Motor performance has been shown to be superior when focusing on a physically farther environmental cue (external focus-far, EF-far) instead of a cue proximal to the body (EF-near). However, little is known about whether these foci affect bimanual tasks. Further, the effect of visual information on attentional focus is unclear. In the present…

The time required to determine the larger of 2 digits decreases with their numerical distance, and, for a given distance, increases with their magnitude (Moyer & Landauer, 1967). One detailed quantitative framework to account for these effects is provided by random walk models. These chronometric models describe how number-related noisy…

Although increased age is associated with greater errors in spatial memory tasks, it is unclear if there are age differences in error types. To investigate this, 334 participants (ages 22-88) completed a task in which they remembered object locations across multiple study-test trials. Far and close error types were categorized based on the spatial…

Formal algebras are among the most powerful and general mechanisms for expressing quantitative relational statements; yet, even university engineering students, who are relatively proficient with algebraic manipulation, struggle with and often fail to correctly deploy basic aspects of algebraic notation (Clement, 1982). In the cognitive tradition,…

The current study examined the development of two effects that have been found in single-digit multiplication errors: relatedness and distance. Typically achieving (TA) second, fourth, and sixth graders and adults, and sixth and eighth graders with a mathematics learning disability (MLD) performed a verification task. Relatedness was defined by a…

An embodied view of mathematical cognition should account not only for how we use our bodies to think and communicate mathematically but also how our bodies equip us to conceive of mathematical ideas. Research in cognitive semantics claims that the human conceptual capacity rests on a foundation of image schemas: topological patterns of spatial…

Conjunction errors occur when participants incorrectly identify as "old" novel test stimuli created by recombining parts of two study stimuli (parent items). Prior studies have reported that the conjunction error rate is higher when parent items are studied together than when they are studied apart (a parent proximity effect). In several…

Preschool children copied peg locations with standardized comparison pegboards aligned horizontally and diagonally and with three levels of pegboard complexity. Error patterns varied with type of alignment and display complexity. Results failed to support Bryant's hypothesis that mirror image confusions are no more frequent than other in-line…