Fluency, the subjective experience of ease associated with information processing, has been shown to affect a host of judgments. Previous research has typically focused on specific factors that affect the use of a single, specific fluency source. In the present study we examine how cognitive mindsets, or processing modes, moderate fluency…

This study explored the controversy surrounding working memory: whether it is a unitary system providing general purpose resources or a more differentiated system with domain-specific sub-components. A total of 348 participants completed a set of 6 working memory tasks that systematically varied in storage target contents and type of information…

Background: Cognitive models of bipolar I disorder (BD) may aid in identification of children who are especially vulnerable to chronic mood dysregulation. Information-processing biases related to memory and attention likely play a role in the development and persistence of BD among adolescents; however, these biases have not been extensively…

In this fMRI study, we investigated prefrontal cortex (PFC) and visual association regions during selective information processing. We recorded behavioral responses and neural activity during a delayed recognition task with a cue presented during the delay period. A specific cue ("Face" or "Scene") was used to indicate which one of the two…

Research in science education has referred to limitations in information processing resulting from both mental capacity and working memory capacity. Mental capacity is often conceptualised within the framework of the theory of constructive operators. However, the cognitive resources underlying working memory are not well specified within the…

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and n-back tasks we investigated whether, in 11-13-year-old children, spatial (location) and nonspatial (color) information is differentially processed during visual attention (0-back) and working memory (WM) (2-back) tasks and whether such cognitive task performance, compared to a resting state,…

It is well established that working memory is related to reading comprehension ability. However, its role in explaining specific reading comprehension difficulties is still under debate: the issue mainly concerns whether the contribution of working memory is dependent on task modality (verbal tasks being more predictive than visuo-spatial tasks)…

Examinations of interference between verbal and visual materials in working memory have produced mixed results. If there is a central form of storage (e.g., the focus of attention; N. Cowan, 2001), then cross-domain interference should be obtained. The authors examined this question with a visual-array comparison task (S. J. Luck & E. K. Vogel,…

This study defined a type of information-processing task analysis and an index relating different instructional sequences to this analysis. One hundred sixty-four college students were taught, with computer-assisted instruction, an imaginary science by various instructional sequences or by selecting their own sequence. A program-controlled…