Although techniques of autosuggestion in personal development have a long history in some Eastern cultures, suggestibility as a character trait first came into focus in the West with the "animal magnetism" of Franz Mesmer. The uncovering of the nature and phenomena of hypnosis resulted in a steady and enduring interest in this state of…

A psychological model can show the technical writer how to present information for effective communication by explaining how readers perceive, understand, learn, and remember. The principles underlying the model are the reader's psychological set, the mind's pattern-forming tendencies, the span of short-term memory, and the mind's need for…

A study tested the assumption found in schema theory that scripted knowledge automatically provides specific content details about scripted activity, thereby biasing a reader's immediate interpretation of a text. The study measured how quickly and accurately 16 college students could verify script related words. Subjects listened to four scripted…

Data from three general psychology classes were used in a study of the chunking method of teaching and studying. Two classes participated in a study on chunking study outline (CSO) length, and one in a study on retention rates. Results of students with high and low cognitive processing capacities (CPC) were also compared. It was found that a CSO…

A study examined the effects of within domain processing on the recall of idea units as well as the potential reversals in performance resulting from the passing of time. Subjects for the experiment were 89 undergraduate students randomly assigned to six conditions related to target words in a reading passage: counting e's, determining the…

This report discusses research and theory that explore relationships between comprehension and knowledge acquisition. Studies are reported that indicate the lack of a one-to-one correspondence between initial comprehension activities and abilities to remember. It is noted that the value of comprehensive activities depends on how people must later…

The results of this study support the assumption that long-term memory is not modified when a person performs a task utilizing an automatic process. Twelve university students performed an incidental learning task which consisted of scanning lists of words for either their own name, first names other than their own, words representing a unit of…

A theory for representation of concepts in memory is proposed which emphasizes the association of salient exemplars with the concept. Previous theories dealing with the classification processes involved in acquiring new concepts have shown that clear category boundaries do not exist. It is proposed that present theory must account for the…

Twenty kindergarten children, 5 to 6 years of age, were presented a free recall task in which half of the subjects were asked to generate a "plan of attack" for remembering before experiencing a study-test sequence. The materials were three different sets of 12 pictures each. In each set, three different conceptual categories were represented…

The theoretical and methodological concepts available to and needed by research on aptitudes as cognitive processes are discussed. Contemporary views of cognitive processes are examined in relation to individual difference constructs and the methods used to examine their reliability and validity. Individual difference constructs are discussed in…

The purpose of this study was to ascertain (1) whether young children are able to recognize a need to check response accuracy and memory verification and (2) what strategies they use. A model of the nursery room was used to assess 37 preschoolers' recognition, recall, and spatial memory for school objects. Children were asked to verify their…

The paper focuses on the need for utilizing current research findings relative to developmental differences in memory and metamemory (knowing about knowing) behaviors among populations of normal and mentally retarded learners. Results of a series of studies which investigated the developmental attributes of memory and metamemory behavior among…

A cognition theory of learning is described based on information processing analyses of representations of knowledge in long term, intermediate term, and short term memory. An application of the theory is presented for an example of algebra. It is emphasized that learning is not simply a stamping in, through repetition, of simple links. The…

The effects of arousal on verbal learning and memory are presently controversial. Investigators using different definitions of arousal, different tasks, and different methods have (as one would expect) produced different findings in the literature: (a) Arousal during acquisition leads to poor immediate but better delayed recall; (b) Arousal during…

It was hypothesized that the Bransford-Franks linear effect is an artifact of the method of presentation of stimulus sentences and is unrelated to semantic processes. Subjects were given sentences containing the same information in one of two ways. In a control condition, which was identical to the procedure used in earlier research, overlapping…