Discussion of constructivism that is based on concerns raised in an earlier issue focuses on demands placed on the learners. Three areas are explored: (1) cognitive complexity; (2) task management, to help sequence students through a learning experience; and (3) learners "buying in" to the constructivist agenda of the instruction. (10…

On cyclic-interval reinforcement schedules, animals typically show a postreinforcement pause that is a function of the immediately preceding time interval ("temporal tracking"). Animals, however, do not track single-alternation schedules--when two different intervals are presented in strict alternation on successive trials. In this experiment,…

The authors argue that human sequential learning is often but not always characterized by a shift from stimulus- to plan-based action control. To diagnose this shift, they manipulated the frequency of 1st-order transitions in a repeated manual left-right sequence, assuming that performance is sensitive to frequency-induced biases under stimulus-…

A sequential testing model is proposed which employs discriminant functions to classify examinees into groups which could correspond to instructional treatments. A termination rule based on the computed posterior probability of group membership is suggested. (Author)

This study examined the ability of 59 2- and 3-year-old children to monitor goal-directed activities with respect to an anticipated outcome. The study focused on two skills: error monitoring and error avoidance through anticipatory monitoring. To elicit monitoring, a variety of simple tasks were presented to the children. In each, a successful…

Use of individual inventiveness is a characteristic of the content of educational gymnastics; however, inventiveness should be contained within parameters of increasing difficulty established by the teacher. (JD)

The study used the semantic strategy of stories linking to-be-remembered items and a serial-recall requirement with 27 educable mentally retarded adolescents. In comparison to control subjects, Ss recalled more in the early trials of original learning, but retention after eight months was comparable for the two conditions. (Author/DB)

A linguistic functions approach, which refers to the general social uses of language, is advocated as the most appropriate method of language instruction for mentally retarded children. Principles are detailed for sequencing linguistic functions for instruction through stages of expression of desires, reference and person concepts, inquiry skills,…

Comments on the preceding article which examined elaboration theory and offered suggestions for updating it to reflect new knowledge. Highlights include the simplifying conditions method; internal versus external knowledge structures; connectionism and authentic tasks; content structure as organizing structure; ill-structured domains; and…

This work presents a self-help, Internet-based telepsychology program for the treatment of public speaking fears. The system is comprised of 3 parts: The "assessment protocol" gives the patient information about his or her problem (i.e., amount of interference it creates in his or her life, severity, degree of fear and avoidance). The…

The authors studied the role of attention as a selection mechanism in implicit learning by examining the effect on primary sequence learning of performing a demanding target-selection task. Participants were trained on probabilistic sequences in a novel version of the serial reaction time (SRT) task, with dual- and triple-stimulus participants…