Limits of graphic display design component variation based on cognitive tolerance for imprecision were investigated using compatibility functions. The compatibility function is an empirical definition of a perceptual category representing the grade of membership of an implied physical attribute into a corresponding conceptual category, measuring…

This book, describing the result of extended research on how charts/graphs convey information, develops a scheme for describing/analyzing information contained in graphs/charts. A psychological theory of knowledge of the reader and the mental events which occur in attempting to read a graphic display are the two focal points of the book. A…

Related research suggests that children may show some simple understanding of event covariations by the early elementary school years. The present experiments use a rule analysis methodology to investigate covariation judgments of children in this age range. In Experiment 1, children in second, third and fourth grade judged covariations on 12…

Group treatment based on cognitive-behavioral and social problem solving strategies has been found to produce significant improvement in aggressive children. To investigate the association between clients' initial behavioral and subjective characteristics and the degree of improvement displayed on behavioral measures over the treatment period, 76…

Using data collected from 44 college faculty members, a study investigated the personality characteristics of writers, the ways in which highly productive writers differ from less productive ones, differences in writing strategies, and underlying motivations to write. The subjects were all male, tenured faculty members of a midwestern university…

Self-report research has inconclusively linked complaints of poor memory functioning, memory performance, and intellectual ability with depression in older adults. In order to investigate more conclusively the correlation between these variables as well as to investigate the effect of age differences, 159 older adults (49 young-old, aged 55-70; 60…

Cognitive processes, particularly in regard to negative content schemata, seem to play an instrumental role in the development and maintenance of depression. In order to better understand the nature of negative schemata in depressed individuals, both depressed and nondepressed subjects participated in two studies in which they were required to…

Recent studies of self-referent cognition have demonstrated that people process information about themselves more efficiently than other kinds of information. To investigate latency effects in self-referent decision-making, 60 college students participated in a three phase study. In phase one, each subject chose the trait within a pair that best…

To measure how the complexity of a television image affects the viewer's ability to identify or recognize visual details within the image, two coders rated the form complexity of 30 public service announcements, basing their evaluation on the familiarity of the images in the announcements, the rate at which they presented new information, and the…

In an exploratory study of peak communication experiences (PCEs), 36 male and 50 female undergraduates from a speech communication course were asked to describe their PCEs using 19 descriptors derived from A. Maslow's model of the generalized peak experience. Two-thirds or more of both sexes used 10 of these 19 descriptors to characterize their…

Learning strategies can be defined as behaviors and thoughts in which a learner engages and which are intended to influence the learner's encoding process. Thus, the goal of any particular learning strategy may be to affect the way in which the learner selects, acquires, organizes, or integrates new knowledge. Good teaching includes teaching…

Three concepts critically important in developing curricula for young children are play, thinking/creativity, and sustained interest. Through play, children explore the world; practice discovered relationships; and establish meanings for concepts, words, ideas, and actions. Teachers should actively focus on the learning potential of play.…

Readers as well as writers compose meaning. Using the same characteristics essential to effective writing--planning, drafting, aligning, revising, and monitoring--readers react creatively with the text. In response to the author's intention and their own knowledge base, they decide what they want to get from their reading. Constantly renegotiating…

Noting that although a great deal of empirical research has been done to investigate the writing rules commonly taught, this paper points out that no one has yet constructed a deep theory of the relationship between cognition and writing that confirms the writing rules and explains how they work. The paper then uses theories and research in the…

This paper presents preliminary results of research founded on the hypothesis that in real environments there exist regularities that can be idealized as mathematical structures that are simple enough to be analyzed. The author considered three steps in analyzing the encoding of modularity of the environment. First, a general information…