Examines the case of Nadia, an autistic child with unusual graphic ability. Considers the development of her skill in relation to hypotheses about drawing, intelligence, and conceptual thought. Illustrations are included. Commentaries on this article by Charles Cleland and Martin Rayala appear on pages 68-72 of this issue. (SJL)

Mental abilities can be analyzed at four levels: composite tasks, subtasks, components, and metacomponents. Each level of analysis reveals something about the structure and content of mental abilities responsible for intelligent performance. (Author/WI)

In a study of operative thought in children, 104 children, aged 4 to 9, were tested 5 times with the same 25 Piagetian tasks. There were manifest indicators of synergy in the development of the various behaviors, but it was not possible to validate specific problems of behavior organization. (SLD)

A review of research and theory on cognitive processes and their relationship to instructional technique since the early 1970s looks at the contributions of schema theory and artificial intelligence and their instructional implications, including cognitive load theory, worked examples for learning problem solving, and physical vs. mental…

Children (N=20, age 9-12) with severe dyslexia were slower in counting from memory and naming alternating digits and letters than children with milder reading impairment. The children most disabled also had poorer phonological sensitivity, shorter digit spans, and lower verbal intelligence quotients. (Author/DB)

Reviews "Human Minds: An Exploration" by Margaret Donaldson, which inquires into the diverse uses of minds, their ontogenetic development, and their histories. The two predominant themes in the book are the ontogenetic and historical development of cognition, and development of social-emotional understandings and experiences as well as…

Discusses computational studies of learning in artificial neural networks and findings that may provide insights into the learning abilities of the human brain. Describes efforts to test theories about brain information processing, using artificial neural networks. Vignettes include information concerning how a neural network represents…

In four year olds who had been exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) before birth, prenatal exposure was associated with less efficient visual discrimination processing and more errors in short memory scanning. Postnatal exposure was unrelated to cognitive performance. (GLR)

This study found that a group of 20 children (ages 6-12) with autism and a group of 20 children with developmental receptive language disorder both manifested a relative sequential processing deficit. The groups did not differ significantly on overall sequential and simultaneous processing capabilities relative to their degree of language…

This investigation (with 30 normal students and 30 students with reading disabilities, ages 7-15) examined the relationship between intelligence and phonological coding when ability was defined according to the Planning, Attention, Simultaneous, Successive (PASS) cognitive processing model. Findings indicate that phonological problems may not be…

This collection of nine chapters covers a wide range of topics such as knowledge acquisition, learning strategies and metacognition, intelligence, and large-scale testing regarding cognitive theory and assessment. In-depth reviews of relevant research are provided, with directions for further research. (SLD)

Two studies involving 333 military recruits investigate individual differences in time-accuracy functions of inspection time (IT) in terms of psychological models. Two alternative interpretations of IT time-accuracy functions (processing-distraction and processing-speed, and pure processing-speed "cascade" models) are considered in…

A study compared the Comprehension: Block Design IQ subtest pattern of 8 children with autism and 24 children with developmental and acquired frontal lobe disorders. Found that children with autism showed low social comprehension related to visual spatial ability, a profile which was shared by children with poorly controlled Phenylketonuria. (CR)

Argues that, within the study of cognitive psychology, the theme of intelligence provides a powerful way of unifying the disparate material of a wide-ranging course. Discusses historical perspectives on intelligence, how it unifies cognitive psychology, and classroom activities to link cognitive psychology to intelligence. (DSK)

Describes some of the ways conformity in science is rewarded and defiance punished with reference to the work of Arthur Jensen. Notes that some of his work makes outstanding contributions to the science of intelligence, while other work is considered regressive. (SLD)