Studies the effects of visual elaborations on the cognitive processes of adult learners. Compares the effects of two types of visual elaboration strategies on immediate and delayed recall. Suggests that the incorporation of visual elaboration strategies produces a greater depth of processing, leading to better recall. (HB)

Fourth graders with language and learning disabilities and nondisabled fourth graders were compared on tasks measuring primed picture-naming and item recognition. In the experiment, both presentation format and retention interval were manipulated. Results are discussed in terms of implications for disabled children's memory difficulties. (LB)

Assessment of 60 children (ages 9-15) with learning disabilities resulted in a group with relatively intact visual planning and mental flexibility skills and a group clearly dysfunctional in these areas. Comparison of the two subtypes on measures of academic skills, visual memory, visual-motor integration, and motor speed indicated significant…

Investigated how English-as-a-Second-Language (L2) readers used structural properties of a text to "fill in the gaps" in their mental representations and compared these with native English readers' recall protocols. L2 readers' structure-preserving recalls were higher than their meaning-preserving protocols. Results suggest that L2 readers used…

The authors assessed women and men who either reported continuous memories of their childhood sexual abuse (CSA, n = 92), reported recovering memories of CSA (n = 38), reported believing they harbored repressed memories of CSA (n = 42), or reported never having been sexually abused (n = 36). Men and women were indistinguishable on all clinical and…

Clahsen and Felser (CF) analyze the performance of monolingual children and adult second language (L2) learners in off-line and on-line tasks and compare their performance with that of adult monolinguals. They conclude that child first language (L1) processing is basically the same as adult L1 processing (the contiguity assumption), with…

Do child molesters hold distorted beliefs (or cognitive distortions) that support their sexual offending? To test this hypothesis, we asked 28 child molesters and 20 inmate controls to read a description of child molestation. Within this vignette, we planted 10 ambiguous descriptions. If child molesters' information processing were driven by…

We used a person perception paradigm to investigate whether ascriptions of personal traits differ for a young versus old target being interviewed for a volunteer position that will require the performance of memory-related tasks. Perceivers (52 men and 92 women, ages 18 to 75 years) read a script in which a young or old target interviewee was…

Soft constraints hypothesis (SCH) is a rational analysis approach that holds that the mixture of perceptual-motor and cognitive resources allocated for interactive behavior is adjusted based on temporal cost-benefit tradeoffs. Alternative approaches maintain that cognitive resources are in some sense protected or conserved in that greater amounts…

Background: Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is associated with a characteristic behavioural phenotype whose main features are, alongside compulsive hyperphagia, deficits in social behaviour: social withdrawal, temper tantrums, perseverative speech and behaviour, mental rigidity, stereotyped behaviour, impulsiveness, etc. Similar symptoms may also be…

The short-term memory of 24 retarded and 24 nonretarded individuals, aged 10 to 14, under conditions of restricted cognitive strategy use was investigated. An attempt was made to determine whether short-term memory difficulties of persons with mental retardation are caused by deficits in voluntary cognitive strategies, such as the organization and…

In 1981, James Coleman reported results of a study indicating that private schools were superior to public schools. He claimed that supporting private schools through tax credits or vouchers was in the interest of society. To explore the possibility that differences attributed to schools might be due to differences in student skills, motivation,…

Until recently it has been possible only to measure the behavioral products of cognitive processing, e.g. reaction time. However, this is a rather indirect way of studying brain substrates of cognition. Psychophysiological techniques can be used to study the neural mechanisms of cognition. In this experiment brain electrical activity was measured…

A random sample of 138 adults was assigned to view one version of a news program in their homes to compare recall of news given by a television newscaster with recall of that provided by a frequently used form of videotex. Both the standard newscast and the cable newspaper gave the viewer no opportunity to select information. News stories were…

In order to test the strengths of radio as a learning tool for children, research was conducted in which radio and television were compared in relation to their abilities to stimulate children's imaginations and to transmit information to children. The research involved a series of studies in which children were presented with two unfamiliar…