In light of conflicting and limited results in the assessment of the effects of text-forming structures, a study investigated the effects of specific microlevel and macrolevel text-forming elements on readers' comprehension of selected passages of scientific technical prose. More specifically, the study examined the individual and combined effects…

Two experiments were conducted to determine the features of text to which skilled adult readers need to attend while reading and the features that either are of minimal importance or can be processed automatically without directed processing. In the first experiment, 12 college students attended to a timed picture naming task, in which a picture…

Thus far the several different strategies that have been employed to investigate the size of the perceptual span during reading have not yet resolved the question of whether good readers have a larger span than poor readers. An investigation was designed to determine the region of text from which letter information is used during a fixation of the…

While most present research suggests that visual information acquired from peripheral visual areas on one fixation during reading facilitates the identification of words available on the next fixation, some researchers hold with the "word unit hypothesis," which suggests that information gained peripherally from a word on one fixation…

A study examined the effects of prior knowledge and the explicitness of text connectivity on various measures of reading ability. Subjects were 130 eighth grade students who read 6 prose passages that had been manipulated for content familiarity and for use of explicit connectives and implied connectives (those brought about by the author's…

Opening with a discussion of the role of computer simulation in cognitive psychology, this paper proceeds to examine the major perspectives on computer simulation as a tool for theoretical research on cognitive processes. The claim that computer simulation enforces rigor in theory specification is analyzed; the use of simulation as a method for…

Arguing that skilled reading is the result of the successful acquisition of a number of highly automatic component processes that operate together in an integrated manner, this paper describes a series of studies of good and poor high school readers representing three general domains of processing: decoding, analyzing and comprehending text, and…

Although there is unanimity among educators that art and art education exert a positive influence on children, diverse philosophical, social, and psychological views and values have inhibited the formation of teaching goals and strategies that acknowledge the emotional and cognitive significance of visual art. The general aims of art education…

The main thrust of American education has been cognitively oriented. Recent research on the human brain suggests that such orientation is a general function of only one hemisphere of the brain, the left. Because of the close relationships among speech, language, thinking, reasoning, and the higher mental functions, the left brain hemisphere…

Several studies have reported adult age deficits in memory for prose materials. Adult age differences in prose comprehension were examined among young and old adults from high or low educational backgrounds. Subjects (N=53) listened to tape-recorded versions of two narrative passages and attempted to orally recall the stories. Subjects were…

Ninety-three first grade children participated in a study that examined the relationship among instructional materials, other factors such as test scores, and the growth and application of letter-sound correspondence knowledge. The study also sought to determine the importance of letter-sound correspondence knowledge in the acquisition and…

Described in this paper is a research approach used in science and mathematics education at the University of Goteborg (Sweden). The theoretical base of this approach relies on strong interaction between theoretical studies and empirical studies in the science classroom, with close cooperation between researcher and teacher. Within this paper,…

Experimental, clinical, and personal observations give some support to the notions that: (1) intensive live training with anxious subjects is required in order to demonstrate that perspective relaxation has physiological effects; (2) physiological, cognitive, and behavioral symptoms of anxiety are separable and may respond differentially to…

The process model of reading suggests that even the effective reader makes recurring regressions to lower levels of functioning when faced with unfamiliar topics or texts. The gradual formulation of new linguistic and cognitive structures necessitated by the task of reading is similar to the acquisition of language, and the process model suggests…

The effects of observational purpose are thought to impact on such diverse processes as categorization, behavior perception, trait ascription, and memory. The role of observational purpose in the categorization of behavior was explored to determine whether differences between trait and goal concepts affect certain information-processing…