Private speech used by high-functioning children with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) (n=33) during two executive functioning tasks was compared to that of typically developing children (n=28), and children with ADHD (n=21). Children with ASD were as likely as others to talk to themselves and their speech was similarly relevant and likely to…

Though cognitive science has given psychology a new, more detailed and specific way of expressing models of cognition, correspondingly detailed and precise arguments analyzing and supporting those models have not been forthcoming. Consequently, the new models often fail to meet the traditional criteria of scientific theories. Tools are available…

Conceptual and methodological problems inherent in Aptitude Treatment Interaction (ATI) research, coupled with the impracticality of its application, call into question its use as a design model. For these reasons, ATI should be de-emphasized as an instructional design model and attention should be refocused on the structure of content and the…

Preference scores were determined for several different groups of students ranging in age from seven to adult. In addition, instruments were administered to determine the cognitive level at which the students were capable of functioning. Comparisons between the students' cognitive level and preferences were made. The results indicated that the…

Combinatorial and implicative operations were studied with tasks which eliminated many complexities found in Piagetian tasks, but which did not alter the logical strategies required by Piaget's task. Task difficulty in relation to information-processing demands of tasks and processing capacities of subjects at three age levels (8.0-10.1 and…

Forty toddlers, 1 1/2 to 3 1/2 years of age, and 8 adults, searched for stickers that were hidden underneath two discretely different classes of objects embedded in arrays containing several classes. Study results suggest that the children appear to have been attempting to determine which kinds of choices were the wrong ones. (Author/RWB)

Five information processing models that relate memory for evidence to judgments based on the evidence are identified in the current social cognition literature: independent processing, availability, biased retrieval, biased encoding, and incongruity-biased encoding. A distinction between two types of judgment tasks is introduced and is related to…

Describes the beginning of a study of the cognitive processes required for applying financial accounting knowledge to specific problem solving situations. Task analysis is used to describe the cognitive components of accounting, and algorithms for the tasks are appended. Eighteen references are listed. (Author/CHC)

Discussion of instructional systems development (ISD) focuses on recent developments in cognitive task analysis and describes the Integrated Task Analysis Model, a framework for integrating cognitive and behavioral task analysis methods within the ISD model. Three components of expertise are analyzed: skills, knowledge, and mental models. (96…

ACT-R is a theory of cognition that is capable of learning the relative usefulness of alternative rules. A model using this implicit procedural learning mechanism is described that explains results from a concept formation task created by McDonald and MacWhinney (1991), a role assignment created by Blackwell (1995), and a new role assignment…

Explores the extent to which children with specific language impairment (SLI) with severe phonological working memory deficits express knowledge uniquely in gesture as compared to speech. Using a paradigm in which gesture-speech relationships have been studied extensively, children with SLI and conversation judgment-matched, typically developing…

Many deaf children and adults show lags in mathematical abilities. The current study examines the basic number representations that allow individuals to perform higher-level arithmetical procedures. These representations are normally present in the earliest stages of development, but they may be affected by cultural, developmental, and educational…

This study examined how task switching is affected by hierarchical task organization. Traditional task-switching studies, which use a constant temporal and spatial distance between each task element (defined as a stimulus requiring a response), promote a flat task structure. Using this approach, Experiment 1 revealed a large switch cost of 238 ms.…

Bottleneck models of psychological refractory period (PRP) tasks suggest that a Task 1 response should be unaffected by the Task 2 response in the same trial, because selection of the former finishes before selection of the latter begins. Contrary to this conception, the authors found backward response-level crosstalk effects in which Task 2…