This research introduces a method to construct a unified representation of teachers and students perspectives based on the actionable knowledge discovery (AKD) and delivery framework. The representation is constructed using two models: one obtained from student evaluations and the other obtained from teachers' reflections about their teaching…

The pioneering work by Kirk-Smith, Van Toller, and Dodd [Kirk-Smith, M. D., Van Toller, C., & Dodd, G. H. (1983). "Unconscious odour conditioning in human subjects." "Biological Psychology," 17, 221-231], established that an unnoticed odorant paired with an emotionally meaningful task can influence mood and attitudes when the odorant alone is…

Two experiments attempted to resolve previous contradictory findings concerning developmental trends in false memories within the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm by using an improved methodology--constructing age-appropriate associative lists. The research also extended the DRM paradigm to preschoolers. Experiment 1 (N = 320) included…

It was hypothesized that the use of fading in response items of stimulus-response pairs constructed to simulate learning of a foreign language vocabulary would result in fewer errors than would the use of regular flash cards used in typical trial-and-error fashion. Subjects were college women volunteers randomly assigned to one of two experimental…

Two experiments explored whether the facilitatory effect of context on lexical decisions is limited to words subjects generated when given the context as a prompt in a production task, or if the effect is wider in scope. The first experiment provided evidence of a wide scope of facilitation from single word contexts. In the second experiment, the…

Although traditional learning theories are based on a demonstrative view of cognition, human beings tend to reason both demonstratively and dialectically. To examine the dialectical theory five studies were conducted. In the first study subjects rated words that could be used as personality descriptors for likability and subsequently learned them…

This study of college undergraduates had two purposes: (1) to determine whether cognitive structure, as assessed by psychometric measures of concept interrelatedness, can be developed; and (2) to apply those measures to a learning situation that has produced a nonspecific transfer effect--the facilitative effect of concrete examples on learning…

Reports on methodology and results of design study for an interactive information retrieval system funded by British Library Research and Development Department which will determine structural representations of anomalous states of knowledge (ASKs) underlying information needs. Problem statements, abstracts used, and text analysis are highlighted.…

This study investigated the possible contribution of pictures serving a representation function to the recall and retention of information presented in written prose passages. The primary variable considered was the durability of picture effects; a second variable concerned the potential effect the presence of pictures had on the recall of…

The development of a probabilistic model for validating Gange's learning hierarchies is described. Learning hierarchies are defined as paired networks of intellectual tasks arranged so that a substantial amount of positive transfer occurs from tasks in a lower position to connected ones in a higher position. This probabilistic validation technique…

A study analyzing word characteristics that make them more easily translated from English to French (or vice versa) indicates that translation efficacy is most strongly influenced by the frequency of the word in the language, its familiarity, and the similarity of the French equivalent to the English word. (Author/CB)