Stimulus over-selectivity refers to behavior being controlled by one element of the environment at the expense of other equally salient aspects of the environment. This is a common problem for many individuals, including those with autism spectrum disorders, and learning difficulties, and presents a considerable problem for information processing…

This experimental study investigates event construal by early Dutch-German bilinguals, as reflected in their oral depiction of everyday events shown in video clips. The starting point is the finding that the expression of an aspectual perspective (progressive aspect), and its consequences for event construal, is dependent on the extent to which…

Emotions affect, and are intertwined with, many of the cognitive processes of learning and also classroom motivation and social interaction. There are often times within daily classroom life that students and teachers are required to, or feel compelled to, regulate their emotions. Limited research has shown that particular aspects of classroom…

Students with difficulties in specific cognitive processes and academic achievement with otherwise normal levels of intellectual functioning are classified as having a learning disability (LD). In spite of extensive recent research in a number of disciplines, controversial debate continues with regard to several issues. To reconcile some of them…

This study aimed to evaluate spatial function in subjects with Williams syndrome (WS) by using a large-scale task with multiple rewards and comparing the spatial abilities of WS subjects with those of mental age-matched control children. In the present spatial task, WS participants had to explore an open space to search nine rewards placed in…

Does extensive practice reduce or eliminate central interference in dual-task processing? We explored the reorganization of task architecture with practice by combining interference analysis (delays in dual-task experiment) and random-walk models of decision making (measuring the decision and non-decision contributions to RT). The main delay…

The present study aimed to investigate the slow negative potential (termed Decision Preceding Negativity, DPN, from the family of the Readiness Potential) which precedes a willed risky decision. To this end, evoked potentials preceding and following an economic choice were measured in a sample of 16 male students during the Iowa Gambling Task…

Imagistic reasoning appears to be a critical strategy for learning and problem solving in the sciences, particularly chemistry; however, little is known about how students use imagistic reasoning on genuine assessment tasks in chemistry. The present study employed a think-aloud protocol to explore when and how students use imagistic reasoning for…

According to the Extreme Male Brain theory persons with autism possess masculinised cognitive traits. In this study masculinisation of gender role behaviour is evaluated in 25 persons with an autism spectrum condition (ASC) and matched controls with gender role behaviour as part of a shortened version of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality…

Research suggests that executive function (EF) may distinguish between children who are well- or ill-prepared for kindergarten; however, little is known about the test-retest reliability of measures of EF for children. We aimed to establish a battery of EF measures that are sensitive to both development and individual differences across the…

Two studies were conducted to test the hypothesis that information about intergroup competition is central to children's representations of social categories. Children (N = 99, 5- and 6-year-olds) were introduced to two novel social categories, which were described as having competing or noncompeting goals, by varying the quantity of a resource in…

Twin and family studies have established that there is a strong genetic basis for autism spectrum disorders. To facilitate the identification of susceptibility genes and to study pathways from gene-brain to cognition a more refined endophenotype-based approach may be useful. The purpose of the present study was to examine the neurocognitive…

Learning a new word consists of two primary tasks that have often been conflated into a single process: "referent selection", in which a child must determine the correct referent of a novel label, and "referent retention", which is the ability to store this newly formed label-object mapping in memory for later use. In addition,…

This paper describes a pedagogical experiment that used feature films in a senior accounting class to stimulate development of student competencies and raise ethical issues. Rather than being content driven, this active learning technique focuses on skills development, while engaging the students' emotions in the learning process. Encompassing…

"Collaborative video annotation" (CVA) allows multiple users to annotate video and create a discussion asynchronously. This dissertation investigates 14 small-group CVA discussions held on YouTube in a pre-service teacher education course. Fourteen groups of 6-12 pre-service teachers (141 total) participated. Five of these groups (48…