A theory for representation of concepts in memory is proposed which emphasizes the association of salient exemplars with the concept. Previous theories dealing with the classification processes involved in acquiring new concepts have shown that clear category boundaries do not exist. It is proposed that present theory must account for the…

Twenty kindergarten children, 5 to 6 years of age, were presented a free recall task in which half of the subjects were asked to generate a "plan of attack" for remembering before experiencing a study-test sequence. The materials were three different sets of 12 pictures each. In each set, three different conceptual categories were represented…

The theoretical and methodological concepts available to and needed by research on aptitudes as cognitive processes are discussed. Contemporary views of cognitive processes are examined in relation to individual difference constructs and the methods used to examine their reliability and validity. Individual difference constructs are discussed in…

The purpose of this study was to ascertain (1) whether young children are able to recognize a need to check response accuracy and memory verification and (2) what strategies they use. A model of the nursery room was used to assess 37 preschoolers' recognition, recall, and spatial memory for school objects. Children were asked to verify their…

The paper focuses on the need for utilizing current research findings relative to developmental differences in memory and metamemory (knowing about knowing) behaviors among populations of normal and mentally retarded learners. Results of a series of studies which investigated the developmental attributes of memory and metamemory behavior among…

A cognition theory of learning is described based on information processing analyses of representations of knowledge in long term, intermediate term, and short term memory. An application of the theory is presented for an example of algebra. It is emphasized that learning is not simply a stamping in, through repetition, of simple links. The…

The effects of arousal on verbal learning and memory are presently controversial. Investigators using different definitions of arousal, different tasks, and different methods have (as one would expect) produced different findings in the literature: (a) Arousal during acquisition leads to poor immediate but better delayed recall; (b) Arousal during…

It was hypothesized that the Bransford-Franks linear effect is an artifact of the method of presentation of stimulus sentences and is unrelated to semantic processes. Subjects were given sentences containing the same information in one of two ways. In a control condition, which was identical to the procedure used in earlier research, overlapping…

This study was designed to address two issues: "At what age do children spontaneously use a cumulative rehearsal strategy?" and "What effect does the use of the strategy have on their performance?" The subjects, 28 children at each of five grade levels (nursery, kindergarten, first, third, and fifth), were tested in a serial-position recall task.…

The hypotheses of this study include: (1) intentional forgetting, operationalized by a forget signal, will produce augmented recall; (2) highly organized groups of sentences will produce the best recall; and (3) anxiety state will produce a complex interaction with the forget signal and degree of organization variable on the amount of materials…

Recognition errors of children in Grades 2, 4, and 6 were examined. Subjects learned words under intentional or incidental instructions and were tested immediately or 48 hours later. Subjects had to choose a target word from among acoustic, conceptual, associative and neutral distractors. The immediate recognition of 2nd-grade subjects was…

A series of four experiments was performed based on a model of human information processing. The model postulates four stages in the processing of an external stimulus: encoding (stage 1), central processing (stage 2), response selection, e.e. decoding (stage 3), and response execution (stage 4). The total reaction time can be decomposed into two…

Three experiments examined the role of contingent associations in learning double-function, verbal-discrimination lists. Some 15-pair lists were constructed of category instances in such a way that the learning of three contingent associations based on category names would mediate correct performance for all 15 pairs. The first experiment gave no…

The purpose of this research was to experimentally manipulate input and output orders of information and separate storage and retrieval components of prose free recall. The cued partial recall method, used in word list recall, was adapted to a prose learning task. Four short biographical stories of about 55 words each were systematically combined…

Research tested an anxiety reduction technique in a computer-based learning situation. Computer-based situations were used because they permitted controlled studies using materials relevant to the real-life needs of students and allowed repeated measurements of state anxiety in response to learning materials. Thus, the relationships between…