Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) have been assumed to show evidence of abnormal visuospatial processing, which has been attributed to a failure to integrate local features into coherent global Gestalts and/or to a bias towards local processing. As the available data are based on baseline performance only, which does not provide…

Fluid intelligence (Gf) predicts performance on a wide range of cognitive activities, and children with impaired Gf often experience academic difficulties. Previous attempts to improve Gf have been hampered by poor control conditions and single outcome measures. It is thus still an open question whether Gf can be improved by training. This study…

Moral and conventional violations are usually judged differently: Only moral violations are treated as independent of social rules. To investigate the cognitive processing involved in the development of this distinction, undergraduates (N = 34), adolescents (N = 34), and children (N = 14) read scenarios presented on a computer that had 1 of 3…

Background: An emerging body of evidence indicates that relative to typically developing children, children with autism are selectively impaired in their ability to recognize facial identity. A critical question is whether face recognition skills can be enhanced through a direct training intervention. Methods: In a randomized clinical trial,…

People with disabilities constitute a collective that requires continuous and customized attention, since their conditions or abilities are affected with respect to specific standards. People with "Acquired Brain Injury" (ABI), or those who have suffered brain injury at some stage after birth, belong to this collective. The treatment these people…

Investigates the influence of Captain's Log, a computerized cognitive-training system, on the behaviors and performance capabilities of severely disturbed children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (N=4). Results support the expectation that children who are most successful in the training would demonstrate the highest levels of…

In a discussion of human institutions and modes of conduct, a basic analytical shift from absolutism to relativism is noted. From this frame of reference the conceptual changes in mathematics, the sciences, and esthetics are reviewed. The paper also discusses the implications of this change for the psychology of human thinking and for children's…

Effects of animated presentations and practice were studied in a computer-based science lesson involving 55 fourth graders and 64 fifth graders. Results suggest that animated graphics can promote learning, and they demonstrate successful application of interactive graphics in the design of cognitively based practice activities. (SLD)

Describes the design of a hypermedia tool for helping preservice teachers learn about the growth and development of children's mathematical reasoning based on research in cognitive science, and discusses results of an experiment that used single-subject methodology to compare preservice teachers' learning with the hypermedia tool versus learning…

Results of a case study of an exhibit of art and artifacts designed for children are presented. The focus of the study was to apply the principles of instructional-message design to the evaluation of the exhibit. The exhibit, "Art Inside Out: Exploring Art and Culture through Time," was displayed at the Art Institute of Chicago. Textual…