While it is hypothesized that providing instruction based on individuals' preferred learning styles improves learning (i.e., reading for visual learners and listening for auditory learners, also referred to as the "meshing hypothesis"), after a critical review of the literature Pashler, McDaniel, Rohrer, and Bjork (2008) concluded that…

Students identified by talent search programs were studied to determine whether spatial ability could uncover math-science promise. In Phase 1, interests and values of intellectually talented adolescents (617 boys, 443 girls) were compared with those of top math-science graduate students (368 men, 346 women) as a function of their standing on…

Using a computer assisted learning task, subjects were assigned to an example-only, objective-example, rule-example, or objective-rule-example treatment. The subjects were required to meet minimum criterion performance at each level of the task. The findings discuss the use of objectives, rules, and examples on student performance. (Author/SE)

No meaningful differences were found for four ethnic groups (black, Spanish, Jewish, Caucasian-Gentile) in the factor structures of the CEEB Comparative Guidance and Placement Programs Battery, thus confirming its cross-ethnic factorial validity. Thus it is recommended for use in counseling and placement functions even in institutions having…

To investigate the role expectation based rules governing formal reasoning performance, a battery of group and individual aptitude measures and formal reasoning tests were administered to 17-year-olds. Individual differences in usage of these rules were clarified by establishing an overlap between an aptitude model and formal reasoning.…

In an experiment designed to explore the interaction of individual differences with question pacing in learning from written materials, 93 subjects were administered aptitude tests representing verbal comprehension and associative memory abilities. Posttest analysis of relevant and incidential retention showed that relevant retention increased…

Several issues about component validity are examined by using covariance modeling to test hypotheses about the relationships between components, aptitude, and achievement. Support was found for cognitive components to model individual differences in verbal aptitude, decompose test validity, and differentially predict achievement. (Author/GK)

This article reviews progress toward the development of a cognitive theory of aptitude for learning and presents descriptive and precriptive goals for aptitude theories. Preliminary hypotheses about the nature of cognitive processes in aptitude for learning from instruction are reviewed. Twelve constituent points of the descriptive theory are…

Graduate students completed questionnaires containing either past performance information alone or past performance information and aptitude scores for a hypothetical student. Low aptitude scores led to greater ability attributions, regardless of performance. High aptitude scores led to greater effort attributions given poor performance and to…

The role played by sex-related differences in prediction of grades from Scholastic Aptitude Test scores with regard to the grade criterion and the variables associated with academic performance was studied for an entire university first-year class (4,351 students). Sources of underprediction for women are discussed. (SLD)

Results indicate that simultaneous and successive processing and the speed of processing are viable individual difference variables. (Author)