The article provides a rationale for the consideration of the processing differences of exceptional learners and discusses how these differences influence the development of the skills necessary for normal school achievement. (PHR)

Category theory concept of a commutative diagram was used to construct a model of the way in which symbolic processes are applied to problem solving. It was shown that several different levels of thought can be distinguished within the basic model. Two experiments testing the theory are reported. (Author/RD)

Two studies investigated the possibility that assessment of confidence is biased by attempts to justify chosen answers. These attempts include selectively focusing on evidence supporting the chosen answer and disregarding contradictory evidence. Results suggest that confidence depends on the amount and strength of evidence supporting the answer…

Two experiments found that integration of facts alleviates interference only when a person can perform a memory task by making a consistency judgment and can avoid the need to retrieve a specific fact. People judge themes rather than facts: the more themes associated with a concept, the greater the interference. (Author/RD)

Age significantly predicted performances on six memory tests which clearly defied verbal labeling. Low scores of older persons were responsible for the age effect. The progressively lower recognition scores suggested that nonverbal memory processing through all three modalities was affected adversely by age. (Author)

Elderly subjects demonstrated significantly greater levels of persistence. Contrast relationship of the target stimulus and its background did not interact with age. Although the data were consistent with a hypothesis of increased persistence of stimuli in the senescent nervous system, problems in the direct measurement technique are evident.…

A sample of 201 high school students was given a battery of 27 ability tests strategically chosen to provide composite measures of 12 primary mental abilities selected to indicate second-order abilities known as fluid intelligence (Gf), crystallized intelligence (Gc), and short-term acquisition retrieval (SAR). (Author/GK)

Two experiments were performed to determine whether questions inserted after prose passages initiate reviews which facilitate retention of the information in memory. Results suggest that the backward review is not attributed to a retrieval phenomenon but to a strengthening of memory traces at the time of the probe. (Author/GK)

The study investigated the effects of incentives for good performance on the selection and use of an efficient task strategy by 30 reading disabled and 30 normally reading second graders. (SBH)

Two experiments explored how memory for new information is affected by awareness of parallels to pre-experimental knowledge. Results suggest that the benefit of prior knowledge derives from the more elaborate encodings that analogy promotes. (Author/AM)

A series of three experiments investigated repetition effects on recall with homographic responses. It was concluded that the repetition increment was mediated solely by commonality of surface features and that semantic features played no role. (Author/AM)

Infants ranging from 6 to 12 months were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (1) allowed to look at a specified object, (2) allowed to look at and manipulate it, or (3) allowed to look at the object and to manipulate the transparent box in which it was encased. (JMB)

Three-item pictorial sequences were shown to five-, six-, and seven-year-old children who were told to remember the events. Children were tested subsequently on their abilities to recognize old pictures and to select new pictures that were consistent with previously viewed sequences. (JMB)

Children's abilities to search for missing objects in real-life environments were investigated in two studies using 20 children aged 2-6 years. (Author/MP)

The nature of the target designation process--which involves forming interassociated mental structures to allow retrieval of individual items of information--was studied. It was shown that visual imagery instructions improved target identification as well as word recognition but did not appear to affect the representational format. (Author/MH)