Visual expertise is a fundamental proficiency in many vocations and many questions have risen on the topic, with studies looking at experts and novices differences' in observation (e.g., radiologists) or at ways to help novices achieve visual expertise (e.g., through annotations). However, most of these studies focus on white-collar professions…

A number of researchers have found behavior-specific praise (BSP) to be an effective strategy for increasing student academic engagement. Performance feedback is often used to promote teacher BSP; however, variations in how performance feedback is provided have been proposed and it is unknown whether one strategy may be more effective than others.…

Atypical sensory processing has recently gained much research interest as a key domain of autistic symptoms. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit difficulties in processing the temporal aspects of sensory inputs, and show altered behavioural responses to sensory stimuli (i.e., sensory responsiveness). The present study examined…

The aim of this study is to focus on the verbal stimuli of the Vocabulary subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale -- Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV). To our knowledge, this is the first research to examine whether the abstractness/concreteness and the lexical category of the words in the WAIS-IV vocabulary subtest influence the ability to…

Children with autism spectrum disorders have been reported to be less influenced by a speaker's face during speech perception than those with typically development. To more closely examine these reported differences, a novel visual phonemic restoration paradigm was used to assess neural signatures (event-related potentials [ERPs]) of audiovisual…

Response control or inhibition is one of the cornerstones of modern cognitive psychology, featuring prominently in theories of executive functioning and impulsive behavior. However, repeated failures to observe correlations between commonly applied tasks have led some theorists to question whether common response conflict processes even exist. A…

In four experiments, we investigated the impact of letter case (lower case vs. UPPER CASE) on the processing of sequences of written words. Experiment 1 used the rapid parallel visual presentation (RPVP) paradigm with postcued identification of one word in a five-word sequence. The sequence could be grammatically correct (e.g., "the boy likes…

Haptics in the sense of active touch, as well as internally felt bodily sensations, add an important dimension to learning sessions at historical sites. Drawing on observations of primary school pupils visiting historical sites in Sweden, and interviews with pupils, teachers, and site educators following the visits, this study investigates in…

The objectives of this study are to elicit perceptions that Chinese users of English have towards a selection of world English varieties; to determine the effects of speaker gender and visual primes (ethnic faces) on perceptions; and also to reveal how these two factors interact with each other. In the present experiment, 278 respondents were…

Autism spectrum disorder is a pervasive neurodevelopmental disorder that has been linked to a range of perceptual processing alterations, including hypo- and hyperresponsiveness to sensory stimulation. A recently proposed theory that attempts to account for these symptoms, states that autistic individuals have a decreased ability to anticipate…

Sound symbolism refers to non-arbitrary mappings between the sounds of words and their meanings and is often studied by pairing auditory pseudowords such as "maluma" and "takete" with rounded and pointed visual shapes, respectively. However, it is unclear what auditory properties of pseudowords contribute to their perception as…

This study is one of the first to explore the use of (drawn) visual vignettes in qualitative research in Africa. The vignette method was used to discuss the sensitive topic of people's attitudes towards people with albinism in Tanzania among high school students. Focus was on two key questions: (i) To what extent was the vignette method…

Color. Carpets. Configurations. The classroom can create a sense of safety, calm, and invitation to learn if designed correctly. Authors and educators Nancy Frey, Douglas Fisher, and Dominique Smith describe their journey to making their school's classrooms trauma-informed and safe, inviting spaces for students.

To learn a language infants must learn to link arbitrary sounds to their meaning. While words are the clearest example of this link, they are not the only component of language; morphological regularities (e.g., the plural -s suffix in English) carry meaning as well. Comprehensive theories of language acquisition must account for how infants build…

Recent studies have suggested that individuals who exhibit heightened sensitivity also exhibit higher rates and severity of restricted interests and repetitive behaviours. This line of research has been conducted almost exclusively through caregiver reports of sensitivity. Here, a more rigorous psychophysics paradigm was applied to assess sensory…