Category theory concept of a commutative diagram was used to construct a model of the way in which symbolic processes are applied to problem solving. It was shown that several different levels of thought can be distinguished within the basic model. Two experiments testing the theory are reported. (Author/RD)

Two experiments found that integration of facts alleviates interference only when a person can perform a memory task by making a consistency judgment and can avoid the need to retrieve a specific fact. People judge themes rather than facts: the more themes associated with a concept, the greater the interference. (Author/RD)

A variable time delay naming latency paradigm was used to investigate the processing of noun-verb lexical ambiguities (e.g., "watch") in syntactic contexts that biased either the noun or the verb reading. Results support a two-stage model in which all reading of ambiguous words are initially accessed, followed by suppression of…

Two experiments explored how memory for new information is affected by awareness of parallels to pre-experimental knowledge. Results suggest that the benefit of prior knowledge derives from the more elaborate encodings that analogy promotes. (Author/AM)

Suggests that argument be seen as a private cognitive phenomenon, in contrast to the more traditional view of argument as a public message-based document. Differences between the views are noted and the respects in which argument creates and depends on cognitive order are discussed. (JMF)

Presents a model of the way children process television advertising. (Author/RL)

Examines the reasons for differences in conclusions about the way conditional sentences are comprehended. (AM)

Presents a theoretical model of partial occlusion drawing, along with three experiments. Experiment one studied whether planning or scanning is involved in partial occlusion drawing, and the second explored whether group-encoding of similar objects creates a drawing problem. Experiment three tested predictions derived on the conjoint effects of…

Research has shown that attributional styles are affected by the attributor's culture, inferential goals, and level of cognitive processing. This study compares the attributions made in sports articles and editorials of newspapers published in Hong Kong and the United States. Implications for the mixed model of social inference are discussed. (LSR)

Investigates the calculation strategies used by female students in Grades Two and Three to solve word problems. Findings indicate that students used three main intuitive models: (1) direct counting; (2) repeated addition; and (3) multiplicative operation. Concludes that children acquire an expanding repertoire of intuitive models and the model…

Explores cognitive attributes that allow individuals to function effectively in the changing nature of society and the workplace. Describes emerging models for learning and suggests that changing workplaces require a distributed cognitive model of human competence which promotes critical thinking and lifelong learning. (Author/LRW)

Compared ability of three theoretical models (cognitive-attentional, cognitive-skills, social learning) to explain academic performance and test anxiety of 178 undergraduates. Found that variable sets from all models added unique variance to explain performance and test anxiety. Cognitive-attentional processes emerged as relatively more important…

Discusses the extent to which computers can understand natural language. Considers assertions that computers can be described as literate, and considers more generally the purpose of designing machines which perform like humans. (RS)

It is argued that human memory is adaptively designed and that much can be learned by understanding its adaptiveness. The information-retrieval problem is framed, and optimal memory behavior is derived. Applying this framework to the classic free-recall paradigm is discussed. (SLD)

Presents a model of cognition and emotion that suggests that feedback between cognition and emotion generates, maintains, and reconfigures interpretations of emotion-eliciting events at micro- and macrodevelopmental time scales and that personality and behavior self-organize in response to fluctuations in perception or cognition and trace…