An experiment is conducted showing that an attention shift to a stream of numerals presented in rapid serial visual presentation mode produces not a total loss, but a systematic distortion of order. An attention gating model (AGM) is developed from a more general attention model. (Author/LMO)

A method of analyzing reaction time data in recognition memory is presented. A wide range of phenomena that any theory of recognition memory must explain is discussed. (Editor/RK)

Study supported by a National Institute of Mental Health grant to New York University. (VM)

Research supported in part by a Public Health Service Grant to the New School of Social Research and a National Science Foundation Grant to Stanford University. (VM)

The model described, which views the learner as a resource-limited system that has to transform instructional information, includes six factors for expected success. Although based on microscopic psychological theories, it can be applied at more macroscopic levels of analysis by increasing the size of instructional units. Five references are…

This research had two complementary objectives, descriptive and theoretical. Experiments are described concerning a network model based on human associative memory theory. Subjects were given trait information about a target to create an initial expectancy, then exposed to behavioral information which was either congruent or incongruent with that…

The article provides a rationale for the consideration of the processing differences of exceptional learners and discusses how these differences influence the development of the skills necessary for normal school achievement. (PHR)

Two experiments found that integration of facts alleviates interference only when a person can perform a memory task by making a consistency judgment and can avoid the need to retrieve a specific fact. People judge themes rather than facts: the more themes associated with a concept, the greater the interference. (Author/RD)

Two experiments explored how memory for new information is affected by awareness of parallels to pre-experimental knowledge. Results suggest that the benefit of prior knowledge derives from the more elaborate encodings that analogy promotes. (Author/AM)

Presents a theoretical model that attempts to account for the early stages of language acquisition in terms of interaction between biological constraints and input characteristics. Notes that the model uses the implications of stochastic representations of the sensory input in a volatile and limited memory. Argues that phonological structure is a…

Tests G. Armstrong's and B. Greenberg's model of the effect of background television on cognitive performance, applied to reading comprehension and memory. Finds significant deleterious effects of background television, stronger and more consistent effects when testing immediately after reading, and more consistently negative effects resulting…

Outlines the scenario-mapping and focus (SMF) account of text interpretation, which puts mapping of text onto knowledge in a key position with respect to processing. Reviews supporting evidence. Uses plural reference and nonlogical quantification as illustrations of problems that might be better understood within the SMF framework. (SR)

Describes the slot-filler model of taxonomic knowledge development in which preschoolers derive "slot-filler" categories from event schemas. Maintains that the model has received considerable support across methodologies, ages, and sociocultural contexts. Argues that Krackow and Gordon's theorizing and methods could not lead to reliable,…

Examined role of accuracy motivation in event recall among 6-, 7-, and 8-year-olds, and adults. In high accuracy motivation condition, children as young as 6 were to withhold uncertain answers for benefit of accuracy. Expected quality-quantity tradeoff emerged only for peripheral items. The "I don't know" option condition decreased the…

Presents new measure of children's use of an editing operation that suppresses false memories by accessing verbatim traces of true events. Application of the methodology showed that false-memory editing increased dramatically between early and middle childhood. Measure reacted appropriately to experimental manipulations. Developmental reductions…