Examines the role of executive function, or the ability to maintain the appropriate problem-solving set for attainment of a future goal, in academic success. Describes causes of executive function deficits, common manifestations, methods for assessing the problem, and strategies for remediating related problems. (26 citations) (MAB)

The verbal overshadowing paradigm was used with 167 undergraduates to determine whether performance across all items on Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices was dependent on the same cognitive processes. Results clearly indicated that a subset of items was dependent on visuospatial processes, while another subset required verbal-analytic…

Studied the effect of homelessness on cognitive and academic functioning of children 6 to 11 years old in comparison to a control group of housed children in the same classroom. Found no differences in cognitive functioning between homeless and housed children, but did find that homeless children performed significantly more poorly than housed…

Investigated suppression of activation and retrieval paths to information stored in long-term memory. Subjects were 94 children in grades 1, 3, and 5. Found that the ability to intentionally inhibit the maintenance and recall of irrelevant information improves over the elementary years, and children are less able than adults to withhold production…

Recommends the use of the Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education (CASE) project which gives thinking skills lessons to students ages 11-13 to increase their general thinking ability. (DDR)

Analyzes assumptions underlying learner-centered, technology-based environments in light of how well learners appear to meet the cognitive demands for engaging them. Design implications include the following considerations: direct learner attention to key variables and visual cues; prompt and guide connections to prior knowledge; and provide…

A study investigated the performance of high- and low-risk (for child abuse) mothers on cognitive measures in a cry (crying infant) and no-cry condition. High-risk mothers had lower conceptual ability, cognitive flexibility, and problem-solving skills. The difficulty high-risk mothers have in using feedback to modify their behavior is discussed.…

Highlights the strengths of the Halberstadt et al. contribution to the literature on social-emotional development. Discusses three issues relating to their model: (1) the inseparability of cognitive representation in both emotional and social functioning; (2) the role played by context; and (3) the significance of goals in any construct involving…

This article examines several sub-constructs of information processing and their potential association with the poorer language comprehension of children with specific language impairments (SLI). It argues that some of the language comprehension problems of children with SLI are related to certain information processing inefficiencies. Techniques…

States that there is interest in the underlying metaphonological abilities of children with phonological impairments and their possible relationship to speech problems and later literacy development. Presents data from 61 children with phonological output problems and 59 normal speakers on a range of metaphonological, speech output, language, and…

University students were screened to determine whether some could comprehend text well despite very poor recoding skills, measured by pseudoword reading. There was no evidence that resilient readers relied on superior verbal ability or working memory to compensate for poor recoding. Resilient readers were poor at spelling, reading isolated words,…

Examined pronunciation proficiency in both the first language (Korean) and the second language (English) of bilinguals. Participants were adult immigrants whose age of arrival to the United States ranged from 1 to 23 years. English and Korean sentences were rated by native listeners to obtain measures of pronunciation proficiency. (Author/VWL)

Explores the potential of cognitive linguistic notions such as conceptual metaphor and conceptual metonym for comparing the figurative phraseologies of English and Malay and anticipating second language learner difficulty. A comparative analysis is undertaken that identifies six types of relationship between figurative expressions in the two…

Discusses how second-language reading research is focusing increasingly on the cognitive processes involved in reading--the interaction of lower-level, bottom-up processes such as vocabulary acquisition with high-level, top-down processes such as activating prior knowledge. This knowledge is combined with current research on learning with…

Describes the process of active learning--consolidation and internalization of information that is personally meaningful and conceptually coherent. Discusses downshifting (a self-protective response that includes reversion to routine behaviors) and the educational practices and conditions that lead to it or reduce it. Describes 12 principles of…