The current study used the directed forgetting paradigm in implicit and explicit memory to investigate the concreteness effect. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded to explore the neural basis of this phenomenon. The behavioral results showed a clear concreteness effect in both implicit and explicit memory tests; participants responded…

Teachers' knowledge of mathematical content and children's mathematical thinking have been identified as critical elements related to teachers' ability to effectively teach mathematics (Fennema & Franke, 1992; Kazemi & Franke, 2001; Ma, 1999; Peterson, Carpenter, & Fennema, 1989). Literature on teachers' knowledge…

Two experiments with children five and eight years of age examined the effects of different types of similarity on analogical problem solving and explored the cognitive components responsible for these effects. Results indicated that superficial and structural similarity facilitated the process of drawing analogies. (WJC)

Compared the assertive behavior of two groups differing in information-processing style. In experiment one, high conceptual-complexity (CC) subjects demonstrated greater content knowledge, direct delivery skill, and fewer negative self-statements. In experiment two, high versus low CC females were more assertive in difficult situations. (Author/RC)

An experiment concerning children's conceptions of price was conducted to investigate the influence of the context of a problem on its apprehension. A total of 120 children of several age groups (nursery school, grades 2, 4, and 6) were interviewed individually. An initial question was asked ("Why does a bun cost about one Swedish…

Two experiments compared the cognitive maps (mental representations of the spatial environment) of first graders, fifth graders and college students, and investigated developmental changes in the ability to manipulate cognitive maps mentally. In the first experiment, subjects were asked to move from stationpoint to stationpoint and at each, to…

Using Raven Progressive Matrices Test items, this study developed an empirical measure of subjects' ability to create new problems. The relationship between this ability and problem solving skills was examined. A very low correlation was found between inventing and solving problems. Problem creation was more difficult than problem solving. (BS)

Many science curriculum development projects have the goal of increasing students' ability to employ scientific or formal reasoning strategies. Argues that longitudinal data of students who acquired formal reasoning strategies as a consequence of specific instruction are needed to provide evidence that these skills will help in other academic…

This study examines the influence of selected performance factors and social role participation upon Piagetian cognitive funcitoning during the aging years. By administering a battery of concrete and formal reasoning tasks and measures of fluid intelligence, the effects of varying instructional set and age of E on the cognitive performance of 80…

The foundations of knowledge by tradition have been treated analytically, and knowledge has been characterized as a theoretical subject. This article introduces a steering mechanism as the prerequisite for a study of knowledge work and maintenance on empirical grounds. Knowledge is treated synthetically, that is, as something that exists only…

Intelligence can be best understood through the study of nonentrenched, i.e., novel, kinds of tasks. Such tasks require subjects to use concepts or form strategies that differ in kind from those to which they are accustomed. The only partial success of the cognitive-correlates and cognitive-components approaches to intelligence that are in…

A study was designed to examine the relationship between certain measures of cognitive development and reading scores, particularly reading comprehension scores. Forty-one adult basic education students, ranging from 16 to 62 years of age (mean age of 25) and predominantly from lower socioeconomic groups, were administered the following three…

The criterion problem in the neoPiagetian cognitive-developmental literature is reviewed. This problem has provoked debate in the context of three empirical questions: concept age norms, concept training effects, and concept invariant sequences. It is argued that only the question of invaniant sequences in same-stage concepts is theoretically…

The existence of a time lag discovered in the cross-cultural application of Piagetian tests may result from a socio-economic bias in Piaget's theory. Abstract, formal cognition may reflect a particular social structure, embodying the principles of exchange value, reification, and alienation which govern production and exchange in the…