Purpose: Visual information is utilized in gymnastics vaulting. The question remains as to which informational sources are used to regulate handspring performance. The purpose of this study was to examine springboard and vaulting table position as informational sources in gymnastics vaulting. The hypothesis tested was that the approach-run and…

Advocates of modality preference posit that individuals have a dominant sense and that when new material is presented in this preferred modality, learning is enhanced. Despite the widespread belief in this position, there is little supporting evidence. In the present study, the authors implemented a Morse code-like recall task to examine whether…

In this article, the authors describe a field experiment in the classroom where principles of micro-economics students are randomly assigned into homework-required and not-required groups. The authors find that homework plays an important role in student learning, especially so for students who initially perform poorly in the course. Students in…

Attempts to determine how far orthodox concept attainment tasks are representative of corresponding real-world activity. (Author/RK)

The present experiments were designed to study the effects of search term weighting based on very limited relevance information, supplied, for example, by one or two relevant documents. The tests simulated iterative searching as in an on-line system and show that even very little relevance information can be extremely valuable. A list of…

Deals with selective attention phenomena and elaborates on a stimulus material classification, "stimulus set" versus "response set", proposed by Broadbent (1970, 1971).

A communication that contains a particularly strong intent to influence can easily lose persuasive impact or even bring about a "boomerang" effect. Such "boomerang" phenomena have often been attributed to "psychological reactance," a motivational state created when freedoms are threatened or usurped. Two factors that inhibited reactance were…

The increasing use of multidimensional scaling (MDS) as a descriptive and explanatory aid to studying the behavior of individuals to complex stimuli raises some important theoretical questions regarding the interpretation that can be placed on such solutions. Problems involved in equating multidimensional scaling solutions with cognitive…

Verbal memory was investigated using two miniature artificial languages that were identical except for the design of their reference system. One reference field was illustrated as a set of continuous elements, the other as a holistic unit. (Editor)

Two sets of measurements evaluated performance on typographically inverted text that students had learned to read 13 to 15 months earlier. (Editor)

Attempts to determine the extent that typicality effects obtained in previous research on natural semantic categories could be obtained in artificial categories purely as a function of structural principles when the frequency and nature of experience with items were controlled. (Author/RK)

JOINTLY CONSIDERING THE FACTORS OF SAMPLE SIZE (N-10 TO N-1000) AND THE STANDARD DEVIATION OF THE CRITERION MEASURE (SD-1 TO SD-25), A TABLE SHOWS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TREATMENTS NEEDED FOR STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANCE AT THE .05 LEVEL. THUS, IF THE EDUCATIONAL RESEARCHER HAS APPROPRIATE INFORMATION ON PAST PERFORMANCE, HE CAN CONSULT THE TABLE TO…

Describes a method of selecting index terms directly from a word frequency list, an idea originally suggested by Goffman. Results of the analysis of word frequencies of two articles seem to indicate that the automated selection of index terms from a frequency list holds some promise for automatic indexing. (Author/MBR)

Studies of the psychology of hindsight have shown that reporting the outcome of a historical event increases the perceived likelihood of that outcome. Three experiments show that similar hindsight effects occur when people evaluate the predictability of scientific results. Implications for the evaluation of scientific research by lay observers are…

How often are people wrong when they are certain that they know the answer to a question? The studies reported here suggest that the answer is "too often". The psychological bases for unwarranted certainty are discussed in terms of the inferential processes whereby knowledge is constructed from perceptions and memories. (Editor/RK)