Describes how a behavioral system in Aplysia (marine snail) can be used to examine mechanisms of several forms of learning at different levels of analysis: behavioral, cell-physiological, ultrastructural, and molecular. Focusing on short-term sensitization, suggests how molecular mechanisms can be extended to explain long-term memory and classical…

It has often been claimed that children's mathematical understanding is based on their ability to reason logically, but there is no good evidence for this causal link. We tested the causal hypothesis about logic and mathematical development in two related studies. In a longitudinal study, we showed that (a) 6-year-old children's logical abilities…

This study examined whether children with mathematical difficulties (MDs) or comorbid mathematical and reading difficulties have a working memory deficit and whether the hypothesized working memory deficit includes the whole working memory system or only specific components. In the study, 31 10-year-olds with MDs and 37 10-year-olds with both…

A model of interference and forgetting based on the search of associative memory (SAM) theory is presented. The SAM theory describes retrieval processes in long-term memory. A model of contextual fluctuation processes is incorporated to provide a time-dependent variable to handle time-based interference phenomena. (SLD)

The interaction between short- and long-term memory is studied within a model in which phonemic and (temporal) contextual information have separate influences on immediate verbal serial recall via connections with short- and long-term plasticity [Burgess, N., & Hitch, G.J. (1999). Memory for serial order: a network model of the phonological loop…

The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is known to actively hold information "online" for a period of seconds in working memory for guiding goal-directed behavior. It has been proposed that relevant information is stored in other brain regions, which is retrieved and held in working memory for subsequent assimilation by the PFC in order to guide behavior. It…

For the last five decades, the medial temporal lobes have been generally understood to facilitate enduring representation of certain kinds of information. In particular, knowledge about the relations among items and concepts appears to rely on that region of the brain. Recent results suggest that those same structures also play a subtle role in…

Fragile X syndrome (FraX) remains the most common inherited cause of intellectual disability and provides a valuable model for studying gene-brain-behavior relationships. Over the past 15 years, structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging studies have emerged with the goal of better understanding the neural pathways contributing to the…

One of the most consistent findings in children with ADHD is increased moment-to-moment variability in reaction time (RT). The source of increased RT variability can be examined using ex-Gaussian analyses that divide variability into normal and exponential components and Fast Fourier transform (FFT) that allow for detailed examination of the…

This qualitative study analyzed preservice teachers' literacy memories. Each literate person has a history of becoming literate. As university students who plan to be future teachers think about their own literate histories, they begin to construct their own beliefs about learning to read and the teaching of reading and writing. These beliefs may…

Spoken language processing in noisy environments, a hallmark of the human brain, is subject to age-related decline, even when peripheral hearing might be intact. The present study examines the cortical cerebral hemodynamics (measured by fMRI) associated with such processing in the aging brain. Younger and older subjects identified single words in…

This paper presents a study of 88 British 10-12-year-old children's knowledge of text message (SMS) abbreviations ("textisms") and how it relates to their school literacy attainment. As a measure of textism knowledge, the children were asked to compose text messages they might write if they were in each of a set of scenarios. Their text…

Individuals with Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) experience difficulties understanding the non-verbal cues conveyed by others that provide symbolic information about relationships between self, other, and environmental events. This study examined whether these difficulties reflect underlying problems in the identification of temporal…

A core aspect of working memory (WM) is the capacity to maintain goal-relevant information in mind, but little is known about how this capacity develops in the human brain. We compared brain activation, via fMRI, between children (ages 7-12 years) and adults (ages 20-29 years) performing tests of verbal and spatial WM with varying amounts (loads)…

This study investigated second language metalinguistic knowledge, or explicit knowledge about the second language, in English-speaking university-level learners of German and Spanish. The status of metalinguistic knowledge in relation to the individual difference variables of language-learning aptitude, working memory for language, and…