The polysialylated neural cell adhesion molecule (PSA-NCAM) has been implicated in activity-dependent synaptic remodeling and memory formation. Here, we questioned whether training-induced modulation of PSA-NCAM expression might be related to individual differences in spatial learning abilities. At 12 h posttraining, immunohistochemical analyses…

A sense of direction (SOD) computes the body's facing direction relative to a reference frame grounded in the environment. The authors report on three experiments in which they used a heading-recall task to tap the functioning of a SOD system and then correlated task performance with self-reported SOD as a convergent test of the task's construct…

People can use a variety of different strategies to perform tasks and these strategies all have two characteristics in common. First, they can be evaluated in comparison with either an absolute or a relative standard. Second, they can be used at varying levels of consistency. In the present article, the authors develop a general theory of task…

Background: We assess individual differences in the caregiving environments of young children being raised in institutions in Romania in relation to developmental characteristics such as physical growth, cognitive development, emotional expression, and problem and competence behaviors. Method: Videotaped observations of the child and favorite…

The relationship between psychometric intelligence and rapid acoustic information processing was explored in two experiments using college students. Group differences occurred in threshold interstimulus intervals required for recognition and in speed. Results were interpreted as indicating better information processing efficiency (higher…

Although the veridicality of unconscious perception is increasingly accepted, core issues remain unresolved [Jack, A., & Shallice, T. (2001). Introspective physicalism as an approach to the science of consciousness. "Cognition, 79," 161-196], and sharp disagreement persists regarding fundamental methodological and theoretical issues. The most…

Three models representing different relations between intellectual ability, metacognitive skills, and learning were compared. The conditions under which each of these models holds were investigated, on the basis of the threshold of problematicity theory [Elshout, J. J. (1987). Problem solving and education. In E. De Corte, H. Lodewijks, R.…

We present a developmental model that describes normal peer relations and highlights processes that underlie the emergence of problems with peers in childhood. We propose that children's relationships with peers begin in the first years of life, with stable individual differences and preferences for particular peers emerging by three years of age.…

The assessment of individual differences in facial expression recognition is normally required to address two major issues: (1) high agreement level (ceiling effect) and (2) differential difficulty levels across emotions. We propose a new assessment method designed to quantify individual differences in the recognition of the six basic emotions,…

A large number of national and geographic population samples were used to test the hypothesis that the variation in mean values of skin color in the diverse populations are consistently correlated with the mean measured or estimated IQs of the various groups, as are some other physical variables, known as an ecological correlation. Straightforward…

The fact that early lexical and grammatical acquisition are strongly correlated has been cited as evidence against the view that the language faculty is composed of dissociable and autonomous modules (Bates & Goodman, 1997). However, previous studies have not yet eliminated the possibility that lexical-grammar associations may be attributable to…

Driving a vehicle under the influence of alcohol is a major public health concern. By distinguishing the type of individuals violating driving while intoxicated (DWI) sanctions, intervention programs will be better suited to reduce drinking and driving. The purpose of this study was to examine the personal characteristics of DWI offenders and…

The Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (BIDR) is one of the most widely used social desirability scales. The authors conducted a reliability generalization study to examine the typical reliability coefficients of BIDR scores and explored factors that explained the variability of reliability estimates across studies. The results indicated…

Fourth through sixth grade children were given two types of creativity measures--divergent measures, naming all the ideas he could meeting a simple requirement, and convergent measures, adaptation of Mednick's Remote Associates Test, finding one word associatively related to each of three others. The measures shared little variance. (Author/RC)