Decades of research have established that "online" cognitive processes, which operate during conscious encoding and retrieval of information, contribute substantially to individual differences in memory. Furthermore, it is widely accepted that "offline" processes during sleep also contribute to memory performance. However, the question of whether…

Rating scales are a standard measurement tool in psychological research. However, research has suggested that the cognitive burden involved in maintaining the criteria used to parcel subjective evidence into ratings introduces "decision noise" and affects estimates of performance in the underlying task. There has been debate over whether…

With the community of inquiry framework, this study seeks to explore the relationship among forms of presence, self-efficacy, and training effectiveness. A total of 210 working professionals participated to the study via online survey and email communication with a valid response rate of 29.53%. The technique of partial least square was used to…

Engagement is a worthwhile psychological construct to examine in the context of online training and video games. In this context, previous research suggests that the more engaged a person is, the more likely they are to experience overall positive affect while performing at a high level. This research builds on theories of engagement, Flow Theory,…

There is evidence that the cognitive vulnerabilities featured in the hopelessness theory of depression--inferential styles for the causes, consequences, and self-worth implications of negative events--increase risk for depression. Given this, it is important to understand how these inferential styles develop. In this study, we examined the impact…

Individuals with depressive symptoms typically show deficits in decision-making. However, most work has emphasized decision-making under gain-maximization conditions. A gain-maximization framework may undermine decision-making when depressive symptoms are present because depressives are generally more sensitive to losses than gains. The present…

Computational models of hippocampal function propose that the hippocampus is capable of rapidly storing distinct representations through a process known as pattern separation. This prediction is supported by electrophysiological data from rodents and neuroimaging data from humans. Here, we test the prediction that damage to the hippocampus would…

Variability in strategy selection is an important characteristic of learning new skills such as mathematical skills. Strategies gradually come and go during this development. In 1996, Siegler described this phenomenon as ''overlapping waves.'' In the current microgenetic study, we attempted to model these overlapping waves statistically. In…

The aim of this study was to investigate individual differences in the influence of lexical association on word recognition during auditory sentence processing. Lexical associations among individual words (e.g. salt and pepper) represent one type of semantic information that is available during the processing of words in context. We predicted that…

With many Western societies structured for adults to live longer and take responsibility for their health, it is valuable to investigate how older persons reason about this demand. Using mixed methods, this pilot studied how older persons reason about responsibility for health and their responsibility as a patient. Interviews with a small Swedish…

The study attempts to determine whether or not Facebook is an environment suiting the Community of Inquiry Framework by investigating the cognitive, social, and teaching presence perceptions of students in Facebook groups and to examine the impact of group size on the CoI model. Additionally, whether or not these three types of presences predicted…

The debate about whether making a risky choice is based on a weighting and adding process has a long history and is still unresolved. To address this long-standing controversy, we developed a comparative paradigm. Participants' eye movements in 2 risky choice tasks that required participants to choose between risky options in single-play and…

A novel explanation of belief bias in relational reasoning is presented based on the role of working memory and retrieval in deductive reasoning, and the influence of prior knowledge on this process. It is proposed that belief bias is caused by the believability of a conclusion in working memory which influences its activation level, determining…

The prediction of dangerousness and the insanity defense are two areas where psychologists provide research-based expertise to the courts. Teachers of psychology can use these topics to capture the attention of students and to show how psychological research and theory can inform and influence the legal system. Specifically, teachers can use the…

In 4 experiments, participants viewed a short video-based lesson about how the Doppler effect works. Some students viewed already-drawn diagrams while listening to a concurrent oral explanation, whereas other students listened to the same explanation while viewing the instructor actually draw the diagrams by hand. All students then completed…