The relationship between children's cognitive developmental level, as assessed by Piagetian tasks, and their performance on measures of intellectual and neuropsychological functioning was studied. Eight female and 22 male children--ages 8 to 12 years (mean=10.3)--with negative electroencephalographs and neurologic screening and no history of brain…

This paper discusses a model of information storage and retrieval, the k-d tree (Bentley, 1975), a binary, hierarchical tree with multiple associate terms, which has been explored in computer research, and it is suggested that this model could be useful for describing human cognition. Included are two models of human long-term memory--networks and…

Cognitive science is a science of intelligence, of knowledge and its uses. Research is psychological theory follows four major themes: Perception, Attention, Memory, and Performance. Only when the range of cognitive mechanisms and functions is known, can possible theoretical approaches characterizing human thought and cognition be distinguished.…

A theory of the nature of mental abilities is presented. In this theory, mental abilities are hierarchically organized into four progressively deeper levels--the levels of composite tasks, subtasks, information-processing components, and information-processing metacomponents. Composite tasks can be decomposed into subtasks, subtasks into…

A framework for viewing human text comprehension, memory, and recall is presented that assumes patterns of abstract conceptual relations are used to guide processing. These patterns consist of clusters of knowledge that encode prototypical co-occurrences of situations and events in narrative texts. The patterns are assumed to be a part of a…

Three studies compared learning and problem-solving performances of normal and familially-retarded children on tasks differing in complexity, and one study investigated motivational-personality differences. Main purpose of the first three studies was to investigate the controversy between developmental and defect theorists in mental retardation.…

THE LEARNING OF VERBALLY CONDITIONED MATERIAL WAS STUDIED TO CLARIFY SOME OF THE CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH SUCH LEARNING IS ACCOMPANIED BY THE USE OF HIGHER MENTAL PROCESSES, AND THE CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH IT IS NOT. THE STARTING POINT FOR THIS RESEARCH WAS THE PREMISE THAT LEARNING IN VERBAL CONDITIONING CAN OCCUR EITHER WITH OR WITHOUT AWARENESS ON…

This theoretical paper deals with a comparison of the structure and content of primary and secondary thought processes. While secondary processes (cognitive thinking) are effectively dealt with and taught in schools, there is little or no relating to the primary processes (affective thinking). This is due in part to teachers' own difficulties in…

A commentary is made on each of five symposium papers on the unification of cognitive process theory and differential psychology. Future research directions are reviewed within a new theoretical framework as to the process nature of aptitudes and general intelligence. Future psychometric directions and educational implications are discussed. (RD)

Various experiments demonstrated that the difficulty level of several performance-type intelligence test tasks is determined directly by stimulus and task variables that vary the information to be processed. The implications of these findings for intelligence and the problems of an experimental approach to the measurement of intelligence are…

Intelligence test scores were found to predict achievement in high school chemistry more accurately than the Piaget-derived Longeot Test Scores. However, the construct measured by the Longeot is more clearly defined than the construct measured by the intelligence test. In this respect, the Longeot measure may be preferable to the intelligence…

The discriminative learning and transfer of compound and component problems were assessed in retarded subjects at two levels of intelligence. (Author/SB)

The results indicate that although relational concepts influence the cognitive aptitudes which are reflected in analogy item performance, success in solving analogies does not depend on individual differences in some major aspects of processing relationships. (Author/DEP)

Programs to teach students critical thinking must empower them to be self-directed, but they must also stress respect and empathy for the viewpoints of others. (Author/TE)