Mind wandering occurs when a reader's thoughts are unrelated to the text's ideas. We examined the relation between mind wandering and readers' memory for text. More specifically, we assessed whether mind wandering inhibits the reader's development of the situation model and thus their ability to identify and recall the text's most central ideas.…

The present study examined individual differences in 3 cognitive abilities: attention control (AC), working memory capacity (WMC), and fluid intelligence (gF) as they relate the tendency to experience task-unrelated thoughts (TUTs) and the regulation of arousal. Cognitive abilities were measured with a battery of 9 laboratory tasks, TUTs were…

The worst performance rule (WPR) describes the phenomenon that individuals' slowest responses in a task are often more predictive of their intelligence than their fastest or average responses. To explain this phenomenon, it was previously suggested that occasional lapses of attention during task completion might be associated with particularly…

Individuals encounter problems daily wherein varying numbers of constraints require delimitation of memory to target goal-satisfying information. Multiply-constrained problems, such as the compound remote associates, are commonly used to study this type of problem solving. Since their development, multiply-constrained problems have been…

Adolescents' (n = 342, 169 boys) general algebra and algebra word problems performance were assessed in 9th grade as were intelligence, academic achievement, working memory, and spatial abilities in prior grades. The adolescents reported on their academic attitudes and anxiety and their teachers reported on their in-class attentive behavior in 7th…

Purpose: Based on evidence of deficits in domain-general cognitive abilities associated with developmental language disorder (DLD), the current study examined sustained attention performance in children with DLD compared to children with typical language development (TLD) and the interrelations between visual-spatial sustained attention,…

This study aimed to examine the relationship between the components of attentional control, phonological awareness, and working memory with reading. 209 students (109 females and 150 males with the mean age of 9 years) completed Integrated Visual and Auditory Continuous Performance Test, digit span subscale of WISC-IV, Reading Test, and…

Few studies have explored the learning opportunities different audiovisual genres may create for vocabulary learning. Even fewer have looked at how learners' viewing experience is affected by individual differences (IDs) in vocabulary size, attention, inhibition, or working memory. Such IDs have been shown to mediate early and long-term vocabulary…

The current study seeks to shed light on the usage habits of the "WhatsApp" application among teenagers, exploring the effect of mobile instant messaging distractions on pupils' working memory performance. Research was conducted in Israel during 2016 school year. The study sample was divided into two groups randomly--a control group and…

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the relationship between nonverbal cognitive functions and language processing of people with aphasia (PWA) by taking a data-driven approach, as well as multiple cognitive components and multilevel linguistic perspectives. It is hypothesized that language performance is differentially associated with…

Most research reporting that bilingual children exhibit enhanced cognitive skills and social awareness relative to their monolingual peers focusses on children raised and educated bilingually, making it difficult to pinpoint the degree of second language exposure necessary for such advantages to materialise. The current study measures the social…

Mathematical giftedness (MG) is an intriguing phenomenon, the nature of which has yet to be sufficiently explored. This study goes a step further in understanding how MG is related to expertise in mathematics (EM) and general giftedness (G). Cognitive testing was conducted among 197 high school students with different levels of G and of EM. Based…

Purpose: Many children with developmental language disorder (DLD) have weaknesses in executive functioning (EF), specifically in tasks testing interference control and working memory. It is unknown how EF develops in children with DLD, if EF abilities are related to DLD severity and persistence, and if EF weaknesses expand to selective attention.…

The effectiveness of an experimental middle school fraction intervention was evaluated. The intervention was centered on the number line and incorporated key principles from the science of learning. Sixth graders (N = 51) who struggled with fraction concepts were randomly assigned at the student level to the experimental intervention (n = 28) or…

Listening comprehension is important for daily communication and at school, yet relatively little is known about the variables contributing to listening comprehension, especially in the upper elementary years. The aim of this study was to explore whether vocabulary, verbal memory, but also self-efficacy and self-reported concentration contribute…