As the borders between higher education systems continue to erode and competition for qualified students increases, many institutions are exploring variable pricing options, known in the USA as "tuition discounting." The goal of tuition discounting is to use institutional funds to attract and retain desired students while maximizing net…

Three forced-choice perceptual word identification experiments tested the claim that transitions from positive to negative priming as a function of increasing prime duration are due to cognitive aftereffects. These aftereffects are similar in nature to perceptual aftereffects that produce a negative image due to overexposure and habituation to a…

The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis according to which theory of mind competence was a prerequisite to ambiguous idioms understanding. We hypothesized that the child needs to understand that the literal interpretation could be a false world representation, a false belief, and that the speaker's intention is to mean something else, to…

Four-year-olds, 5-year-olds, and adults (N = 48) listened to stories featuring characters that experienced one of four types of thoughts after deciding to transgress or comply with a rule: thoughts about desires, rules, future negative outcomes, or future punishment. Participants predicted and explained the characters' emotions. Results showed…

How do capuchin monkeys learn to use stones to crack open nuts? Perception-action theory posits that individuals explore producing varying spatial and force relations among objects and surfaces, thereby learning about affordances of such relations and how to produce them. Such learning supports the discovery of tool use. We present longitudinal…

Analogies are an integral feature of scientific theories, like evolution. They are developed to support explanations, proposed on the basis of evidence collected from experimental studies, field studies, and other observational studies. They map a known source or process to an unknown or target with the goal of helping educators understand the…

One of the biggest concerns about student evaluations of teaching is the positive correlation between them and expected grades. Past research has been unable to clarify if intentional revenge for low grades or a more subtle process such as cognitive dissonance leads to low evaluations. This study included a survey of college students (N = 143)…

The present study aimed to examine somatic complaints in children with anxiety disorders compared to non-anxious control children and whether somatic complaints predict poorer academic performance. The sample consisted of 108 children and adolescents (aged 8-14 years) assessed by a structured diagnostic interview: 69 with a principal (i.e., most…

This research examines whether there are continuities between infant social attention and later theory of mind. Forty-five children were studied as infants and then again as 4-year-olds. Measures of infant social attention (decrement of attention during habituation to displays of intentional action) significantly predicted later theory of mind…

Studies suggest motor deficit asymmetry may help predict the pattern of cognitive impairment in individuals with Parkinson disease (PD). We tested this hypothesis using a highly validated and sensitive spatial memory task, spatial delayed response (SDR), and clinical and neuroimaging measures of PD asymmetry. We predicted SDR performance would be…

As patterns of union formation and dissolution in adult lives become complex, the living arrangements of American children are becoming increasingly fluid. With a sample (N = 12,843) drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, this study attempted to capture this complexity by mapping out children's family structure histories…

This study compares predictions from the Hopelessness Theory of depression (Abramson, Metalsky, & Alloy, 1989) with the Response Styles Theory of depression (RST; Nolen-Hoeksema, 1987) with data obtained from a preadolescent sample (ages 9 to 13 years). Three hundred ten preadolescents completed self-report measures of stress, sense of control,…

This study explores the link between peer problems in school and contextual variations in negative mood and state self-esteem over a 5-day period. Fifth-grade children completed measures of mood and state self-esteem while they were at home in the morning and while they were at school each day, allowing for an examination of whether psychological…

In this study, prospective science teachers' misconceptions about the seasons and the phases of the Moon were determined, and then the effects of 3D computer modelling on their conceptual changes were investigated. The topics were covered in two classes with a total of 76 students using a predict-observe-explain strategy supported by 3D computer…

It has been hypothesized that sensation seeking and impulsivity, which are often conflated, in fact develop along different timetables and have different neural underpinnings, and that the difference in their timetables helps account for heightened risk taking during adolescence. In order to test these propositions, the authors examined age…