Compared reality monitoring of interactive events among children and adults. Found that 4-year-olds had more difficulty discriminating imagined actions than 12-year-olds and adults. Imagined actions were more often confused with performed ones than the reverse for 4- and 8-year-olds. Reality monitoring decreased over time. Object use during…

Examined changes from age 7 to 82 years in processes responsible for preparation and interference control underlying alternation between two tasks. Found a U-shaped function for switch costs, with larger costs for young children and older adults. Age-related variance in task-switching performance was partially independent from age-related variance…

Tested in two studies 4- to 7-year-olds' face recognition by manipulating the faces' configural and featural information. Found that even with only a single 5-second exposure, most children could use configural and featural cues to make identity judgments. Repeated exposure and feedback improved others' performance. Even proficient memories were…

Interest regarding neural information processing in autism is growing because atypical perceptual abilities are a characteristic feature of persons with autism. Central to our review is how characteristic perceptual abilities, referred to as "perceptual signatures," can be used to suggest a neural etiology that is specific to autism. We review…

Three experiments were conducted that provide a direct examination of within-category discontinuity manipulations on the implicit, procedural-based learning and the explicit, hypothesis-testing systems proposed in F. G. Ashby, L. A. Alfonso-Reese, A. U. Turken, and E. M. Waldron's (1998) competition between verbal and implicit systems model.…

This investigation into the effects of configural properties (properties determined by the interrelationships existing between component parts) used a selective attention task to determine whether intersection is a primary encoding feature or is constructed after slopes and heights are perceived. The method for encoding feature identification,…

A decrement toward lowered levels of cognitive functioning was noted in a study of aged residents of a dependent care facility when tested on a series of cognitive conservation tasks. (Author/KM)

The traditional explanation for dual-task interference is that tasks compete for scarce processing resources. Another possible explanation is that the outcome of the processing required for one task conflicts with the processing required for the other task. To explore the contribution of outcome conflict to task interference, this paper describes…

Age-related improvement of mnemonic performances of children has attracted many investigators wishing to determine developmental mechanisms which might produce this improvement. Potential explanations have been subsumed under three major categories: capacity, strategies, and knowledge structures. The present investigation, in focusing on…

This study was designed (1) to investigate the relationship between physical exertion and mental performance in elementary school children and (2) to determine if male or female mental performances are more affected by physical exertion. A total of 95 second graders participated in six treatments of induced physical exertion during their regularly…

Three studies compared learning and problem-solving performances of normal and familially-retarded children on tasks differing in complexity, and one study investigated motivational-personality differences. Main purpose of the first three studies was to investigate the controversy between developmental and defect theorists in mental retardation.…

A cognitive explanation of achievement-related behavior is developed. It is suggested that high and low achievers diverge behaviorally in the achievement situation because they conceptualize the causes of success and failure in different ways. The results of a study are presented which show that subjects high in achievement needs tend to attribute…

Various experiments demonstrated that the difficulty level of several performance-type intelligence test tasks is determined directly by stimulus and task variables that vary the information to be processed. The implications of these findings for intelligence and the problems of an experimental approach to the measurement of intelligence are…

After presenting the attributional model, this paper reviews research on individual differences in beliefs about causes of success and failure. Studies illustrating differential performance on achievement-related tasks by individuals who differ in their attributions are reviewed. Causal perceptions of success and failure should be considered, in…

Focuses on students' immediate behavioral and cognitive responses and short-term outcomes during seatwork tasks. Twenty-four first graders in six classrooms were observed for the (1) apparent focus of attention, (2) nature of involvement with instructional stimuli, (3) initiative taken to seek help, (4) level of success, and (5) perceptions of…