Do students have preferred learning styles and, if so, can these preferences -- in addition to other abilities and attributes -- influence their performance in post-secondary education? There is a significant body of literature, across many disciplines, endeavouring to answer this question. In this paper, we examine a variant of this question with…

Purpose: The paper analyzes factors that affect the likelihood of adoption of different agriculture-related information sources by farmers. Design/Methodology/Approach: The paper links the theoretical understanding of the existing multiple sources of information that farmers use, with the empirical model to analyze the factors that affect the…

Empirical research conducted over the past few decades suggests that the age at which an individual is first exposed to a second language affects long-term outcomes, in particular for phonology. The question that has occupied scholars of various bents is what, exactly, underlies the robust age effects observed. Does age imply immutable changes in…

Compared 12 old and 12 young adults in two information-processing tasks (a rotated figures task and a sentence verification task). The age difference was minimized when older adults adopted strategies that reduced processing. They were more disadvantaged when employing strategies that imposed greater processing demands or memory load. (JAC)

Tested the hypothesis that increased task difficulty elicits more efficient problem-solving strategies from older adults, using "Twenty Questions" tasks with either 64 or 10,000 possible solutions. Although younger adults were more efficient, there was not evidence that task difficulty affected problem-solving for either age group. (Author/JAC)

Assessed age differences in speed of processing verbal and pictorial stimuli in young (N=20) and old (N=20) adults responding to traffic signs. Results showed young adults responded more quickly and all subjects responded more quickly to a verbal standard sign than to a pictorial standard. (Author/JAC)

Tested the hypothesis that increasing problem complexity elicits strategies of greater efficiency from older adults. Responses of older and younger adults were compared in a version of "Twenty Questions." No evidence was found that older adults seek more efficient strategies. Both groups maintained the same strategies. (Author/JAC)

Investigated the influence of methodological variables on the performance of older adults. Contrary to expectation, communication performances with non-peers required less time and fewer utterances than with peers. The more distracting home setting required more attention cues to maintain partner attention than the laboratory setting. (Author/JAC)

Examined developmental and individual differences in tendencies to favor analytic over heuristic responses in three tasks (inductive reasoning, deduction under belief bias conditions, probabilistic reasoning) in children varying in age and cognitive ability. Found significant increases in analytic responding with development on first two tasks.…

Two experiments were conducted to describe effects of age and task difficulty on referential cohesion of story retellings. It was hypothesized that increased task difficulty would lead to higher error rates for all subject groups: preschoolers, first graders, and adults. Results indicated higher incidence of errors with videotape than with verbal…

Investigates (1) the relationships between cognitive performance and cognitive styles and predictive possibilities and (2) performance differences by sex, school, grade, and income in 92 Indian adolescents. Assessment measures included Liquid Conservation, Islands, Goat-Lion, Hanoi-Tower, Rabbits (Piagetian); Block Design (WISC-R); Paper Cutting…

Investigates the role of cognitive style in the ability of first-, third-, and fifth-graders to represent the horizontal coordinate. Students were observed on a portable rod-and-frame test of field dependence/independence and on water bottle and crossbar measures of horizontality representation. (Author/RH)

Assessed the relative availability of Piagetian formal reasoning concepts at different ages in adulthood and examined performance patterns on standardized intelligence tests, logical reasoning, immediate memory span, and personality measures. Results indicated that although the elderly students' performances were generally adequate, their scores…

Using cross classifiable pictures, this study assessed taxonomic and thematic clustering in free recall in 240 children, ages seven and ten. The effects of both free and constrained test conditions and developmental, ethnic, and socioeconomic differences, were examined. (BS)

This study investigated the relationship between learning styles, classroom behaviors, ability levels, and academic achievement in an open classroom kindergarten setting. Thirty subjects were selected (ten children from each of the 4-, 5-, and 6-year-old groups). Each child was tested on the following measures: Matching Familiar Figures (MMF);…