The n-back task requires participants to decide whether each stimulus in a sequence matches the one that appeared n items ago. Although n-back has become a standard "executive" working memory (WM) measure in cognitive neuroscience, it has been subjected to few behavioral tests of construct validity. A combined experimental-correlational study…

The ability to recognize letter patterns within words as a single unit is important for fluent reading. This skill is based on previously established memory representations of common letter patterns. The ability to form these memory representations may be impaired in some poor readers, particularly readers with naming speed deficits (NSD). This…

This study examined time-based prospective memory performance in relation to individual and developmental differences in executive functioning. School-age children and young adults completed six experimental tasks that tapped three basic components of executive functioning: inhibition, updating, and mental shifting. Monitoring performance was…

Sight word learning and memory were studied to clarify how early during development readers process visual letter patterns that are not dictated by phonology, and whether their word learning is influenced by the legality of letter patterns. Forty kindergartners and first graders were taught to read 12 words containing either single consonants…

This study examined the extent to which children's cognitive abilities in kindergarten and their mothers' education predict their single-digit and procedural calculation skills and the covariance of these with reading skill in Grade 4. In kindergarten, we assessed children's (N=178) basic number skills, linguistic skills, and visual attention. In…

Two experiments demonstrate how individual differences in working memory (WM) impact the strategies used to solve complex math problems and how consequential testing situations alter strategy use. In Experiment 1, individuals performed multistep math problems under low- or high-pressure conditions and reported their problem-solving strategies.…

In this article, the author reviews the Reynolds Intellectual Assessment Scales (RIAS), an individually administered test of intelligence appropriate for ages 3 through 94 years with a conormed, supplemental measure of memory. The RIAS should be administered by examiners who have formal training in assessment. In this regard, the RIAS is a…

This chapter describes how globalization is changing the U.S. economy and the job market for community college students and discusses the skills students need to participate in a globalized world.

This study investigated the relationship between phonological memory and second language (L2) fluency gains in native English-speaking adults learning Spanish in two learning contexts: at their home university or abroad in an immersion context. Phonological memory (operationalized as serial nonword recognition) and Spanish oral fluency…

Nonword repetition skills were examined in 24 pediatric cochlear implant (CI) users and 18 normal-hearing (NH) adult listeners listening through a CI simulator. Two separate groups of NH adult listeners assigned accuracy ratings to the nonword responses of the pediatric CI users and the NH adult speakers. Overall, the nonword repetitions of…

Effective teaching is the art of getting information to the students' memory in an organized manner to facilitate later retrieval. Thanks to advances in cognitive science, one can talk of the science of teaching. A metaphor that captures the work of effective teachers is "teachers as knowledge engineers," which connotes that effective teachers…

In this essay, the author offers a reading of both Sigmund Freud's and Madelaine's Acropolis encounters to propose an "affective conflict" at play in historical relations more generally. On the one side of the conflict, the author explores at some length Freud's (1939) theory of history as "archaic inheritance," which takes the form of psychical…

Phonological awareness, phonological memory, and phonological access to lexical storage play important roles in acquiring literacy. We examined the convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity of these phonological processing abilities (PPA) in 389 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the validity of each…

According to Herbert F. Spitzer, an ambitious graduate student, immediate recall in the form of a test is an effective method of aiding the retention of learning and should, therefore, be employed more frequently in the elementary school. Suggestions like Mr. Spitzer's have been made for many decades, but they have never gained much traction. Now,…

In this article, the author presents an innovative approach to teaching multiplication facts for children in middle school or younger. After introducing the dangers of some contradictions that persist, relating a brief summary of related research and guidelines regarding math facts and their relation to strategic approaches to more complex math,…