Theory on achievement goals favours a trichotomous model encompassing learning goals, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance goals. Performance-avoidance goals are associated with lower achievement compared to performance-approach and learning goals. The present study investigated the predictions of this model as regards achievement after…

The chief concern of this dissertation is to investigate a fundamental, yet unsolved problem within the phonology of Proto-Indo-European (PIE): the process of syllabification. I show that by analyzing the much more easily reconstructable word-edge clusters we may predict which types of consonant clusters can occur word-medially, provided that we…

The Admitted Student Questionnaire Plus (ASQ[superscript +]) is a standardised measure that provides an analysis of the student's college selection process. Among other things, the instrument inquires about the importance of 16 college characteristics, followed by quality ratings of specific colleges that the student considered on these same…

Two experiments examined preschoolers' ability to learn novel words using others' expertise about objects' nonobvious properties. In Experiment 1, 4-year-olds (n = 24) endorsed individuals' labels for objects based on their differing causal knowledge about those objects. Experiment 2 examined the robustness of this inference and its development.…

In this reply to Baum, I emphasize that the failure to understand the processes associated with scientific verbal behavior may result in scientific statements like the generalized matching law that do not accurately reflect cause-and-effect relations.

We argue that the debate over the delay of Principle B effects needs to include an additional class of contexts: Evans-style or Exceptional Coreference contexts (ECCs) (e.g., "It's not true that no one voted for John. John[subscript 1] voted for him[subscript 1]"). Our experiment compares acquisition of regular Principle B contexts (B-contexts)…

Using a cross-lagged analytic framework, the present study examined (1) the relative salience of prior academic personal bests (PBs) in predicting subsequent engagement and achievement compared with (2) the relative salience of prior engagement and achievement in predicting subsequent PBs. Academic PBs, engagement, and achievement measures were…

A basketball bounced on a stiff surface produces a characteristic loud thump, followed by a high-pitched ringing. Describing the ball as an inextensible but flexible membrane containing compressed air, I formulate an approximate theory of the generation of these sounds and predict their amplitudes and waveforms. (Contains 3 figures.)

Contemporary embodiment theory's indexical hypothesis predicts that engaging in text-relevant activity while listening to a story will: (1) enhance memory for enacted story content; and, (2) result in relatively greater memory enhancement for enacted atypical events than for typical ones ([Glenberg and Robertson, 1999] and [Glenberg and Robertson,…

In the current study, we tested the embodied cognition theory (ECT). The ECT postulates mandatory sensorimotor processing of words when accessing their meaning. We test that prediction by investigating whether invisible (i.e., subliminal) spatial words activate responses based on their long-term and short-term meaning. Masking of the words is used…

Two experiments investigated how people perform category-based induction for items that have uncertain categorization. Whereas normative considerations suggest that people should consider multiple relevant categories, much past research has argued that people focus on only the most likely category. A new method is introduced in which responses on…

To date, it is unknown whether waist circumference can be measured validly and reliably when a subject is in a supine position. This issue is relevant when international standards for healthy participants are applied to persons with severe intellectual, sensory, and motor disabilities. Thus, the aims of our study were (1) to determine the validity…

Three experiments were conducted to explore the effects of different interference treatments upon outcome-specific transfer from predictive learning to instrumental responding. A computer game was designed in which participants had to defend Andalusia from navy and air-force attacks. Participants learned the relationship between two instrumental…

Many human interactions involve pieces of information being passed from one person to another, raising the question of how this process of information transmission is affected by the cognitive capacities of the agents involved. Bartlett (1932) explored the influence of memory biases on the "serial reproduction" of information, in which one…

Earthlearningidea was developed, without funding, to publish a new Web-based earth science teaching idea every week during the International Year of Planet Earth (2008); during 2009, publication continued, but at monthly intervals. The activities were mostly practically based and were aimed particularly at teachers and teacher educators in the…