Patients with mild dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT), patients with major depression, and normal control subjects completed the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) Digit Symbol test of incidental memory. Though mild DAT and depressed patients had equivalent deficits in psychomotor speed, DAT patients recalled fewer digit-symbol items.…

This critique of E.D. Hirsch's book, "Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know," argues that because Hirsch confuses memorized facts with learned facts, he ignores the importance of constructing meaning and fails to realize that students will not remember what they do not understand. (TE)

This article is E.D. Hirsh's response to a foregoing critique of his book "Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know." He argues that the distorted image depicted by Estes, Gutman, and Harrison obscures the promise of the cultural literacy initiative to improve learning in our schools. (TE)

Research concerning the transfer of cognitive skills is outlined. Transfer is involved in learning, memory, problem solving, and other cognitive processes; it depends on domain-specific knowledge, general cognitive skills, and goals and values. Meta-cognitive and cognitive strategies facilitate transfer. Research is recommended on the interaction…

Data were generally consistent with the view that preschoolers and elementary schoolers can respond to memory probes by applying arithmetical processing to running gist from recently solved problems. Discussed are two competing interpretations of the development of working memory: fuzzy-trace theory and the generic-resources hypothesis. (Author/RH)

The memory performance of 30 seventh and 30 eleventh graders was examined as a function of instructional conditions on two different cued recall tasks. The relationship between meta-memory and actual performance during adolescence was studied. Results concern performance based on elaborative prompting, controlled instructions, and the students'…

Considers the generation gap from the viewpoint of a 23-year-old teacher, who muses on her parents' generation and that of her young students. (NKA)

The literature on metacognition and students having learning problems is reviewed. Investigations of metacognitive instruction to enhance memory skills, to increase text comprehension, and to improve written expression and math performance are reported. The roles of the teacher and learner in acquiring and controlling the targeted cognitive…

Fourth and seventh grade children received four free-recall trials on lists including typical and atypical items. Levels of recall and clustering increased with age and were greater for typical than for atypical items. More older children used organizational strategies to facilitate recall. (SKC)

Measured the pattern goodness effect at visual encoding stages and short term memory stages in observers aged 6 to 22 years using a speeded sequential same-different paradigm. Found goodness effects were larger in short term memory for all subjects, memory effects decreased with age, and encoding effects remained constant. (SKC)

Because visual short-term memory deficits are common in children with reading problems, a series of experiments were reviewed which examined the role of phonological processes in short-term memory. Results suggest that both developmental and individual differences in verbal memory span are related to efficient phonological processes. (Author/DB)

This article has three goals: to set forth some general claims about the course of skill acquisition; to discuss a series of counter intuitive predictions derived from the ACT theory; and to review the state of empirical evidence relevant to these predictions. (LMO)

Examined data from discussion group intervention in 30 nursing homes, involving 185 residents. Analysis of characteristics of participants in relation to modifications in selected attitudes and behaviors over the intervention period revealed only one significant relationship between attitudinal or behavioral modifications and demographic or other…

Examines development of event memory by determining how personally experienced events with two types of structure were reported by kindergartners and adults. Events in making and playing with clay were organized causally and temporally. Results show that adults and children used a goal-based hierarchical structure to remember events, although use…

Examines children's understanding of what variables and relations are important in problem structures, and their use of these variables and relations in problem solving. (HOD)