Why the brain is the most incredible network of information processing and interpretation in the body as we learn things is the scope of the Cognitive Learning Theories. When we use the word "learning", we usually mean "to think using the brain". Therefore, the basic concept of learning is the main viewpoint in the Cognitive…

This study investigated the role of strategy instruction and working memory capacity (WMC) on word problem solving accuracy in children with (n = 100) and without (n = 92) math difficulties (MD). Within classrooms, children in Grades 2 and 3 were randomly assigned to one of four treatment conditions: verbal-only strategies (e.g., underlining…

Comparison of external memory strategies in 31 children (ages 11 and 17) with mild mental retardation and 64 children without mental retardation found no differences between children with mental retardation and their age peers in frequency of use of object-oriented strategies. For all groups, external strategies were used more frequently than…

To manipulate analytic and holistic thinking and their effects in learning, a study used visual and verbal processing modes combined with analytic and holistic learning strategies. Results showed that analytic information processing habits in college students may facilitate learning. (Author/JMK)

The study compared strategies chosen by second-grade learning disabled (LD) children with short-term memory problems, but with differences in naming facility, and same-age and younger nondisabled children. Subjects with poor naming abilities demonstrated selected strategy failures, while subjects with good naming abilities demonstrated more…

Designed to help students observe and learn about how they individually represent experience and assign meaning, the exercises in this paper are intended for use in courses on intrapersonal communication or in course units on cognitive aspects of communication. The journal exercise is described in terms of its goals, approaches to it, and includes…

When taught to link sorting to self-instruction ("I'm looking for blue triangles") children show perfect accuracy in sorting. This study investigated if this performance would generalize to new stimuli. One participant showed near-perfect generalization to all new stimulus sets (shapes, letters, pictures); two had difficulty with…

Research has suggested that the two hemispheres of the brain serve specialized functions, with the most recent studies portraying the left hemisphere as processing information in a linear, serial, or sequential manner and the right hemisphere as processing information in a holistic, concrete, or visual mode. Although few systematic studies have…

Describes a technology of text display that can help to make learning from text more effective. Topics discussed include the effect of text displays on the ways learners process information; implications of these effects for instructional design; and how text displays join with text content to help with verbal, experiential, and visual processing.…

Explored validity of new clinical test of verbal memory incorporating constructs from normal and pathological memory research, to quantify the ways examinees learn verbal material. Factor analyses of normal subjects and neurological patients indicated that verbal memory consisted of a number of component factors, reflecting learning strategy,…

Institutionalized moderately and severely retarded men (N=48) and 20 non-institutionalized moderately retarded men and women were provided training in either the cognitive strategy of verbal self instruction or modelling/imitation. For both groups of subjects the verbal self-instruction training resulted in significantly greater improvement in the…

A study examined the ability of 16 children in kindergarten, grade 2, and grade 4 to draw inferences based on the content of a narrative passage and to recognize inferences as derived from, rather than given by, text. An inference task, developed to assess the ability to make and recognize appropriate inferences, consisted of four orally presented…

Thirteen females with Turner syndrome, 13 females with nonverbal learning disabilities, and 14 males with nonverbal learning disabilities, ages 7-14, were taught via a cognitive behavioral modification approach to verbally mediate a spatial matching task. All three groups showed significant task improvement after the training, with no significant…

This study examined: (1) the effectiveness of integrating verbal elaboration (metaphors) and different visual presentation strategies (still and animated graphics) in learning biotechnology concepts; (2) whether the use of verbal elaboration with different visual presentation strategies facilitates cognitive processes; and (3) how students employ…

Surveys 78 British secondary school students and correlates their responses regarding preferences in learning styles to information previously determined by the computer-presented Cognitive Styles Analysis. Examines the students' preferences for group, pair, or individual work, as well as, open and closed tasks. (MJP)