The value of verbal labeling is shown by a study of fourth-grade, eighth-grade, and college students who were shown pictures accompanied by short verbal descriptions. Verbal descriptions increased correct recognitions and rejections of unrelated distractors, while increasing false recognition of related distractors. Results were consistent for all…

The effectiveness of a measure of the processing capacity of working memory, called the reading span test, is demonstrated in predicting performance and understanding individual differences in reading comprehension. (Author/PN)

Several measures of the speed of information processing were related to ability factors derived from the Cattell-Horn theory of fluid and crystallized intelligence. Correlations among the ability measures, among the information processing measures, and between the two domains were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis. (Author/PN)

Questions the assumption that behavioral, mental, or cognitive incompetence accompanies the biological aging process. Investigates the philosophical, psychological, social, and cultural-historical bases to this erroneous assumption. Concludes that gerontological psychologists have directly contributed to the negative stereotypes of elderly…

Reviewed theoretical and empirical work in phonological recoding, concluding that phonological representation is used to aid comprehension and suggesting that decoding graphemic information into a phonological form is important for early readers. Asserts that future research should examine differences in the use of visual versus phonological…

Asian-American, White, and Black Children in grades 2-6 were tested for intelligence, achievement, and short-term memory. Factor analysis yielded two main factors: memory and general intelligence. The three groups differed distinctly at every grade level. Achievement correlated more with memory than with general intelligence. (Author/CP)

Reviews four current approaches to play behavior of young children and concludes that using forms of play such as puppets and body action movements to rehearse story content is effective in aiding aural language comprehension and recall in young children. (FL)

Six ways a dentist can profit from the basic sciences are: (1) increased sensitivity to the environment, (2) improved judgment, (3) better explanations to patients, (4) enhanced ability to learn, (5) improved communication with health professionals, and (6) greater role diversity. Literature is reviewed related to mental processes. (Author/MLW)

The paper presents four research projects in process in the Communication Sciences Laboratory at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. These projects illustrate four broad areas of research on the relationships between higher order information processing systems and the communication skills and problems exhibited by deaf people. (Author)

A treatment designed to familiarize third graders with memory support strategies was delivered by parents. Results showed a complex pattern of effects, with treated students and classes significantly outperforming controls. Stable class-level Aptitude X Treatment interactions were also found. (Author/GDC)

States that development of oral reading skills, with the relevant methods and goals, has been largely disregarded by present-day thinking on language instruction. Argues that these skills are an important aspect of communicative competence and suggests activities designed for various levels of language proficiency. (MES)

The effects of semantic (S), orthographic (O), and unrelated (U) verbal stimuli on word retrieval were examined. S stimuli inhibited locating items within categories, whereas U stimuli inhibited locating the appropriate category. The discrepancy between the present outcome and the previous finding of S prime retrieval facilitation is discussed.…

The fan effect (the difficulty in retrieving any one fact after learning many about a concept) occurs only when the facts with repeated concepts are stored as independent episodes. It tells us nothing about the code formed by a pattern of interconnected concepts. (Author/CP)

Discusses recent developments in instructional psychology relative to cognitive task analysis, individual difference variables, and cognitive models of interactive instructional decision making, which use constructs developed within the field of cognitive/information processing psychology. (Author/WBC)

In three experiments, memory for intentionally encoded words was compared with memory for encodings, induced by asking semantic, phonemic, or surface questions. Subjects were second-, fourth-, and sixth-grade students, and junior and senior high school students. (Author/MP)