Previous research has reported positive correlations between math achievement and the cognitive constructs of spatial visualization, working memory, and general intelligence; however, no single study has assessed variance in math achievement attributable to all three constructs, examined in combination. The current study fills this gap in the…

We used a newly developed experimental paradigm to investigate aftereffects of completed intentions on subsequent performance that required the maintenance and execution of new intentions. Participants performed an ongoing number categorization task and an additional prospective memory (PM) task, which required them to respond to PM cues that…

Skillful teachers have developed the ability to take learners from the first conception of a goal to its accomplishment in shorter and shorter periods of time, with fewer and fewer errors on the learners' part and with increasing satisfaction and diminishing frustration on the teacher's. This article deals with the extent to which teachers provide…

The psychometric function of single-letter identification is typically described as a function of stimulus intensity. However, the effect of stimulus exposure duration on letter identification remains poorly described. This is surprising because the effect of exposure duration has played a central role in modeling performance in whole and partial…

Cortical regions supporting cognitive control and memory judgment are structurally immature in adolescents. Here we studied adolescents (13-15 y.o.) and young adults (20-22 y.o.) using a recognition memory paradigm that modulates cognitive control demands through cues that probabilistically forecast memory probe status. Behaviorally, adolescence…

One of the foundational principles of human memory is that repetition (i.e., being presented with a stimulus multiple times) improves recall. In the current study a group of participants who studied a list of cue-target pairs twice recalled fewer targets than a group who studied the pairs only once, a negative repetition effect. Such a…

For a generation of children immersed in technology, emerging research suggests that while the temptation to multitask may be pervasive, the ability to control it could be the real bellwether of academic success. The pervasiveness of technology and social media, coupled with a fear of missing out on something important, has led students to pay…

Prior research has shown that people are likely to skim information presented digitally with the resultant deleterious effect on accurate mental models of the text. Teaching monitoring strategies and presenting text with adjunct questions are effective strategies for improving the mental models of readers of scientific text, but the two strategies…

How do perceivers apply knowledge to instances they have never experienced before? On one hand, listeners might use idealized representations that do not contain specific details. On the other, they might recognize and process information based on more detailed memory representations. The current study examined the latter possibility with respect…

The effects of cocaine were examined under a titrating-delay matching-to-sample procedure. In this procedure, the delay between sample stimulus offset and comparison stimuli onset adjusts as a function of the subject's performance. Specifically, matches increase the delay and mismatches decrease the delay. Titrated delay values served as the…

Some models of semantic memory claim that items from living and nonliving domains have different feature-type profiles. Data from feature generation and perceptual modality rating tasks were compared to evaluate this claim. Results from two living (animals, fruits/vegetables) and two nonliving (tools, vehicles) categories showed that…

Previous research on the lateralization of memory errors suggests that the right hemisphere's tendency to produce more memory errors than the left hemisphere reflects hemispheric differences in semantic activation. However, all prior research that has examined the lateralization of memory errors has used self-paced recognition judgments. Because…

Emerging evidence suggests that nicotine may enhance short-term memory. Some of this evidence comes from nonhuman primate research using a procedure called delayed matching-to-sample, wherein the monkey is trained to select a comparison stimulus that matches some physical property of a previously presented sample stimulus. Delays between sample…

Forces are experienced in actions on objects. The mechanoreceptor system is stimulated by proximal forces in interactions with objects, and experiences of force occur in a context of information yielded by other sensory modalities, principally vision. These experiences are registered and stored as episodic traces in the brain. These stored…

Reaching for an object with a tool has been shown to cause a compressed perception of space just beyond arm's reach. It is not known, however, whether tools that have distal, detached effects at far distances can cause this same perceptual distortion. We examined this issue in the current study with targets placed up to 30m away. Participants who…