It is difficult to account for the real and easily measured differences in verbal competence. Differential psychologists investigate basic traits from which observed behavior is thought to be generated, but if thinking is viewed as a problem in information handling, research will more profitably focus on the relationship between behavior in…

Subjects were 96 college students who were assigned to eight experimental groups. Five groups took notes during or after listening to segments of a 16-minute tape-recorded lecture. Note-takers reviewed their notes during a 10-minute review session provided all subjects immediately prior to a 20-minute free recall test given 48 hours after lecture…

Research generally indicates that imagery facilitates children's learning on basic memory tasks, such as paired-associate learning. The role of imagery in prose recall is less well defined, however. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of the construction of mental images on eight year old's ability to recall progressively…

Mental activities and information learned in one context are not necessarily available for use in another. They often have to be learned anew in the second context, although perhaps with less time and effort. The fact is, however, that relatively little is known about how the activities of the mind affect one another. The study of bilingualism,…

The process of learning with respect to age is discussed. Learning may be defined as the acquisition of information or skills. Three non-cognitive factors varying with age are loss of speed, health, and motivation. Studies on learning in relation to age have not controlled for non-learning factors. Perceptual and psychomotor studies are not…

The generation of dynamic mental imagery is known to facilitate paired associate (PA) learning in older subjects. Wolff and Levin (in press) have reported that children who were apparently too young to generate mental imagery of this kind did benefit from self-generated motoric interactions involving pairs of toys. Since the result was obtained…

Reports on research showing that when an event, or a problem, is repeated, the processing of that event is not necessarily repeated. Instead, sometimes the solution is remembered, and this is shown to influence subsequent retention, as well as such tasks as word perception. (AM)

Semantic elaboration, a language-based mnemonic strategy, was taught to 15 students (aged five to nine years) with moderate learning difficulties over a six-month period, using pictures as stimuli. Among reported results was an improvement in overall performance on memorization of pairs of pictures. Generalization to items not used during teaching…

Describes activities designed to help students think critically and to accurately process information. (FL)

Two experiments are reported in which mismatched sounds and spelling were studied in Dutch pseudo-words used as stimuli in English lexical decision experiments. Results show mismatches in spelling or sound result in longer latencies for Dutch pseudo-words than for their nonword controls, supporting a cooperation model of lexical access. (MSE)

A collection of articles on the lifelong process of motor development focuses on: (1) neural changes in lifespan motor development; (2) the effects of developmental memory differences on learning motor skills; (3) physical growth and motor performance; (4) motor development in children with learning disabilities; (5) a motor development program…

Ratcliff's theory of memory retrieval which posits parallel processing and Sternberg's serial processing explanation of memory scanning are reviewed and contrasted. Discrepancy between the two theories may arise because they focus on different aspects of the data. If scanning without comparisons takes place, the two views may be reconciled.…

The material presented in this article is intended to help students learn how to learn. The seven key concepts of David Ausubel's assimilation theory for cognitive learning are discussed with reference to the classroom. Concept mapping is suggested as a tool for demonstrating how the seven key concepts function. (SA)

Discussed are the principles of Gestalt psychology and the history and future of the movement. A comparison of Gestalt, Behaviorist, and Structuralist ideas is included. The study of perception, learning, memory, and thinking from the Gestaltist point of view is described. (KR)