A group of 73 normal children (ages 8 to 10) was compared to 49 age-matched developmentally dyslexic children of average intelligence on the California Verbal Learning Test for Children (CVLT-C), to determine if reading disability was associated with impaired verbal memory. Dyslexics differed significantly from controls on 9 of the 12 CVLT-C…

The purpose of this experiment was to examine lag function developmental parameters and to test a related developmental hypothesis and the predictions it generated. Fourth and eighth graders and adults were shown a series of words, one at a time, with some words presented twice. Between the two presentations of each repeated word there was one of…

Analyzes shortcomings of conference papers intended for the eye rather than the ear. Referring to classical oratory, speech act theory, and cognitive theory, recommends revising papers for oral presentation by using classical disposition; deductive rather than inductive argument; formulaic repetition of words and phrases; non-inverted clause…

Children 6- to ll-years-old heard concrete sentences which they were asked to learn. Half the children received imagery instruction. Greater short-term memory and verbal competence predicted better sentence learning in the imagery condition, but not in the control condition. (Author/NH)

Examines changes in participants' memories for natural conversations over a one month period. Reports that after one month, participants recalled less content and reported more descriptive statements, made more inferences, and were less accurate than when they had recalled the conversations immediately. (MM)

Describes a study designed to identify the mental operations that contribute to people's ability to answer wh- questions, that is, questions which request information that plays a particular role in relation to some action or event. Wh- questions are signaled by interrogative pronouns and adverbs like who, what, when, and where. (SED)

An experiment is conducted showing that an attention shift to a stream of numerals presented in rapid serial visual presentation mode produces not a total loss, but a systematic distortion of order. An attention gating model (AGM) is developed from a more general attention model. (Author/LMO)

This study investigated the role of imagery in the short-term retention of complex, visually presented movement sequences. Findings suggest that visual imagery may play a functional role in the free recall of modeled movements; however, there was no indication that imagery was involved in the retention of serial information. (JMK)

The effects of reinforcement contingencies on task performance of bisensory missing words were studied with two students (about nine years old): one learning disabled (LD) male with an auditory preference and one LD female with a visual preference. Reinforcement contingencies were found to control both students' performances. (Author/SEW)

A review of the concepts of short-term memory and working memory in contemporary cognitive psychology is applied to current research in language processing and language impairments. Unresolved theoretical issues are identified, including the role of speech production in short-term memory, the role of knowledge retrieval in short-term recall, the…

This article examines the construct of working memory and its relationship to sentence comprehension difficulties of children with specific language impairment. Some sentence comprehension problems of these children may be related to inefficient management of working memory resources. Techniques for assessing working memory and enhancing the…

This investigation explored the relationship between short-term memory (STM), working memory (WM), and reading proficiency among adolescents (n=30) with learning disabilities. Results suggest that reading models which focus on STM or WM in isolation do not adequately capture the reading performance of the students. Models that coordinate STM and…

Describes a year-long, career-based project to practice basic skills in a meaningful context until such skills are transferred to long-term memory. (YDS)

This study examined the short term recall of serially presented verbal information by 49 prelingually deafened and 39 hearing students (mean grade level 6). Findings suggest that neither discrepancy in the ordered short-term recall of verbal materials nor discrepancies in reading comprehension are directly assignable to differences in memory…

The verbal encoding ability of 24 students (ages 14-20) with learning disabilities (LD) was compared to that of 24 non-learning-disabled subjects. LD subjects did not show a release from proactive interference, suggesting that such students are less likely to encode the phonetic features of words or use a phonetic code in short-term memory.…