Young children can quickly and intuitively represent the number of objects in a visual scene through the Approximate Number System (ANS). The precision of the ANS--indexed as the most difficult ratio of two numbers that children can reliably discriminate--is well known to improve with development: whereas infants require relatively large ratios to…

A central goal of research on short-term memory (STM) over the past 2 decades has been to identify the mechanisms that underpin the representation of serial order, and to establish whether these mechanisms are the same across different modalities and domains (e.g., verbal, visual, spatial). A fruitful approach to addressing this question has…

Background: Two reasons may explain the discrepant findings regarding declarative memory in developmental language disorder (DLD) in the literature. First, standardized tests are one of the primary tools used to assess declarative memory in previous studies. It is possible they are not sensitive enough to subtle memory impairment. Second, the…

This article proposes that two processes are involved in the generation of content during writing: (a) an active, knowledge-constituting process in which content is synthesized by constraints within semantic memory representing the implicit structure of the writer's understanding, and (b) a reflective, knowledge-transforming process in which…

People frequently receive performance feedback that describes how well they achieved in the past, and how they could improve in future. In educational contexts, future-oriented (directive) feedback is often argued to be more valuable to learners than past-oriented (evaluative) feedback; critically, prior research led us to predict that it should…

Humans segment naturalistic actions into meaningful units. These are hierarchically organized: multiple fine events are part of a coarse event. We investigated how repeated practice of a virtual sequential assembly task influences learning of coarse and fine assembly steps. In Experiment 1, participants (N = 10) parsed the task into coarse and…

The authors searched five scholarly databases for a decade of research publications examining learning from failure as an instructional strategy. Out of 187 publications, 62 were found to be relevant to the topic from which only 12 used experimental design to examine the issue and reported statistics appropriate for meta-analysis. The studies also…

Web-based technology has evolved to include interactive software that allows learners to prepare for real-life situations in the workforce. Educators and learners perceive interactive software, such as web-based scenarios, as a tool to support instructional content. Knowledge acquisition, enjoyment, and group discussions are just a few attributes…

Self-derivation of new factual knowledge through integration of separate episodes of learning is one means by which children build knowledge. Content generated in this manner becomes incorporated into the knowledge base and is retained over time; successful self-derivation predicts academic achievement. Yet the component processes on which…

Mathematical achievement is an early predictor of students' academic outcomes, and mathematics achievement continues to be important throughout life. Thus, it is essential to examine instructional methods that enhance mathematical learning. One method that may impact mathematical learning is the use of gestures, yet a comprehensive methodical…

The capacity to plan ahead and provide the means for future ends is an important part of human practical reasoning. When this capacity develops in ontogeny is the matter of an ongoing debate. In this study, 4- and 5-year-olds performed a future planning task in which they had to create the means (a picture of a particular object, e.g., a banana)…

Holding recently experienced information in mind can help us achieve our current goals. However, such immediate and direct forms of guidance from working memory are less helpful over extended delays or when other related information in long-term memory is useful for reaching these goals. Here we show that information that was encoded in the past…

We investigated processes underlying performance decrements of highly test-anxious persons. Three experiments contrasted conditions that differed in the degree of activation of concepts related to failure. Participants memorized a list of words either containing words related to failure or containing no words related to failure in Experiment 1. In…

Internet addiction is a growing public health problem and university students have number of characteristics which make them a population at risk. Numerous studies suggest a relation between addiction and the impairment of executive functions. This bibliographical review aims to identify neuropsychological variables which indicate a risk of…

Research has demonstrated that students' learning outcomes and motivation to learn are influenced by the visual design of learning technologies (e.g., learning management systems or LMS). One aspect of LMS design that has not been thoroughly investigated is visual complexity. In two experiments, postsecondary students rated the visual complexity…