and/or quality of the mental representation, not just speed of processing. (Author/BW)

This study is about engagement in adult literacy education. Engagement is mental effort focused on learning. It is important to understand how and why adult learners engage in literacy instruction because engagement is a precondition to learning progress. Researchers who study engagement conceive of it in different ways. Some focus on engagement…

The effect of parafoveal noise information on a Hirakana target-recognition task was investigated in good and poor readers from first and second grades. A differential effect of parafoveal noise produced a longer or shorter variation in reaction time depending on kind of surrounding material. Filtering mechanism efficiency differences are…

Reaction time and movement time were negatively and moderately-to-strongly correlated with Ravens matrices performance and with reading comprehension and performance on the California Test of Basic Skills for 20 ninth-grade girls. Weaker relationships were found for mathematics and English grades, although the direction was consistently negative.…

In two six-month longitudinal studies of intellectually advanced preschool children, letter naming time and background digit span were moderately good predictors of concurrent reading achievement, while no other standard cognitive indices, including mental age, were associated with reading achievement. Both memory span and retrieval were related…