Examined three- to four-month-old infants' ability to form perceptually based categorical representation in the domains of natural kinds and artifacts. By showing the availability of perceptually driven basic and superordinate-like representations in early infancy that closely correspond to adult conceptual categories, findings underscored the…

This study examined effects of individual differences in speak-span scores and variations in memory demands on class-inclusion performance of 10-, 13-, and 15-year-olds. Results from regression analyses and the mathematical model indicated that differences in age, speak span, and memory load affected performance. Effects of speak span and memory…

Negative priming refers to slowed down reactions when the distractor on one trial becomes the target on the next. Following two popular accounts, the effect might be due either to inhibitory processes associated with the frontal cortex, or to an ambiguity in the retrieval of episodic information. We used event-related brain potentials (ERPs) to…

The aim of this study was to develop a procedure that could be used to appraise the cognitive features of subject (achievement) tests. Cognitive taxonomies and an accompanying coding scheme were developed and applied to the Graduate Record Examinations subject tests in Psychology and Literature in English. The taxonomies were based on the manifest…

Explicit representation of relations plays some role in virtually all higher cognitive processes, but relational knowledge has seldom been investigated systematically. This paper considers how relational knowledge is involved in some tasks that have been important to cognitive development, including transitivity, the balance scale, classification…

This paper presents a model for those interested in the design and/or research of instruction in the affective domain. This model is an integration of current theories and models in the affective domain. It is a broad and comprehensive model which represents the hierarchical structures and interactions of affective and related cognitive factors,…

This third of three articles on the ways in which people formulate their observations presents an analysis of the perspective or attitude dominating the discourse of an interview. The analysis is conducted according to a paradigm that views the speaker as the controller of discourse perspective. The relationships found in the analysis are…

The research reported in this paper is concerned with the ability of students of English as a second language (ESL) to apply cognitive skills in reading. The paper focuses on: (1) a validation study of an experimental test designed to measure Piagetian concrete operations in reading and (2) the effects of the paragraph types (additive or…

This study attempted to explain the findings of classical studies about young children's classification ability, namely that young children: (1) categorize on the basis of perceptual or concrete properties, (2) classify in a linear, nonhierarchical manner, and (3) use inconsistent criteria for classification. The study further proposed that…

The "Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: II, Affective Domain," which was published in 1964, is examined. The study was undertaken to: (1) determine what alternatives to the idea of the process of internalization and the focus on values used in the taxonomy are suggested by present psychological theories; and (2) assess the implications…

Techniques developed to address the reading problems of an adult English as a second language (ESL) class are described. An intensive English course was developed for a group of Arabic-speaking vocational education administrators who had several years of English training. However, they performed poorly on the lowest level of a reading series.…

Relational-inference, a process associated with developmental change in performance on classification items, was investigated in two experiments. The accuracy and latency with which 20 subjects at each of 3 age levels (8, 11, and adult) stated relationships among concepts were tested. In experiment 1, 40 triplets of concepts related by a class…

Previous studies have found that an object can be categorized faster at a basic level (hammer) than at either a subordinate (club hammer) or a superordinate level (tool). While some attribute this result to basic categories having more distinctive attributes, other factors might cause this result. For example, basic categories routinely have…

Information about individuals' representations of problems was obtained from studies on reasoning and problem categorization. College students (N=62) participated in a study of the transition from concrete to formal reasoning using the pendulum and chemical yellow tasks. Over a 10-12 week period, 47 students participated in 10 training sessions on…