Very long-term memory for abstract materials was examined for subjects who had served in a synthetic grammar learning experiment two years earlier. Knowledge of these grammars was retained. The form and structure of knowledge and the manner in which it is put to use remained similar to the original. (Author/RD)

To better understand the mechanisms underlying encoding, manual signs and spoken words were presented in a short term memory task to six severely retarded children (11 to 14 years old). It was found that manual signs were encoded differently from spoken words for short term memory storage. (Author/PHR)

Suggests that creating a second-language semantic network can be conceived as developing a plan for retrieving second-language word forms. Characteristics of linguistic performance which will promote fluency are discussed in light of the distinction between episodic and semantic memory. (AMH)

Horizontal vs vertical associative memory is defined. Vertical associative memory involves chunking--specifying new nodes representing combinations of old nodes. Chunking is the basis of semantic memory and cognitive learning. The hippocampal (limbic) arousal system is critical to the chunking process; its disruption produces the amnesic syndrome.…

Four experiments examined priming between newly learned paired associates through two procedures, lexical decision and item recognition. Results argue against a functional separation of the semantic and episodic memory systems. (Author/AM)

The effects of several factors on expended processing capacity were measured. Expended processing capacity was greater when information was retrieved from secondary memory than from primary memory, when processing was of a deep, semantic nature than when it was shallow and physical, and when processing was more elaborate. (Author/GDC)

A potential cause for children's failure to transfer learning strategies was explored. Subjects were 68 first, third, and fifth graders. (MP)

Reports three experiments to investigate differences in the semantic classification of pictures and words. The data suggest that visual short-term memory and semantic memory operate in semantic-decision tasks though these sources of information differ in characteristics, potential for activation, and level of abstraction. (PMJ)

Experiment 1 showed that four-year-old children memorized a list of non-rhyming items better than a list of rhyming ones. In Experiment 2, bilingual children learned a list of items which had rhyming names in one language and non-rhyming names in the other. Results showed better performance on the non-rhyming items. (JMB)

Notetaking and rereading improved college students' recall of text material, but summarizing passages without reference to the original text did not. (Editor)

Three problem-solving strategies--working backward from the unknown, forward from the given, and mixed--were applied to interrelated algebra equations. The mixed strategy was most popular and most efficient with grouped variables. Memory load or information-processing load differences among the strategies were evident. (CP)

Providing contextual aids to help students reduce mutual interference between two sentences was studied. When students were presented sentences in distinctive contexts, no interference was observed. An interference effect was obtained when sentences were given in either no context or a nondistinctive context. (MH)

Three experiments evaluated color specificity knowledge and related semantic effects on recognition memory. (Author/SB)

Investigates the relationship between test takers' strategy and their performance on second-language tests (SLTP) comprising an 80-item Cognitive and Metacognitive Strategy Questionnaire and a 70-item standardized language test. Results explain SLTP by grammar and reading ability; cognitive processing by comprehending, storing, and retrieval…

Introduces the common theme among the papers presented in this issue, the development of working memory. Underlines the two different approaches presented. The neo-Piagetian perspective attempts to capitalize on the insights of Piaget's work by proposing information-processing accounts of cognitive development. The second perspective stems from…