The communication skills of 8 children (ages 4 to 9) with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome FAS) were assessed and compared with non-FAS children matched for ethnic background, living situation, and nonverbal cognitive ability. FAS children showed abnormalities of the speech mechanism and inconsistent articulation, comprehension, and grammatical abilities.…

Discussed are the results of a study which suggests that people remember more mathematics and other high school material when learning occurs spaced out over several years and when each subsequent session involves broader applications of previously learned information. Highlights of this study and related studies are presented. (CW)

A traditional cued recall task and an item recognition priming paradigm were used to assess the locus of associative memory difficulties in learning-disabled children. Results for 24 learning-disabled and 24 nondisabled sixth graders are discussed within the explicit and implicit memory framework of P. Graf and D. L. Schacter (1985). (TJH)

Discusses the organization and retrieval of information. Describes the tip-of-the-tongue state during mathematics problem solving. Provides five rules for a deep level of processing of new concepts. (YP)

New vocabulary was taught to 147 college students, in two experiments, by 1 of 3 methods: keyword, semantic context, and no-strategy control. There was no evidence that keyword-mediated gains on learning vocabulary-associated definitions were obtained at the expense of acquisition of other information. Applications for instruction are discussed.…

Presents data which dispels the idea that a shared cultural memory and historical consciousness should be linked. Points out the need to uncouple indoctrination and education. Urges a more thorough understanding of collective cultural memory as a means of helping students understand the process of history. (KO)

Evaluated contributions of age, presentation modality, task demand, and content structure to prose recall variation among adults. Tested 60 young and 60 older adults for recall of ideas in 641-word prose passage. Found recall for total number of idea units was significantly lower for older participants and for auditory presentation across both age…

Examines the psychology of learning and its application to work in the laboratory. States that the working memory capacity of students is limited; therefore the amount of information they can process needs to be controlled and "recipe following" in the laboratory is perfectly reasonable. (RT)

Examines the effect of verbalization on the formation and retention of mental images in children in kindergarten, first, and fifth grades. Reports no self-generated verbalization effect with gender or ability level and no retention effect. (Author)

Younger (N=24) and older subjects (N=24) generated one or three properties to set of 40 nouns. Subjects received incidental recall test immediately after, 1 week after, or 3 weeks after generation. Younger subjects recalled more nouns than did older subjects in all conditions, although both age groups exhibited high immediate recall. (Author/ ABL)

Two experiments studied whether 110 first, third, and fifth graders' difficulties in detecting inconsistencies in text were related to their failure to represent inconsistent propositions in memory or failure to compare them although remembered. Shortcomings were related more to difficulties in forming mental representations than in comparing…

Results derived from activities involving 33 children of three years and 32 children of four-and-a-half years indicated no age differences in same day recognition. Findings for recall and retention suggest that age differences for these two memory components are best thought of in terms of the type of memory solicited. (RH)

Old and young adults participated in two experiments involving a standardized, hierarchically organized event. In interviews that assessed memory of the event, older subjects reported fewer event actions than did the young. Memory of old and young was influenced similarly by the hierarchical structure of the event. (RH)

Study of echoic memory interference among students in college introductory Spanish and German courses revealed that students with weaker listening comprehension skills depended more upon vulnerable sensory codes in echoic memory, while students with stronger comprehension relied on stable higher-order codes. (Author/CB)

Two studies on M-capacity found factor-analytical and correlational evidence that five M-capacity tests share a common source of variance and that, as subjects' increase in age, scores increase at a similar rate. Results suggest that, in the 6-11 age range, M-capacity can be measured with a battery of tests. (AA)