To investigate relationships between spatial terms and the human experience of space, participants in three separate experiments were asked to sort 35 English spatial terms into groups on the basis of which items seemed most similar to one another. Participants also were asked to provide a descriptive rationale for each of their groupings. Once…

Previous research has shown that children as young as 2 can learn words from 3rd-party conversations (Akhtar, Jipson, & Callanan, 2001). The focus of this study was to determine whether younger infants could learn a new word through overhearing. Novel object labels were introduced to 18-month-old infants in 1 of 2 conditions: directly by an…

The purpose of this study was to assess the nonword repetition skills of 24 children who do (CWS; n=12) and do not stutter (CWNS; n=12) between the ages of 3;0 and 5;2. Findings revealed that CWS produced significantly fewer correct two- and three-syllable nonword repetitions and made significantly more phoneme errors on three-syllable nonwords…

Stimulated recall (SR) is a family of introspective research procedures through which cognitive processes can be investigated by inviting subjects to recall, when prompted by a video sequence, their concurrent thinking during that event. Variations of the generic approach are widely used and many of the studies treat SR as non-problematic. The…

This paper is concerned with the relationship of self-study to a non-self-study methodology used in a teacher study. The study was intended to involve 18 kindergarten to Grade 12 teachers in "bringing memory forward" through looking back on their narratives, producing an autobiography and discussing familiar texts in relation to unfamiliar ones.…

Four experiments are reported in which the mechanisms underlying auditory negative priming were investigated. In Experiments 1A and 1B, preprime-prime intervals and prime-probe intervals were manipulated.The ratio between the 2 intervals determined the size of the negative priming effect. Results are compatible with the episodic retrieval account,…

Paired associates and serial list memory are typically investigated separately. An "isolation principle" (J. B. Caplan, 2005) was proposed to explain behavior in both paradigms by using a single model, in which serial list and paired associates memory differ only in how isolated pairs of items are from interference from other studied items. In…

Background: Previous models of the effects of feedback account for lower-order learning outcomes but do not adequately describe experimental findings for higher-order learning. Aims: Based on a connectionist model of feedback effects, this investigation aims to show that feedback that allows only one learner response facilitates…

"Science Briefs" summarize the findings and implications of a recent study in basic science or clinical research. This Brief summarizes the findings and implications of "Enriched Environment Experience Overcomes the Memory Deficits and Depressive-like Behavior Induced by Early Life Stress" (M. Cui; Y. Yang; J. Zhang; H. Han; W. Ma; H. Li; R. Mao;…

Two experiments with 3 1/2- to 6 1/2-year-old children showed that theory-of-mind development is associated with the growth of episodic memory. Episodic memory was assessed by manipulating informational conditions such that they permit or prevent the formation of episodic memories in terms of re-experiencing the recalled event. Only experienced…

In this study we examined the effects of skill training, in particular mental abacus and music training, on working memory. Two groups of participants--children who had received mental abacus training and their controls--participated in Experiment 1. All participants performed the following span tasks: forward digit span, backward digit span,…

This study describes the development of a Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2) scale designed to detect negative response bias in forensic neuropsychological or disability assessment settings. The Response Bias Scale (RBS) consists of 28 MMPI-2 items that discriminated between persons who passed or failed the Word Memory Test…

It is not known why people move their eyes when engaged in non-visual cognition. The current study tested the hypothesis that differences in saccadic eye movement rate (EMR) during non-visual cognitive tasks reflect different requirements for searching long-term memory. Participants performed non-visual tasks requiring relatively low or high…

Difficulties in social interaction are a central feature of Asperger syndrome. Effective social interaction involves the ability to solve interpersonal problems as and when they occur. Here we examined social problem-solving in a group of adults with Asperger syndrome and control group matched for age, gender and IQ. We also assessed…

The interaction of emotion and cognition has become a topic of major interest. However, the influence of gender on the interplay between the two processes, along with its neural correlates have not been fully analysed so far. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study we induced negative emotion using negative olfactory stimulation…