What is a learning style? No one seems to know for sure. The language used by learning style theorists is filled with ambiguities. Price (2004) maintains that "learning style is often used as a metaphor for considering the range of individual differences in learning" (p. 681). Is learning style merely a fanciful metaphor or is it the wave of the…

Expectations about self-competence and difficulty of a task to be undertaken can foster motivation and hence affect engagement, giving rise to individual differences in performance. This effect was examined in a memory task. An increase in recall performance following instructions about high competence was hypothesised; in addition, a modulating…

Here we test if playing video-games require intelligence. Twenty-seven university undergraduate students were trained on three games from Big Brain Academy (Wii): Calculus, Backward Memory and Train. Participants did not have any previous experience with these games. General intelligence was measured by five ability tests before the training…

Previous studies have suggested that children's learning of the relation between number words and approximate numerosities depends on their verbal counting ability, and that children exhibit no knowledge of mappings between number words and approximate numerical magnitudes for number words outside their productive verbal counting range. In the…

It has been hypothesised that auditory processing may be enhanced in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). We tested auditory discrimination ability in 72 adolescents with ASD (39 childhood autism; 33 other ASD) and 57 IQ and age-matched controls, assessing their capacity for successful discrimination of the frequency, intensity and duration…

The association between conventional religiosity and suicide inhibition has been well explored and documented since the pioneering work of Durkheim. Commentators like Heelas and Woodhead point to ways in which conventional religiosity is giving way in England and Wales to a range of alternative spiritualities, including renewed interest in…

The myriad of information communication technologies (ICTs) available today has changed the way students choose and use them. Specifically, individuals are increasingly relying on a mix of ICTs for communication to accomplish tasks. Yet, past studies on ICT use has largely assumed that people use a single ICT per task. We attempt to address this…

Fairness is often considered synonymous with equality: the equal treatment of people sharing a uniform description or role. This concept--"fair" means "equal"--has spawned the notion that it is fair to teach all children the same way. Put simply, if fairness means equality in family life, restaurant dining, and sports--not to mention in observing…

This study examined emerging adults' criteria for marriage readiness and explored how these criteria are associated with their current attitudes and behaviors. This article establishes the psychometric value of the Criteria for Marriage Readiness Questionnaire and reports on a study of 788 emerging adults recruited from five college sites across…

The present study examined the defining features of emerging adulthood, subjects' conceptions of the transition to adulthood, and the perceived adult status in Austria. The sample consisted of 775 subjects (226 adolescents, 317 emerging adults, 232 adults). Results showed that most Austrian emerging adults feel themselves to be between adolescence…

Variability in achievement across learners is a hallmark of second language (L2) learning, especially in academic-based learning. The Twins Early Development Study (TEDS), based on a large, population-representative sample in the United Kingdom, provides the first opportunity to examine individual differences in second language achievement in a…

In this article, I describe studies conducted over 25 years with secondary and post-secondary L2 learners in the United States. The evidence from these studies shows that there are important connections between students' early L1 skills and their L2 aptitude and L2 proficiency and that individual differences in students' L1 skills in elementary…

This study examined correlates of mothers' value messages using mother and adolescent reports across 3 years (N =1,638 dyads). Two fundamental socialization dimensions were assessed: compassion messages (e.g., caring for others) and caution messages (e.g., being wary of others). Multilevel models revealed distinct between-person and within-person…

This investigation examines English as foreign language college interdisciplinary and intercultural differences in learning strategy use and their implications for language processing. Positivism underpins this research at the levels of ontology (standardized variables), epistemology (detachment from the subjects) and methodology, using nomothetic…

This study explored the prevalence of violent behaviors in patients who are addicted to drugs. A sample of 252 addicted patients (203 male and 49 female) who sought outpatient treatment was assessed. Information on violent behaviors, sociodemographic factors, consumption factors (assessed by the European version of the Addiction Severity Index…