Cognitive performance is affected by an individual's characteristics and the environment, as well as by the nature of the task and the amount of practice at it. Mental performance tests range in complexity and include subjective estimates of mood, simple objective tests (reaction time), and measures of complex performance that require decisions to…

The issue of whether information to which little or no attention is paid can have lasting effects is of interest to psychologists as well as educators and advertisers. Two experiments were designed to examine whether focused attention is required, whether the immediate memory task is important, or whether subjects' knowledge that repetitions are…

In two experiments, learning disabled (LD) students were taught attributes of North American minerals via mnemonic instruction, free study, or a visual-spatial display condition similar to that proposed by Engelmann and Carnine (1982). In the first experiement, 36 junior high school-age LD students were taught specific attribute values (hardness =…

The short-term recall of word-triads was tested, comparing retention over three types of intervals within 24 preschoolers. Results suggest that the condition effect in short-term recall did not disrupt the long-term storage of the items. (Author/CS)

In two experiments, volunteer subjects were asked to look at words and pictures, with or without an interference task. The results are interpreted to support a theory of a separate but not totally independent pictorial memory system. (Editor)

This booklet, the product of a second seminar on the chemical transfer of memory, summarizes the current research work presented at the seminar including future implications for education as perceived by the 12 biochemists and psychologists who participated. Developments described include 1) the memory-transfer experiments of James McConnell from…

This report describes seven basic experiments designed to further elucidate the nature and function of two types of organization imposed by subjects in a free-recall type of memory task. The experiments involved verbal stimulus materials and employed college students as subjects. The two types of organization investigated were category clustering,…

Evaluates the assertion that short-term memory (STM) capacity increases with age and concludes that the STM capacity limitation in children is due to the deficits in the processing strategies and speeds, which presumably improve with age through cumulative learning. (JM) Available from: Memory and Cognition, Psychonomic Society, 1018 West 34…

Sets of pairs for a multiple-item recognition (verbal discrimination) learning task varied in their number of presentations during a single extended study trial. The test phase required old-new and right-wrong (functional) identifications of individual items. Results suggest that recognition of prior wrong items are mediated by frequency cues…

This study investigated the role of semantic variables, derivable from multidimensional scaling, in search and decision processes. (Author/RM)

A multitrial free recall study assessed whether learning-to-learn and changes in strategy over sessions occurred with children in kindergarten and grade 3. Results showed that grade 3 subjects recalled more than did kindergarten subjects, but no learning-to-learn effect was obtained for either age group. (Author/JMB)

The existence of verification processes in recognition memory was confirmed in the context of Adams' (Adams & Bray, 1970) closed-loop theory. Subjects' recognition was tested following a learning session. The expectation was that data would reveal consistent internal relationships supporting the position that natural language mediation plays…

The author describes the initial research barriers neuroscientists faced and finally overcame, then summarizes what they discovered about the organization and development of learning/memory mechanisms. Finally, he suggests how the education profession should respond to these research developments. (CT)

Presents some of Earl Stevick's ideas on language teaching and learning in the form of an informal interview. (EKN)