This response to Gersten and Dimino (EC 606 357) proposes that difficulties with both whole language and direct instruction of students with learning disabilities can be avoided with a model of instruction based on research in cognition and metacognition. Three techniques are discussed, including situated cognition, cognitive strategy instruction,…

Through experimentation, concurrent articulation was demonstrated to impair native English subject's ability to compare the internal stress patterns of written words. It was determined that the articulators' movements specifically affected stress analysis of words and this reflected postlexical, off-line processing. (25 references) (JL)

Investigated extent to which cognitions mediate relationship between negative life events and depression. College students and their same-sex parents and grandparents (n=171) completed measures of stressful life events, automatic thoughts, dysfunctional attitudes, and depression. Found interaction between negative life events and cognition for…

Study investigated how new technology affects the working procedures and mental activity of industrial machinists, examining how machinists learn to use computer numerical control technology. Results indicate areas of cognitive difference requiring further study (e.g., differences in conceptualization, formalization, and perspective, and shifts to…

Administered Lifestyle Assessment Questionnaire to 575 matriculating college freshmen to explore mean subscale differences across gender and to examine interrelationships among 11 subscales. Found 11 subscales to be highly intercorrelated; subscales appeared to measure underlying behavioral wellness and cognitive wellness dimensions. (Author/NB)

Literature concerning "idiots savants" is reviewed, and various theories and possible explanations are discussed, as are common areas of expertise and cognitive traits. Several case studies are used to illustrate the possible relationship between autism and idiots savants. Educational implications of these findings are considered.…

This article reviews the research on components of problem solving including two mechanisms for fostering transfer of problem-solving strategies, low-road transfer and high-road transfer, and two types of content (domain specific and higher order thinking). Exploratory research on low-road transfer of higher-order thinking is summarized.…

This first installment in a series of edited transcripts based on a conference held at Utah State University in 1987 reviews the main points of Gagne's Learning Theory. Categories of human performance that are discussed include verbal information, intellectual skills, cognitive strategies, attitudes, and motor skills. (Three references) (LRW)

Three hypotheses accounting for individual differences in spatial visualization ability were investigated in 2 experiments with 142 male undergraduates at Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta). Support was found for the preservation-under-transformation hypothesis, suggesting that effectiveness of storage during concurrent information…

It is proposed that, contrary to existing views, medical expertise is not as much a matter of superior reasoning skills or in-depth knowledge of pathophysiological states as it is based on cognitive structures describing the features of prototypical or actual patients. Evidence supporting the theory is examined. (Author/MSE)

Explores whether children acquire semantic structures from early book reading experiences by examining similarities between discourse structures of stories read to and written by two small children. The generative relationship of prototypic and derived stories is demonstrated by the high correspondence between both constituent structure and…

Free-recall memory performance of and spontaneous strategy use by 227 field-dependent and field-independent undergraduates were investigated by means of memorized word lists that were high or low in inherent organization and when cognitive strategy instruction was provided or withheld. Results are consistent with current views of field-dependence…

To test the cross-cultural generality of relational-models theory, 4 studies with 70 adults examined social errors of substitution of persons for Bengali, Korean, Chinese, and Vai (Liberia and Sierra Leone) subjects. In all four cultures, people tend to substitute someone with whom they have the same basic relationship. (SLD)

Investigation of the relationship between short-term memory (STM) and working memory (WM) with 75 children and adults with learning disabilities and 86 children without learning disabilities concluded that STM and WM reflect different processes, both of which seem to separate the 2 ability groups. Both STM and WM were related to reading…

A total of 403 black, inner-city infants born to women recruited prenatally on basis of their alcohol consumption during pregnancy were assessed on a battery of tests focusing on information processing and complexity of play. Increased prenatal alcohol exposure was associated with longer fixation duration, a result indicative of less efficient…