The current study examined to what extent information in long-term memory concerning the distribution of phoneme clusters in a language, so-called long-term phonotactic knowledge, increased the capacity of verbal short-term memory in young language learners and, through increased verbal short-term memory capacity, supported these children's first…

The goal of this study was to investigate which working memory and long-term memory components predict vocabulary learning. We used a nonword learning paradigm in which 8- to 10-year-olds learned picture-nonword pairs. The nonwords varied in length (two vs. four syllables) and phonology (native sounding vs. including one Russian phoneme). Short,…

The dissertation concerns the pedagogical discursive practices that, since the end of the last military dictatorship in Argentina, have generated principles about who is the "responsible citizen" and what constitutes democratic conduct. The focusing is on national education laws and congressional debates, textbooks, and public memorial…

Background: Recent studies have indicated that many children with autism spectrum disorders present with language difficulties that are similar to those of children with specific language impairments, leading some to argue for similar structural deficits in these two disorders. Aims: Repetition of sentences involving long-distance dependencies was…

In this study, we examined the effects of interference and repeated retention tests by comparing groups that performed (a) one or two tests, or (b) two tests separated by interpolated tasks. The task involved pressing five keys in 925 ms. Constant error increased after Block 1 of the second test for the group completing the interpolated tasks.…

Background: There is little previous research examining whether measures of working memory are related to educational achievement in children with intellectual disabilities (ID). Methods: A battery of working memory and achievement measures was administered to 11- to 12-year-old children with ID; younger typically developing children of comparable…

The mammalian olfactory system is well established for its remarkable capability of undergoing experience-dependent plasticity. Although this process involves changes at multiple stages throughout the central olfactory pathway, even the early stages of processing, such as the olfactory bulb and piriform cortex, can display a high degree of…

The study of song learning and the neural song system has provided an important comparative model system for the study of speech and language acquisition. We describe some recent advances in the bird song system, focusing on the role of off-line processing including sleep in processing sensory information and in guiding developmental song…

This study investigates French dyslexic and control adult participants' ability to perceive and produce two different non-native contrasts (one segmental and one prosodic), across several conditions varying short-term memory load. For this purpose, we selected Korean plosive voicing (whose categories conflict with French ones) as the segmental…

The current study investigated the effectiveness of the verbal labels procedure (D. A. Brown & M. E. Pipe, 2003) to improve preschool children's responses to direct open-ended and misleading questions. Additionally, children's vocabulary skill was considered. Eighty-seven preschool children from diverse backgrounds were interviewed about a unique…

Previous studies of motor learning have described the importance of cognitive processes during the early stages of learning; however, the precise nature of these processes and their neural correlates remains unclear. The present study investigated whether spatial working memory (SWM) contributes to visuomotor adaptation depending on the stage of…

In list-method directed forgetting, participants are cued to intentionally forget a previously studied list (List 1) before encoding a subsequently presented list (List 2). Compared with remember-cued participants, forget-cued participants typically show impaired recall of List 1 and improved recall of List 2, referred to as List 1 forgetting and…

Competency in reading is a key factor in literacy attainment. If pupils can read proficiently this allows them to access the curriculum in all subjects and helps them to become confident, successful, motivated learners. Paired reading has long been recognised as an effective approach for supporting reading in schools. It helps to build…

It has been well established that depressed mood is related to overgeneral memory recall (OGM), which refers to a relative difficulty in retrieving specific information from one's autobiographical memory (AM). The present study examined whether OGM is also related to depressed mood in children and whether lack of inhibitory control mediates this…

Considering the evidence that the lateral septal area (LSA) modulates defensive responses, the aim of the present study is to verify if this structure is also involved in contextual fear conditioning responses. Neurotransmission in the LSA was reversibly inhibited by bilateral microinjections of cobalt chloride (CoCl[subscript 2], 1 mM) 10 min…