The relationship between reasoning ability, as indicated by performance on conventional reasoning tests, and working memory capacity was investigated in 4 studies involving 723, 412, 414, and 595 military recruits, respectively. The results demonstrate a consistently high correlation between general reasoning ability and general working-memory…

Investigates the influence of vocal intonation on five- and seven-year-old children's processing of explicit and implicit text concepts. Assesses comprehension of narratives through cued recall, recognition, and free recall tasks. Concludes that young children assign more weight to vocal information in making assessments of story outcome than do…

Examined the contribution of specific contextual attributes to six-month-old infants' recognition of a well-learned cue. Infants did not encode contextual information in a holistic manner. The perceptual identification of contextual cues that were represented in the memory of an event was requisite for the retrieval of the memory. (GLR)

Wayfinding abilities of 6- and 12-year-old children were compared with those of young adults. Six-year-old children's wayfinding performance was poorest. Twelve-year-old children and adults had similar performances. (GLR)

Outlines a psychophysiological (involuntary responses to novel environmental stimuli) model of the role of orienting responses (ORs) in learning from televised lectures. Demonstrates that insertion of videographics in talking-head lectures produces ORs in television viewers. Finds that ORs enhance learning of familiar material but interfere with…

Children and adults learned associations between line length and color. Subjects were then presented with pairs of colors and asked to choose the color that had been associated with the longer line. For all ages, choice reaction times were related to differences in, and ratios of, line lengths. (BC)

The ability of six-month-old infants to remember a functional category acquired in a specific context was assessed in three experiments. Findings revealed that at six months, information about the place where categories are constructed is prerequisite for retrieval of a category concept from long-term memory. (GLR)

Through working with a woman abused as a child, a teacher concluded that the violence of sexual, physical, and psychological abuse is common among many adults who read and write poorly. Their experiences should be acknowledged in literacy programs that encourage people to develop skills with which to tell their stories. (SK)

Thirty-four children (ages 8-10) participated in an activity, and their memory of it was tested 2 weeks later in a law school's mock courtroom or in the children's school. Children questioned at court showed impaired memory performance and increased stress levels. Children's perceptions of courtroom stress were negatively correlated with…

Examined prevalence and correlates of self-reported memory problems among 1,250 black elders. Over 48.3% of sample reported poor memory/forgetfulness as very or somewhat serious problem. Subjects with hearing impairments, higher number of stressful life events, higher level of depression, and poorer health were more likely to complain of memory…

A psychological theory of the logical particle "if" is presented that consists of a lexical entry, a set of pragmatic comprehension processes, and a reasoning program. The core of the theory is two inference schemas originally proposed by logicians. The theory can account for available data from children and adults. (SLD)

Results of investigations into associative priming are summarized and the relative strengths of spreading activation and nonspreading activation theories of priming are assessed. The explanatory power of spreading-activation theories is at least as great as that of nonspreading-activation theories. (SLD)

The best gifts are those given by a deeply caring parent, a special relative, or a friend. Presents seldom last, but memories do. Parents are advised to create memories for their children this holiday season by giving them their time, caring, and love. Parents should make and keep promises to spend time with their children. (MLH)

Investigated the relationships among individual differences in reading ability, phonological awareness, and short-term memory. Also examined the mechanisms responsible for differences in short-term memory skills between good and poor readers. Found that reading differences were associated with verbal short-term memory differences. (TM)

In three experiments, 172 college students repeatedly read and recalled stories presented in good and poor form to determine whether the memory-enhancing effect of good text organization is transitory or long-lasting and whether it pertains to forgetting as well as learning. Advantages of good form are discussed. (SLD)