The problem of valid measurement of psychological constructs remains an impediment to scientific progress, and the measurement of executive functions is not an exception. This study examined the statistical and theoretical derivation of a behavioral screener for the estimation of executive functions in children from the well-established Behavior…

The present research examined the processes of schema formation in problem solving. In 4 experiments, participants experienced a series of tasks analogous to A. S. Luchins' (1942) water jar problems before attempting to solve isomorphic target problems. Juxtaposing illustrative source instances varying in procedural features along multiple…

The present study observed problem-solving styles with anagrams to see whether observing a model solve anagrams in a rigid or flexible way would affect the types of solutions the subjects used. (Author)

The main purpose of the present research was to examine the strategies employed by undergraduate students in the solving of three-term series problems. (Editor)

The thinking processes of students of Logo were examined to identify programming problems and possible instructional remedies. Subjects were 11 students between the ages of 8 and 12 who had completed 5 weeks of Logo instruction. These students were given a series of five short programming problems highlighting such areas of difficulty as judging…

After being measured for test anxiety, three groups of participants observed an experimenter, who served as a model, solve sample problems prior to performing themselves. Opportunity to observe a model who verbalized while working on problems and who stated general principles had a positive effect on performance. (Author/KM)

Discusses current research (including that involving amnesiacs and snails) into the nature of the memory process, differentiating between and providing examples of "fact" memory and "skill" memory. Suggests that three brain parts (thalamus, fornix, mammilary body) are involved in the memory process. (JN)

Recent research in cognitive neuroscience has yielded a more comprehensive understanding of brain function. Some of these diagnostic techniques include the event-related potential, which depicts brain electrical activity, and magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography, which are particularly sensitive to the delineation of brain…

Two important factors that influence problem solving are the nature of the task and the kind of knowledge brought to the problem by the solver. After a consideration of the definition of a problem, puzzle problems are discussed, as are problem representation and general processes of solution. Also discussed is the question of solving problems that…

Four experiments investigated transformation problems with insight characteristics. In Experiment 1, performance on a version of the 6-coin problem that had a concrete and visualizable solution followed a hill-climbing heuristic. Experiment 2 demonstrated that the difficulty of a version of the problem that potentially required insight for…

In 4 experiments, instructions to plan a task (water jugs) that normally produces little planning altered how participants solved the problems and resulted in enhanced learning and memory. Experiment 1 identified planning strategies that allowed participants to plan full solutions to water jugs problems. Experiment 2 showed that experience with…

Article considered experiments that tested the contentions of Piaget and Peel who believed that formal thinking is not established before 11-12 years of age. These studies were tied to the success achieved by pre-adolescent children in solving verbal three-term series problems. (Author/RK)

Recent studies of deductive reasoning are reviewed with respect to three questions: Do people reason logically? Is reasoning introspectible? Is reasoning sequential? It is argued that the evidence of reasoning experiments suggests a negative answer to all three questions, indicating that these experiments don't study "reasoning" in its everyday…