Competence-based vocational education is based on a constructivist learning paradigm, where the development of students' personal professional knowledge is emphasised. However, there is a lack of insight into how students construct their own professional knowledge and what the content and nature of personal professional knowledge is. This article…

April 20, 2009 marks the 10th anniversary of the Columbine High School tragedy that took the lives of 12 students, a teacher, and two teen killers in 1999. This school shooting affected people worldwide who watched on television as police circled the building and terrified students fled the school with hands raised over their heads. The Columbine…

Christian N. L. Olivers, winner of the Award for Distinguished Scientific Early Career Contributions to Psychology, is cited for outstanding research on visual attention and working memory. Olivers uses classic experimental designs in an innovative and sophisticated way to determine underlying mechanisms. He has formulated important theoretical…

We employed a triadic comparison task in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and healthy controls to contrast (a) multidimensional scaling (MDS) and accuracy-based assessments of semantic memory, and (b) degraded-store versus degraded-access accounts of semantic impairment in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Similar to other studies using triadic…

Eighty preschoolers, ages 3 to 5 years old, completed a 4-phase study in which they experienced a live event and received a pressured, suggestive interview about the event a week later. Children were also administered batteries of theory of mind and executive function tasks, as well as the Video Suggestibility Scale for Children (VSSC), which…

The current study explored the elaborative retrieval hypothesis as an explanation for the testing effect: the tendency for a memory test to enhance retention more than restudying. In particular, the retrieval process during testing may activate elaborative information related to the target response, thereby increasing the chances that activation…

In 5 experiments, we studied precautionary decisions in which participants decided whether or not to buy insurance with specified cost against an undesirable event with specified probability and cost. We compared the risks taken for precautionary decisions with those taken for equivalent monetary gambles. Fitting these data to Tversky and…

Recent evidence suggests the existence of multiple cognitive mechanisms that support the general cognitive ability factor (g). Working memory and processing speed are the two best established candidate mechanisms. Relatively little attention has been given to the possibility that associative learning is an additional mechanism contributing to g.…

In 2 studies, the present research tested the phenomenology and content of autobiographical memory as distinct mediators between attachment avoidance and anxiety and depressive symptoms. In Study 1, participants (N = 454) completed measures of attachment and depressive symptoms in 1 session and retrieved and rated 2 self-defining memories of…

Language requires both storage and composition. However, exactly what is retrieved from memory and what is assembled remains controversial, especially for inflected words. Here, "imageability effects" is introduced as a new diagnostic of storage and a complement to frequency effects. In 2 studies of past-tense morphology, more reliable…

Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFA) of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III (WAIS-III) lend partial support to the four-factor model proposed in the test manual. However, the Arithmetic subtest has been especially difficult to allocate to one factor. Using the new Norwegian WAIS-III version, we tested factor models differing in the number of…

This study investigated the possibility that enhanced memory for rejected distractor locations underlies the superior visual search skills exhibited by individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We compared the performance of 21 children with ASD and 21 age- and IQ-matched typically developing (TD) children in a standard static search task…

Implicit contextual learning refers to the ability to memorize contextual information from our environment. This contextual information can then be used to guide our attention to a specific location. Although the medial temporal lobe is important for this type of learning, the basal ganglia might also be involved considering its role in many…

The aim of physics education is to generate understanding of physics and there is considerable anecdotal evidence that passing examinations in physics is not the same as understanding the subject. This paper describes how the areas of difficulties in understanding of physics were determined for pupils in Taiwan aged 13-15. Test material which…

Thirty-six nonmusicians practiced a five-element key-press sequence on a digital piano, repeating the sequence as quickly and accurately as possible during twelve 30-s practice blocks alternating with 30-s pauses. Twelve learners rested for 5 min between Blocks 3 and 4, another 12 learners rested for 5 min between Blocks 9 and 10, and the…