Presents remarks on constructivism that are based on a discussion in an earlier issue. Topics addressed include the role of theory in the instructional design process; the construction of knowledge; differences between objectivists and constructivists; knowledge representation; entry behaviors and task analysis; and instructional systems…

The authors tested the hypothesis that with adequate practice, people can execute 2 cognitive operations in working memory simultaneously. In Experiment 1, 6 students practiced updating 2 items in working memory through 2 sequences of operations (1 numerical, 1 spatial). In different blocks, imperative stimuli for the 2 sequences of operations…

Simon effects might partly reflect stimulus-triggered response activation. According to the response-discrimination hypothesis, however, stimulus-triggered response activation shows up in Simon effects only when stimulus locations match the top-down selected spatial codes used to discriminate between alternative responses. Five experiments support…

The paper is a reflective account of the design and implementation of mathematical tasks that evoke uncertainty for the learner. Three types of uncertainty associated with mathematical tasks are discussed and illustrated: "competing claims," "unknown path or questionable conclusion," and "non-readily verifiable outcomes." One task is presented in…

Implicit sequence learning, as measured using the sequential reaction time (SRT) task paradigm originally introduced by Nissen & Bullemer (1987), has been reported to be impaired in high-functioning individuals with autism (Mostofsky, Goldberg, Landa, & Denckla, 2000). We reasoned that increased exposure to the sequence may particularly benefit…

Participants listened to the Asian disease problem framed in terms of either gains or losses and chose between two plans to combat the disease. All participants heard the problem embedded in other sounds; for some it was the relatively lower-frequency information, and for others it was the relatively higher-frequency information. The classic…

The representation of time and space are closely linked in the cognitive system. Optokinetic stimulation modulates spatial attention in healthy subjects and patients with spatial neglect. In order to evaluate whether optokinetic stimulation could influence time perception, a group of healthy subjects performed "time-comparison" tasks of sub- and…

In a crossmodal priming experiment, visual targets (e.g. "RENARD," "fox") were auditorily primed by either an intact [l[schwa][R][schwa]na[R]] "the fox" or reduced form [l[schwa][R]na[R]] "the fox" of the word. When schwa deletion gave rise to an initial cluster that respected the phonotactic constraints of French (e.g. [lapluz] "the lawn" in…

How does seeing a painful event happening to someone else influence the observer's own motor system? To address this question, we measured simple reaction times following videos showing noxious or innocuous implements contacting corporeal or noncorporeal objects. Key releases in a go/nogo task were speeded, and key presses slowed, after subjects…

This paper explores how the interaction between cognitive style, gender, and type of task predicts task outcome, particularly when presentation speed is varied. A sample of 91 11-year-old pupils completed the Cognitive Style Analysis. Pupils were assigned to one of two groups balanced for gender and cognitive style. Group 1 listened to a recording…

Two studies examined how parent explanation changes what children learn from everyday shared scientific thinking. In Study 1, children between ages 3- and 8-years-old explored a novel task solo or with parents. Analyses of children's performance on a subsequent posttest compared three groups: children exploring with parents who spontaneously…

Kindergarten, first-, and third-grade children were given a multitrial sort-recall task with different items on each trial. Children were asked to predict how many items they would recall prior to each trial. We classified children into high- and low-overestimation groups based on their prediction accuracy on the first two trials and assessed…

Parkinson's disease (PD) patients and normal controls were tested in three category learning experiments to determine if previously observed rule-based category learning impairments in PD patients were due to deficits in selective attention or working memory. In Experiment 1, optimal categorization required participants to base their decision on a…

The statement matching paradigm was used to examine how 10- to 13-year-olds categorized adults when both ethnicity and gender varied across targets. Forty-seven children watched a PowerPoint presentation of a conversation involving two Black men, two Black women, two White men and two White women. Each slide displayed the speaker's picture, name…

The distinction between what people "can" do (maximum performance) and what they "will" do (typical performance) has received considerable theoretical but scant empirical attention in industrial-organizational psychology. This study of 138 participants performing an Internet-search task offers an initial test and verification of P. R. Sackett, S.…