We report an event-related brain potential (ERP) experiment that tests whether autistic adults are able to maintain and switch between counterfactual and factual worlds. Participants (N = 48) read scenarios that set up a factual or counterfactual scenario, then either maintained the counterfactual world or switched back to the factual world. When…

The main aim of this study was to (a) test the construct validity of complex problem solving (CPS); (b) examine the ability to acquire knowledge as a mediator of the relationship between intelligence and CPS performance; and (c) investigate the personal need for structure as a moderator of the relationship between intelligence and knowledge…

Assistive technologies can in many ways facilitate the normal day-to-day lives of the disabled. As part of the ongoing research on assistive technologies at UTAS, Oman, that deals with augmenting and finding multimodal aspects of applications for the disabled, this paper aspires to investigate the role of deep learning in the field of image…

Valued-based decision-making has been studied for decades in myriad topics such as consumer spending and gambling, but very rarely in spatial navigation despite the link between the two being highly relevant to survival. Furthermore, how people integrate episodic memories, and what factors are related to the extent of memory integration in…

As learners engage, test, and apply new subject knowledge, they often expend their cognitive capacity on the technological tools designed to capture their learning progress and outcomes. The energy and attention spent on these tools reduces their capacity to engage deeply with new learning concepts. Digital literacy skills require both cognitive…

Finding interventions which can address the decline of cognitive function as people get older is of great importance to policy-makers, especially in post-industrial societies with rapidly ageing populations. We examine the impact of several different types of mentally stimulating activities on cognitive function in a sample of community-dwelling…

This study sought to examine the effects of substance use and stress-induced cognitive impairment on anxiety and depression among college students. The data for this study came from a sample of 328 undergraduate students from a public university. The subjects in this study completed a 101-item self-administered questionnaire, which was part of a…

Prior research has shown that various types of conventional multiword chunks are processed faster than matched novel strings, but it is unclear whether this processing advantage extends to variant multiword chunks that are less formulaic. To determine whether the processing advantage of multiword chunks accommodates variations in the canonical…

Background: Spatial ability (SA) was shown to be important for success in different fields, including STEM. Recent research suggested that SA is a unitary construct, rather than a set of related skills. However, it is not clear how individual differences in different facets of SA emerge, and how they relate to variance in general cognitive…

Learning activities carried out in schools today lack innovative and varied approaches. There are few learning activities that can help develop students' meta cognitive abilities. Meta cognitive abilities are important for students to realize their weaknesses and strengths in studying and utilizing learning materials. This study analyses the…

An accurate global assessment of gifted children is essential to provide them with educational and counseling programs tailored to their strengths and vulnerabilities. Without neglecting the fundamental role of social-emotional skills on individual well-being and academic success, it is essential to shedding light on the attentional profile of…

Background: Parental intellectual disability is considered a risk factor for child removal internationally. In New South Wales, Australia, authorised clinicians are court appointed experts who assess parenting and cognitive capacity in child protection matters. Method: This study examined a sample of 20 assessment orders requesting parenting…

Children's microcultures consist of small peer communities that they develop with distinct rules and roles operating outside of traditional daily activities. Presently, there is little understanding for how children may develop microcultures during competitive play, where they attempt to outperform their peers. In this study, we address the…

Learning with games requires two types of information, namely domain-specific information and game-specific information. Presenting these two types of information together with gameplay may pose a heavy demand on cognitive resources. This study investigates how timing of information presentation affects cognition (ie, mental effort and…

Keeping a conversation going is the social glue of friendships. The DSM criteria for autism list difficulties with back-and-forth conversation but does not necessitate that all autistic children will be equally impacted. We carried out three studies (two pre-registered) with verbally fluent school children (age 5-9 years) to investigate how…