This comparative study (i.e., three age groups, three measures) explores the distribution of retrospective and prospective autobiographical memory data across the lifespan, in particular the bump pattern of disproportionally higher recall of memories from the ages 10 to 30, as generally observed in older age groups, in conjunction with the…

There is considerable evidence that encoding and consolidation of memory are modulated by emotion, but the retrieval of emotional memories is not well characterized. Here we manipulated the emotional context with which affectively neutral stimuli were associated during encoding, allowing us to examine neural activity associated with retrieval of…

Although working memory capacity is an important contributor to reading comprehension performance, it is not the only contributor. Studies have shown that epistemic knowledge (or knowledge about knowledge and learning) is related to comprehension success and may enable low-span readers to compensate for their limited resources. By comparing the…

This study examines well-compensated adults with dyslexia to see if they experience more problems with pragmatic awareness than the normal population. Social interaction requires an individual to process language at speed by using working memory efficiently, in order to understand the intended, rather than literal, meaning between speaker and…

Background: Normal aging and Dementia of Alzheimer's Type (DAT) among higher functioning individuals with intellectual disability (ID) have been relatively well studied using a variety of cognitive tests. However, cognitive studies for lower functioning individuals with ID are scarce in the literature. The Working Group recommended the Test…

Background: Little is known on the adult outcome and longitudinal trajectory of childhood developmental language disorders (DLD) and on the prognostic predictors. Method: Seventeen men with a severe receptive DLD in childhood, reassessed in middle childhood and early adult life, were studied again in their mid-thirties with tests of intelligence…

The complexity (fractal dimension value) of responses to the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (ROCFT) between 10 undergraduate students with learning disabilities and a comparison group of 10 students without learning disabilities were compared. The fractal value of responses was assessed under three conditions (copy, immediate, and delay) by…

This research study evaluated the effects of memory demand on sustained attention, by varying the time interval between the presentations of stimuli in a cognitive vigilance task. Sixteen retarded and 16 nonretarded adult observers performed four 60-minute visual vigilance tasks in which single digits were presented sequentially and successively…

This study tested the ability of two semantic-memory models, feature-comparison and network, to explain differences in information processing times. The feature-comparison model assumes that an item's meaning is held in semantic memory as a set of characteristic and defining features, while the network model assumes that semantic memory is…

Question position effects characteristic of mathemagenic studies were replicated. Identical position effects were demonstrated for reader generated pictures used as adjunct aids. Implications for mathemagenics and prose learning are discussed. (Author)

Skilled and unskilled readers from grades 3, 5, and 7 performed one of three memory tasks on a randomized list of primary word associates. Examined reading skill differences in relation to memory skills. (BD)

Matched groups of normal and retarded readers were required to perform same/difference judgments in which the interval between standard and comparison stimuli was either 0, 1, or 6 seconds. (BRT)

To evaluate the relative effectiveness of two media for conveying narrative information, young children and adults were presented the same story via television or radio. Media differences were found, with children in the radio condition showing significantly more errors in comprehension and memory than children in the television condition.…

Results of a study indicated that adults reading for retention spent more time focusing on syntactic structure, while those reading for immediate comprehension focused more of their time on semantic content. However, the children (fifth graders) used reading strategies that involved mixtures of both of the adult components. (SL)

Examines two sets of variables that influence age-related patterns of text recall--the effects of verbal ability level and text structure variables on text recall of younger, middle-aged, and older adults. Results indicate that age differences in the discovery and utilization of the organizational structure of texts were found to be mediated by…