Discusses the most significant findings of recent research and scholarship on the nature of the brain and its relevance to the teaching and learning of human languages. Topics covered include: (1) whether the brain is highly integrated or componential; (2) differences between conscious and unconscious processes; (3) hemispheric specialization; (4)…

Presents a historical overview and summary of research conducted on simple arithmetic in the past 20 years. Presents two seemingly different directions in current research, one on the role of working memory in mental arithmetic and one on the possible cognitive consequences of mathematics anxiety. Contains 108 references. (MKR)

Replicates Costa and Kostenbaum's 1967 study of the relationship between past memories and future ambitions of centenarians using data from the Georgia Centenarian Study. Unlike the original study, no significant relationship was found between the ability to recall three types of past events and being able to conceive of a future. (JPS)

The vigilance of young adults with and without mild mental retardation (MR) was compared, with subjects performing two memory demanding, cognitively based tests. The vigilance decrement of MR adults declined more rapidly than did the vigilance of non-MR adults, due to an interaction between target detectability and response bias, and poor target…

Four experiments examined how perception affects delayed recognition, visual pop out, and memory reactivation (priming) in six month olds. Infants discriminated cues differing in spatial arrangement or number of primitive perceptual units (textons) in a delayed recognition task and exhibited adultlike visual pop-out effects in a priming task. (MDM)

This study investigated the claim that memory for scenes is qualitatively similar in children and adults. The effects of three schema-related processes on scene memory were tested with 5- to 7-year-old and adult subjects. Both children and adults used two of these processes (added unexpected object effect and congruency effect) but not the third…

Examined within-domain variations in children's knowledge of the events or materials to be remembered and corresponding differences in recall. Five year olds were interviewed about their understanding of routine pediatric examinations, and the results were related to recall scores from similar studies. Findings confirm that, within a given domain,…

Provides an overview of the existing literature on the development of metacognition in gifted children and emphasizes the needed areas of research. Reviews research examining individual differences in gifted and nongifted children in the development of declarative metacognition knowledge, cognitive monitoring, and the regulation of strategies.…

Preschool children experienced two special events and were asked a set of questions about one of the events on four different occasions over a seven-week period. Findings suggest that adult questioning enhances memory for specific recall, but does not enhance general memory performance. Results raise issues regarding how much children tailor their…

This letter points out flaws in van der Lely and Howard's argument that children with specific language impairments have no deficits in verbal short-term memory. The original methodology is faulted for providing uninterpretable assessment of verbal short-term functions and for failure to follow memory techniques from previous studies. Sample…

A sample of chronic postconcussive patients with and without overt malingering signs was compared with objectively brain-injured patients (total sample=106) on common episodic memory and malingered amnesia measures. Findings validate commonly cited malingering measures and new methods of classifying malingering in real-world clinical samples. (SLD)

Undergraduates listened to a list of words and nonwords. They then listened to a list of items, some of which contained phonemic variations of items in the first list, and stated whether items had been presented previously. Subjects made more recognition errors to items that had phonemic variations occurring near the beginning rather than the end…

A form of autosuggestibility in which children's answers to memory tests were shifted in the direction of their illogical solutions to reasoning problems was studied in 5 experiments with 396 primary-grade students. A model of how gist intrusion causes autosuggestibility is developed. (SLD)

Asserts that the growing number of challenges to the veracity of delayed recall response is a reaction to the recognition that child sexual abuse is tragically common. Research has provided overwhelming evidence that sexual abuse creates serious psychological problems. Additionally, physical abuse, domestic and criminal violence, and war-related…

Replies to criticism of theories on repressed memory recall. Therapists are cautioned against continuing to use ill-chosen treatment techniques that can result in irreparable damage to patients, their families, and the mental health profession. (JPS)