Previous research has demonstrated that cognitive offloading (i.e., externalizing mental processes) is useful for immediate problem solving. However, long-term effects of cognitive offloading on subsequent problem solving without offloading are remarkably understudied. Our main goal was to investigate the effects of representation control (i.e.,…

Individuals with better spatial thinking have increased interest and greater achievement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines (Wai, Lubinski, & Benbow, 2009). This relationship means that STEM education may benefit from leveraging spatial thinking, but measures of spatial thinking as they relate to specific…

Rational number understanding is a critical building block for success in more advanced mathematics; however, how rational number magnitudes are conceptualized is not fully understood. In the current study, we used a dual-task working memory (WM) interference paradigm to investigate the dominant type of strategy (i.e., requiring verbal WM…

This dissertation explored beliefs about learning from multiple related visual representations in science, and compared beliefs to learning outcomes. Three research questions were explored: 1) What beliefs do pre-service teachers, non-educators and children have about learning from visual representations? 2) What format of presenting those…

Normative adult age-related decrements are well documented for many diverse forms of effortful cognitive processing. However, it is currently unclear whether each of these decrements reflects a distinct and independent developmental phenomenon, or, in part, a more global phenomenon. A number of studies have recently been published that show…

The visual imagery of four individuals with blindness was compared with that of five sighted individuals using the detection of mirror symmetry. The two participants who lost their sight later in life outperformed the two with congenital blindness, indicating the importance of early visual experience in visual imagery. (CR)

Compared verbal and visual encoding using the picture superiority effect. One experiment found an interaction between age and type of material. In other experiments, the picture superiority effect was found in both age groups with no interaction. Performing a semantic-orienting task had no effect on recall. (Author/RC)

Three experiments compared congenitally blind and sighted adults and children on paired-associate, free-recall, and imaging tasks presumed to involve visual imagery in memory. In all three, blind subjects' performances were remarkably similar to the sighted. Results challenge previous explanations of performance such as Paivio's (1971). (Author/RD)

Eight tactile-kinesthetic indices and 27 cognitive-ability and mental-speed measures were administered to 195 college students and community members. Results suggest that tactile-kinesthetic abilities share much with broad visualization and fluid intelligence, little with crystallized intelligence, and differential relationships with speed related…

Individual difference variables that are potentially related to cognitive mapping skills were examined, and good and poor cognitive mappers were compared in terms of those variables. Good and poor cognitive mappers were identified on the basis of the accuracy of their spatial knowledge about their own community. Four categories of individual…

Twenty-four adults with mild mental retardation were compared with equal-mental age children and adults without mental retardation on tactile processing asymmetries. Results suggest that hemispheric processing is dependent on information processing requirements rather than type of stimulus. (Author/JDD)

This study was the first in a series of investigations designed to examine techniques purporting to enhance the effectiveness of human memory. The utility of a simple pegword mnemonic for Army enlisted personnel, representing three levels of general technical ability, was examined. Half of each ability group was instructed in use of a rhyme…

This study examined the relation of reading ability, age, and familiarity to iconic and short-term memory processing and how the familiarity of the stimuli affects recall. A total of 10 children in grades 2 through 6 and 10 adults were shown novel abstract forms, words, and non-words varying in order of approximation to English, for 50 msec., 500…

This research attempts to diagnose the skills required for successful spatial performance in order to provide a theoretical foundation for military training in such tasks as map reading, surveying, and navigation. It is known that successful performance on spatial tasks depends on task requirements (e.g., requisite knowledge, alternative paths to…