Previous research has found mixed results for a link between executive function and perspective-taking. One proposed reason for this is that perspective-taking during comprehension tasks may not be internally reliable. This dissertation presents two large individual differences experiments with multiple perspective-taking during comprehension and…

Learning in a multimedia environment puts many demands on a learner's limited working memory, but this can become even more demanding as the level of distraction increases in a lesson. What has not been investigated much in previous literature is whether higher levels of distraction in lessons are more harmful to some learners than others. This…

This dissertation study aimed to explore whether and how individual differences in verbal and visuospatial working memory capacity and executive functions influence elementary students' mathematics fact mastery and mathematics anxiety as they engage in learning using ReflexTM, a game-based, visuospatial rich adaptive learning platform for…

Executive function (EF) predicts children's academic achievement; however, less is known about the relation between EF and the actual learning process. Furthermore, more research is needed to better understand how different aspects of the learning environment interact with EF to influence learning. The current dissertation includes two studies to…