In order to learn the mappings from words to referents, children must integrate co-occurrence information across individually ambiguous pairs of scenes and utterances, a challenge known as cross-situational word learning. In machine learning, recent multimodal neural networks have been shown to learn meaningful visual-linguistic mappings from…

Much research has been conducted to document and sometimes to provide proximate explanations (e.g., Confucianism vs. Western philosophy) for East-West cultural differences. The ultimate evolutionary mechanisms underlying these cross-cultural differences have not been addressed. We propose in this review that East-West cultural differences (e.g.,…

Caution is urged in applying the normative-descriptive distinction to selection models, because ambiguities arise when the distinction is actually carried out (AA 529 125). A multidimensional structure may be needed to account for strategy, and the relationship between strategy and such nontask variables as intelligence is needed to clarify the…

The first section of this report reviews traditional memory studies, which have provided much of our information concerning memory development. Major strengths and weaknesses of memory-development studies are illustrated by comparison with recent research into children's problem-solving skills. The report concentrates on one area of general…

In positively assessing Johnson (1978) (AA 529 124), this research proposes that the basic purpose of normative models of selection strategies is the development of continuous quantitative measures of problem-solving efficiency, while descriptive models determine degree of correspondence between formal normative models and actual behavior.…

The cognitive operations that predispose a learner to perceive and approach a situation in a given way define his mental set. A survey of the research on problem solving indicates that an instructor should encourage students to vary strategies in searching for solutions to problems. (NHM)

THE STUDIES REPORTED WERE ATTEMPTS TO LEARN THE INNER ARRANGEMENT OF DOING MATHEMATICS. MATHEMATICS WAS VIEWED AS A MATTER OF SOLVING PROBLEMS BY A SEQUENCE OF STEPS PERFORMED AS AN ALGORITHM. THE PROCESSES STUDIED WERE--(1) COUNTING OR ENUMERATING SETS, (2) SIMPLIFYING COMPLEX LOGICAL STATEMENTS, (3) ADDING LARGE NUMBERS, AND (4) MULTIPLYING.…

According to the learned helplessness hypothesis, the learning impairment typically displayed by subjects previously given insoluble problems results from the real learning of response-outcome independence. This learning is represented as a belief in helplessness that interferes with the subsequent acquisition of adaptive responses. Two…

Flexibility in the application of instructional methods is the best approach to a teaching situation. Insofar as possible, a combination of traditional learning methods with heuristic (problem solving) and programed ones should be used. (CK)

Two experiments were carried out in order to test the effects of task sequence on the speed of rule learning and problem solving. Experiment I involved numerical rule-learning tasks and Experiment II tested the effect of task difficulty and task precedence using problem-solving tasks. (Editor/RK)

This report focuses on the development of general problem-solving skills which are subsumed under the general heading of metacognition: in particular, the skills of predicting, checking, monitoring, reality testing, and coordinating and controlling deliberate attempts to learn or solve problems. The report is organized in five sections: an…

Taking as the point of departure the landmark work, "A Study of Thinking" (Bruner et al. 1956), this research attempts an analysis of the notion of problem-solving strategy, suggests criteria that may be employed to validate the claim that a certain type of behavior is a strategy, and illustrates the use of the criteria. (Author/RK)

A series of studies was conducted over a three-year period to determine whether the teaching technique developed in the 1960s called "inquiry training" is effective for teaching problem-solving, thinking, and/or decision-making skills. (Inquiry training is a process in which students are provided with a puzzling situation, are given the…

A project was conducted at the University of Goteborg in Sweden to study how students of statistics make use of their knowledge when they solve statistical problems and how this knowledge utilization can be improved. The initial study objectives were to identify deficiencies and limitations pertaining to students' knowledge utilization and to…