Fourth-grade students learned a list of relatively complex English vocabulary words in two experiments. In both experiments, a keyword contextual method proved effective for enhancing children's acquisition of new vocabulary words. (Author/BW)

Explored the range and effectiveness of mnemonics employed by untrained older adults in two studies (N=73) and (N=33) involving predicting and reporting memory strategies. Results showed predicted memory performance and actual memory performance were not strongly related and point out possible interpretive problems associated with "do-nothing"…

Compared young and old intellectually superior individuals on Brown-Peterson memory tasks and in a switch and nonswitch condition of a Wickens paradigm. All memory interference in young adults could be attributed to retrieval difficulty, but a residual proactive deficit occurred in old adults. (Author/JAC)

A teaching method for enhancing rote memory ability is described. The use of a metronome was found to establish a tempo, or rhythm, which enabled children to learn multiplication tables more easily. (PHR)

Many studies have confirmed that mnemonic techniques facilitate the acquisition and retention of information. It was hypothesized that, through the reduction of errors in component memory for dimensions (hypotheses, cues, etc.), such techniques should improve performance on conceptual tasks. (Editor)

Defining successful intelligence as ability to adapt to environment to accomplish goals leads to radical reconceptualization of "good student." A project testing high school students for four kinds of achievement (memory, analytical, creative, and practical) discovered that students placed in instructional sessions matching their ability…

Investigates how early lexical processing (word recognition) could influence reading. Finds that less-proficient readers could not finish the task of word recognition within time limits and their accuracy rates were quite low, whereas the proficient readers processed the physical words immediately and translated them into meanings quickly in order…

The accuracy of recall and use of appropriate rehearsal strategies was compared for learning-disabled and low-achieving adolescents. There was little difference in performance between the two groups; both groups tended to employ appropriate executive strategies. (Author/DB)

Uses a think-aloud protocol to investigate how a professional actor analyzes a script to discern the plans his assigned character is following. Shows that the actor attends not only to the meaning but also to such elements of the text as structure, punctuation, and linguistic devices to determine the character's internal states and specific…

Two experiments were conducted with 124 undergraduate and graduate students to investigate the interaction between strategy use and accessibility to relevant knowledge. Variations in relevant knowledge accessibility significantly affected strategy use on the first memorization trial, and ease of use on the first trial affected maintenance of the…

Two rule-based (truncation and contraction) abbreviation expansion encoding methods and 1 non-rule-based (random) method were evaluated for learning curve and retrieval speed with 66 adults. The truncation method resulted in faster retrieval than the other two methods. Results have implications for training users of augmentative communication…

Reports on an experiment that trained children in memorization by offering explicit feedback emphasizing relationships between strategy use and recall. Finds that the understanding of feedback predicts strategy maintenance if subjects can re-elaborate this information, and prior metacognitive knowledge helps determine the ability to integrate new…

Investigates whether undergraduate students could benefit, in terms of increased recall, by instruction in professional actors' learning strategies. Rules out the effort involved in generating elaborations as the primary operative mechanism behind verbatim recall. Indicates that a specific form of perspective taking, termed "active experiencing,"…

Evaluated the contribution of rule, exemplar, fragment, and episodic knowledge in artificial grammar learning using memorization versus hypothesis testing training tasks in 5 experiments involving a total of 163 college students. There was no evidence that memorization led to abstraction of rules or encoding of whole exemplars. Results support an…

Evaluated procedures applying person-fit indices to identify individuals who had previously memorized test items in computerized adaptive-testing situations. All of the indices studied showed little power to detect the use of memorization. Discusses possibilities for altering a test when the model becomes inappropriate for an examinee. (SLD)