Purpose: Children with specific language impairment (SLI) demonstrate significant language impairments despite normal-range hearing and nonverbal IQ. Many of these children also show marked deficits in working memory (WM) abilities. However, the theoretical and clinical characterization of the association between WM and language limitations in SLI…

Current research on information processing suggests that short term memory plays a central role in the sorting and manipulation of text information during reading. Because an entire text cannot be processed simultaneously, successive "chunks" or units of information enter the short term memory where they are compared to the reader's previous…

Three eperiments assessed the effects on strategy transfer of supplements to keyword method instruction; supplements included more comprehensive instructions concerning strategy application, additional practice with strategy during instruction, and combined directions and practice. Generally, results indicated that more explicit instructions are…

Explores the central thesis of cognitive science that the mind is an information processor. Discusses the study of reading as an opportunity to gain insight into how that processor works. Provides several examples that illustrate some of the relationships between eye movement, short-term memory, and long-term memory. (TW)

Explores the relationship between teenagers' working memory and school achievement. Experiments revealed significant correlations between the two, specifically in the field of foreign language. Includes descriptions of the experiments with accompanying statistical tables. (MJP)

Reports that both learning-disabled (LD) and non-learning-disabled (NORM) children recalled disproportionately more adjacent words than semantically related or spaced words in a free recall task. Spaced words were less likely to be recalled by the younger children and by the LDs. NORMs' recalls were governed by purposive semantic processing to a…

Results indicate specific and positive effects of Quranic schooling on serial memory but not on other memory or cognitive tasks. These findings replicate earlier reports that Quranic schooling affects specific (and not general) memory skills. (PCB)

Describes an experiment exploring the effectiveness of four teaching methods: formal teaching, guided discovery, free discovery, and play. Concludes that all methods except free discovery are effective as long as memory is emphasized. Includes the tests used for the experiment in four appendices. Relates present results to previous research. (DK)

Describes the theoretical models which suggest different "levels" in memory processing, corresponding to the short-term and long-term storage of information. Reviews studies substantiating this perspective and outlines strategies for the use of "levels" in developmental education design, as an alternative to rote memorization. (PAA)

Investigates the impact and relationship of notetaking techniques, notetaking functions, and measures of working memory on learning in an introductory college economics course. Compares conventional (taking notes in the customary fashion) with the outline method (recording notes in spaces on an instructor-provided outline). Includes suggestions…

This study investigated the influence of peer support and leading or misleading questions on reports of a neutral event by 48 children (ages 5 to 10). Younger children made significantly more errors in response to directly misleading questions than to indirectly misleading questions. Peer support did not influence children's prompted recall…

Decisions assume some level of interdependency between knowledge and know-how, these being distinct realities. Knowledge refers to the understanding one has of a phenomenon while know-how refers to one's capability of actions on a phenomenon. Information can be related to decision only by transforming data which is held in a semiotic memory into…

The article examines whether the material-appropriate processing approach can anticipate and explain the mnemonic effects of elaborative encoding tasks and study adjuncts for less able learners. Evidence suggests that less able learners are not capable of spontaneously exploiting the affordances of the to-be-learned material without appropriate…

This review considers aspects of normal mental storage and retrieval, storage and retrieval in disordered word finding, possible causes of word finding disorders, and clinical implications in both storage and retrieval components. Implications call for attention to increasing word knowledge, storage strength, naming accuracy and speed, retrieval…

This study, with 39 4-year-olds, found that children had better free recall accuracy and lowered suggestibility when they participated with a "babysitter" rather than observed a babysitter and child. Addition of forensic context (by a policeman prior to questioning) increased error in free recall but did not affect children's accuracy in…