Nonassociative learning is considered simple because it depends on presentation of a single stimulus, but it likely reflects complex molecular signaling. To advance understanding of the molecular mechanisms of one form of nonassociative learning, habituation, for ethologically relevant signals we examined song recognition learning in adult zebra…

The elaborative retrieval account of retrieval-based learning proposes that retrieval enhances retention because the retrieval process produces the generation of semantic mediators that link cues to target information. We tested 2 assumptions that form the basis of this account: that semantic mediators are more likely to be generated during…

False working memories readily emerge using a visual item-recognition variant of the converging associates task. Two experiments, manipulating study and test modality, extended prior working memory results by demonstrating a reliable false recognition effect (more false alarms to associatively related lures than to unrelated lures) within seconds…

The present study was conducted in the context of learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) with the purpose of assessing the roles of breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge in academic listening comprehension. The Vocabulary Size Test (VST, Nation & Beglar, 2007) and the Word Associates Test (WAT, Read, 2004) were administered to…

This paper reports the first investigation in the second language acquisition field assessing learners' implicit attitudes using the Implicit Association Test, a computerized reaction-time measure. Examination of the explicit and implicit attitudes of Arab learners of English (N = 365) showed that, particularly for males, implicit attitudes toward…

The mental lexicon plays a central role in reading comprehension (Perfetti & Stafura, 2014). It encompasses the number of lexical entries in spoken and written language (vocabulary breadth), the semantic quality of these entries (vocabulary depth), and the connection strength between lexical representations (semantic relatedness); as such, it…

Finding the match between individuals and educational treatments is the aim of both educators and the aptitude-treatment interaction research paradigm. Using the latent growth curve analysis, the present study investigates the interaction between the type of explicit instructional approaches (deductive vs. explicit-inductive) and the level of…

In the present study, we address two questions concerning the relation between children's false belief and their understanding of complex object complements. The first question is whether the previously demonstrated association between tensed complements and false belief generalizes to infinitival complements (de Villiers & Pyers, 2002). The…

Although the Word Associates Format (WAF) is becoming more frequently used as a depth-of-knowledge measure, relatively little validation has been carried out on it. This report of two validation studies tackles various important WAF issues yet to be satisfactorily resolved. Study 1 conducted introspective interviews regarding students' WAF…

Purpose: This study examined lexical-semantic organization of bilingual children in their 2 languages and in relation to monolingual age-mates. Method: Twelve Mandarin-English bilingual and 12 English monolingual children generated 3 associations to each of 36 words. Responses were coded as paradigmatic ("dog-cat") or syntagmatic ("dog-bark").…