Well-being is often relatively stable across adulthood and old age, but typically exhibits pronounced deteriorations and vast individual differences in the terminal phase of life. However, the factors contributing to these differences are not well understood. Using up to 25-year annual longitudinal data obtained from 4,404 now-deceased…

In this study, two alternative theoretical models were compared, in order to analyze which of them best explains primary school children's text comprehension skills. The first one was based on the distinction between two types of answers requested by the comprehension test: local or global. The second model involved texts' input modality: written…

Social insects possess remarkable learning capabilities, which are crucial for their ecological success. They also exhibit interindividual differences in responsiveness to environmental stimuli, which underlie task specialization and division of labor. Here we investigated for the first time the relationships between sucrose responsiveness,…

The problem-size effect in simple additions, that is the increase in response times (RTs) and error rates with the size of the operands, is one of the most robust effects in cognitive arithmetic. Current accounts focus on factors that could affect speed of retrieval of the answers from long-term memory such as the occurrence of interference in a…

Intraindividual differences in executive functions (EFs) have been rarely investigated. In this study, we addressed the question of whether the emotional fluctuations that schoolchildren experience in their classroom settings could generate substantial intraindividual differences in their EFs and, more specifically, in the fundamental unifying…

Video viewing can be a valuable resource to expose students to large quantities of input so they can improve their vocabulary and content comprehension. Most studies so far have used short clips and have not explored in much detail the effects of individual differences (IDs) such as aptitude, listening skills and vocabulary size. This paper aims…

This paper reports on crossing borders virtually via an e-Tandem scheme and presents the findings of a study, in which students of English from an Austrian university were paired with students of German from the UK and the USA. Drawing on data from 19 in-depth interviews, the study aims to identify links between e-Tandem language learning and…

This study investigated the perceived sources of support and stress of Brazilian immigrant adolescents living in the United States. The sample was comprised of 62 Brazilian immigrant adolescents between the ages of 14 and 19 (M = 16.55, SD = 1.31). The study also explored how these individuals cope with stress and how they help their friends.…

This study examines the English vocabulary development of 43 very young child English as a foreign language (FL) learners (age 3.2-6.2) in China. They were tested twice for vocabulary breadth (reception and production) and semantic depth (paradigmatic and syntagmatic vocabulary knowledge). The development of the English vocabulary knowledge…

This paper describes a narrative-based design framework that organizes three narrative elements (i.e., storyline, character, and quest) to support a contextual game-based environment for language learning. Using this design framework, a PlanetAdventure system was developed to examine its feasibility and its effects on student language learning. A…

Automated written corrective feedback (AWCF) has qualities that distinguish it from teacher-provided WCF and potentially undermine claims about its value for L2 student writers, including disparities in the amounts of useful information it provides across error types and the fact that inaccuracies in error-flagging must be anticipated. It remains…

The criterion-related validity of divergent thinking (DT) tests has been questioned because of relatively low correlations between DT test scores and creative performance. A possible inhibiting factor in previous correlations--heterogeneity of the sample--has been ignored. If groups with different DT profiles are involved in this line of research,…

The main theme of this paper concerns the persistent critique of Gilbert Gottlieb on developmental behavior genetics and my reactions to this critique, the latter changing from rejection to complete acceptation. Concise characterizations of developmental behavior genetics, developmental systems theory (to which Gottlieb made essential…

The current study examined the impact of retention interval task difficulty on 4- and 5-year-olds' prospective memory (PM) to test the hypothesis that children periodically monitor their intentions during the retention interval and that disrupting this monitoring may result in poorer PM performance. In addition, relations among PM, working memory,…

The traditional morpheme order studies in second language acquisition have tried to demonstrate the existence of a fixed order of acquisition of English morphemes, regardless of the second language learner's background. Such orders have been taken as evidence of the preprogrammed nature of language acquisition. This article argues for a…