What is the effect of a word's higher frequency neighbors on its identification time? According to activation-based models of word identification (J. Grainger & A. M. Jacobs, 1996; J. L. McClelland & D. E. Rumelhart, 1981), words with higher frequency neighbors will be processed more slowly than words without higher frequency neighbors because of…

This paper reports three experiments that test the Presupposition-Denial account of complement set reference. According to the theory, complement set focus arises when focus is on the difference between the amount conveyed by a natural language quantifier and a large presupposed amount. We call this difference the shortfall. In this paper, what is…

If people believe that some property is true of all members of a class such as sofas, then they should also believe that the same property is true of all members of a conjunctively defined subset of that class such as uncomfortable handmade sofas. A series of experiments demonstrated a failure to observe this constraint, leading to what is termed…

The present experiment investigated the impact of contextually trained discriminations on gambling behavior. Nine recreational slot-machine players were initially exposed to concurrently available computerized slot machines that were each programmed on random-ratio schedules of reinforcement and differed only in color. All participants distributed…

In this article, we detail how to produce two inexpensive micromanipulators that offer high precision (approximately 25 micrometers) along a single axis of movement. The more expensive of the designs provides improved versatility along multiple axes. Both manipulators offer substantial savings over commercially available micromanipulators with…

There has been renewed discussion of the scientific method, with many voices arguing that it presents a very limited or even wholly incorrect image of the way science is really done. At the same time, the idea of a scientific method is pervasive. This article identifies the scientific method as a simple model for the process of scientific inquiry.…

A class centered on student design of experiments and peer review of the resulting reports is described. Thirteen students in an honors seminar section of an introductory physics class designed experiments to test various types of paranormal phenomena. Each experimental report was evaluated and ranked by several other students. To give them…

Biodiesel was synthesized by transesterification of waste vegetable oil using common glassware and reagents, and characterized by measuring heat of combustion, cloud point, density and measuring the heat of combustion and density together allows the student the energy density of the fuel. Analyzing the biodiesel can serve as a challenging and…

A set of sophisticated and realistic laboratory simulations is created for use in freshman- and sophomore-level chemistry classes and laboratories called 'Virtual ChemLab'. A detailed assessment of student responses is provided and the simulation's pedagogical utility is described using the organic simulation.

Tips that laboratory researchers and beginning graduate students can use to safeguard against explosion hazard with emphasis on clear illustrations of molecular structure are discussed. Those working with hazardous materials must proceed cautiously and may want to consider alternative and synthetic routes.

Toilet paper (TP) composition and physical characteristics were used to model scientific investigations that combined several "National Science Education Standards." Experiments with TP permitted the integration of TP history, societal change resulting from invention, mathematics (including geometry and statistics), germ theory, and personal…

All animals must make choices regarding what foods to eat, where to eat, and how much time to spend feeding. Optimal foraging theory explains these behaviors in terms of costs and benefits. This laboratory exercise focuses on optimal foraging theory by investigating the winter feeding behavior of birds on the goldenrod gall fly by comparing…

A local middle school requested that the Water Center of Advanced Materials for Purification of Water With Systems (WaterCAMPWS), a National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center, provide an introduction to pH for their seventh-grade water-based service learning class. After sorting through a multitude of information about pH, a…

The goal of this research is to understand how generalized exchange systems emerge when information, as the object of exchange, produces a collective good. When individuals contribute information for a collective benefit, it can create a group-generalized exchange system that involves a social dilemma. I argue that two properties of information,…

We present the results from an experiment that tests the perception of English consonantal sequences by Korean speakers and we confirm that perceptual epenthesis in a second language (L2) arises from syllable structure restrictions of the first language (L1), rather than linear co-occurrence restrictions. Our study replicates and extends Dupoux,…