Having spent over two decades training teachers, Iveta Kovalcíková writes in this editorial that she has lately been attracted by ideas bridging the growing gap between neurological and psychological research findings and their practical application in practice. Here she argues that outcomes of research on learning processes are insufficiently…

The prevailing assumption by some that deep processing promotes stronger learning outcomes while surface processing promotes weaker learning outcomes has been called into question by the inconsistency and ambiguity of results in investigations of the relation between levels of processing and performance. The purpose of this literature review is to…

It is of major importance to use psychological tests and questionnaires that are carefully constructed so that their reliability and validity can be determined in different (sub)cultures (Campbell & Tirri, 2004). However, a necessary prerequisite for this is the development of solid conceptual constructs. Otherwise, the researcher runs into the…

This investigation examined the effects of a variety of cue criterion function forms and attempted to evaluate the contribution of the factors just named, i.e., the response consistency of subjects, detection of task linearity, and the detection of task nonlinearity, to observed differences in learning. (Author/RK)

In an experiment on the effects of blank trials on probability learning, some informational parameters were varied. The results showed that the presence of blank trials shifted response probabilities toward the guessing level. Data from other experiments are considered, and the relevance of the results to studies of behavior with concurrent…

Discusses the development of thinking from a sociocultural perspective, focusing on how Super and Harkness' (1986) concept of "developmental niche" may be used as a framework for organizing cognitive developmental research in relation to culture. Argues for the utility of this approach in furthering understanding of the precise linkages between…

This article reports the results of an experiment addressing extrapolation in function learning, in particular the issue of whether participants can extrapolate in a nonmonotonic manner. Existing models of function learning, including the extrapolation association model of function learning (EXAM; E. L. DeLosh, J. R. Busemeyer, & M. A. McDaniel,…

A theoretical model for estimating the effects of age and incentive on children's performance in probability learning is introduced. Novel predictions of the model about the effects of combinations of age and incentive were tested and confirmed. (Editor/RK)

This paper reports a series of studies in the development of a Study Behavior Questionnaire (SBQ) for use with university students. It attempted to determine optimal ways of combining SBQ item scores: by sorting people's responses to items (R-analysis), or by sorting items on the basis of how they discriminate between people (Q-analysis).…

Discusses four schools of thought in cultural psychology: (1) the "mind and culture" school, which treated culture and cognition as separate; (2) the "mind in culture" school, which sees cognition and culture as interacting in practices; (3) the "culture in mind" school, which sees cultural categories as intrinsic to…

Comments on Lucariello's analysis, in this issue, of the development of cultural psychology, arguing that each of the "new approaches" that Lucariello identifies can be seen as an "old approach" that offered slightly different solutions to how psychology might deal more adequately with the cultural constitution of human nature. (MDM)

A review of the research on techniques for increasing the novice's understanding of computers and computer programming, this paper considers the potential usefulness of five tentative recommendations pertinent to the design of computer literacy curricula: (1) provide the learner with a concrete model of the computer; (2) encourage the learner to…

A review of some recent experiments suggested that general similarity between words might successfully function as a structural principle for semantic memory. A spatial model based on that assumption is proposed. The relation of this model to network and set-theoretic models of semantic memory is discussed, as is the relation of this model for…

A presentation of arguments demonstrating piaget's sensorimotor stages in Hebb's terms, and the suggestion for performing a computer test. This paper is an early progress report of an attempt to translate some plausible arguments into a rigorous demonstration. (Author)

A central problem of psychological research in education is to determine how to make learning more effective and productive. A psychological theory of educational productivity is summarized, the syntheses of the evidence relevant to the theory is discussed, and prospects for educational policy and subsequent research are presented. (Author/MLW)