Humans and others primates are highly attuned to temporal consistencies and regularities in their sensory environment and learn to predict such statistical structure. Moreover, in several instances, the presence of temporal structure has been found to facilitate procedural learning and to improve task performance. Here we extend these findings to…

Transition metrics, which quantify the propensity for one event to follow another, are often utilized to study sequential patterns of behaviors, emotions, actions, and other states. However, little is known about the conditions in which application of transition metrics is appropriate. We report on two experiments in which we simulated sequences…

This article brings together recent developments in the methodological literature on case selection in multi-method research (MMR), design of process tracing studies and the relevance of temporality in the explanation of political processes. It presents an extension of set-theoretic MMR by introducing a comparative process tracing (CPT) framework…

In Western cultures, life narratives are typically expected to recount the narrator's life from birth to the present. Disparate autobiographical memories need to be integrated into a more or less coherent story, which is facilitated by an overarching temporal macrostructure. The temporal macrostructure consists of elaborated beginnings that…

A number of recent policies have tried to improve science learning by increasing the number of science courses required for high school graduation or admission to higher education institutions. But it is highly unlikely that these mandates alone will materially affect the amount and quality of science education for students. Any effort to improve…