Gives several sample experiment problems for electricity and magnetism. To solve an experiment problem, students have to do one or more of the following: clarify a poorly defined problem, divide a problem into parts, access the appropriate concept needed to solve each problem part, decide whether approximations are appropriate, design an…

Describes how computer simulations can enhance students' learning of physiology. Discusses how computer models enhance experimentation; using computer modeling in high school science; three steps in students' writing of a simulation; and the value of simulations. Lists six software vendors who offer packages on the PC or Macintosh platforms. (AEF)

Rats obtained food-pellet reinforcers by nose poking a lighted key. Experiment 1 examined resistance to extinction following single-schedule training with different variable-interval schedules, ranging from a mean interval of 16 min to 0.25 min. That is, for each schedule, the rats received 20 consecutive daily baseline sessions and then a session…

Most people think that engineering and mathematics go hand in hand. To many, being an engineer means manipulating equations and calculating measurements to design and build structures of all kinds. And they are right. Engineering does involve a great deal of mathematics. But, building structures to withstand certain environmental conditions or…

Participating in a research activity by volunteering in a research study or by writing a short research paper as part of a course requirement relates to favorable perceptions of psychology and research, greater knowledge of procedures associated with participation, and other demographic and situational variables. College students who volunteered…

There is an active debate within the field of phonology concerning the cognitive status of substantive phonetic factors such as ease of articulation and perceptual distinctiveness. A new framework is proposed in which substance acts as a bias, or prior, on phonological learning. Two experiments tested this framework with a method in which…

Background: Face processing in Williams syndrome (WS) has been a topic of heated debate over the past decade. Initial claims about a normally developing ("intact") face-processing module were challenged by data suggesting that individuals with WS used a different balance of cognitive processes from controls, even when their behavioural scores fell…

People recall taboo words better than neutral words in many experimental contexts. The present rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) experiments demonstrated this taboo-superiority effect for immediate recall of mixed lists containing taboo and neutral words matched for familiarity, length, and category coherence. Under binding theory (MacKay et…

This article reviews recent research on perception of tangible pictures in sighted and blind people. Haptic picture naming accuracy is dependent upon familiarity and access to semantic memory, just as in visual recognition. Performance is high when haptic picture recognition tasks do not depend upon semantic memory. Viewpoint matters for the ease…

Although infants show remarkable sensitivity to linguistically relevant phonetic variation in speech, young children sometimes appear not to make use of this sensitivity. Here, children' s knowledge of the sound-forms of familiar words was assessed using a visual fixation task. Dutch 19-month-olds were shown pairs of pictures and heard correct…

Studies on human and animals shed light on the unique hippocampus contributions to relational memory. However, the particular role of each hippocampal subregion in memory processing is still not clear. Hippocampal computational models and theories have emphasized a unique function in memory for each hippocampal subregion, with the CA3 area acting…

Overgeneralization occurs when a child uses the wrong word to name an object and is often observed in the early stages of word learning. We develop a method to elicit overgeneralizations in the laboratory by priming children to say the names of objects perceptually similar to known and unknown target objects. Experiment 1 examined 18 two-year-old…

Five experiments investigated the interpretation of quantified noun phrases in relation to discourse structure. They demonstrated, using questionnaire and on-line reading techniques, that readers in English prefer to give a quantified noun phrase in (VP-external) subject position a presuppositional interpretation, in which the noun phrase limits…

Geographic information systems (GIS) technology and methods have transformed decision-making in society by bringing geographic analysis to the desktop computer. Although some educators consider GIS to be a promising means for implementing reform, it has been adopted by less than 2 percent of American high schools. The reasons behind the interest…

The WWW is now in widespread use for delivering on-line learning content in many large-scale education settings. Given such widespread usage, it is feasible to accumulate data concerning the most useful learning experiences of past students and share them with future students. Browsing events that depict how past students utilized the learning…