Two experiments investigated the development of fluency in interpreting adjective-noun phrases in 30- and 36-month-old English-learning children. Using online processing measures, children's gaze patterns were monitored as they heard the familiar adjective-noun phrases (e.g. "blue car") in visual contexts where the adjective was either informative…

This study examines the process by which a teacher may be able to answer a question asked in the classroom by using a scientific approach and a simple activity. This article examines a discussion of the question "Is space light or dark?" Priority in the discussion has been given to determining students' preconceptions about the interaction of…

Evidence has begun to accumulate showing that successful performance of event-based prospective memory (PM) comes at a cost to other ongoing activities. The current study builds on previous work by examining the cost associated with PM when the target event is salient. Target salience is among the criteria for automatic retrieval of intentions…

Previous research suggests that motor equivalence is achieved through reliance on effector-independent spatiotemporal forms. Here the authors report a series of experiments investigating the role of such forms in the production of movement sequences. Participants were asked to complete series of arm movements in time with a metronome and, on some…

In 3 experiments, we explored the accessibility of concepts of varying centrality as defined by the underlying events described in script-based passages. The accessibility of central concepts, as defined by event-relatedness, was compared to that of central concepts defined on the basis of the number of mentions in the text or based on their…

The use of proton NMR to determine the equilibrium position of tautomeric 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds in various solvents has been a classic physical chemistry experiment. We are presenting an expansion of the excellent description of this experiment by Garland, Shoemaker, and Nibler. Often the assumption is made that the keto tautomer is always the…

Research on the glyoxal clock reaction has led to adaptation of the clock reaction to a general chemistry experiment. This particular reaction is just one of many that used formaldehyde in the past. The kinetics of the glyoxal clock makes the reaction suitable as a general chemistry lab using a Calculator Based Laboratory (CBL) or a LabPro. The…

In 2 experiments, the authors investigated available but unattended information following working memory task demands. The experimental task presented a memory set containing exemplars from 2 conceptual categories. Following instructions to focus attention on only 1 category, priming of both categories was assessed with category comparisons of…

Cognition is a general term describing the mental capacities of an animal, and often includes the ability to categorize, remember, and communicate about objects in the environment. Numerous regions of the telencephalon (cerebral cortex and limbic system) are responsible for these cognitive functions. Although many researchers have used traditional…

This article presents our experience on teaching biochemical sciences through an innovative approach that integrates concepts of molecular cell biology and protein chemistry. This original laboratory exercise is based on the preparation of an affinity chromatography column containing F-actin molecules immobilized on chitin particles for purifying…

The question of whether or not linguistic sounds might convey inherent meaning has never conclusively been resolved. This is an empirical study weighing evidence for and against the existence of phonosemantics, also known as sound symbolism or iconism. Contrary to well established principles such as the arbitrary nature of the sign and the double…

Purpose: To test the hypotheses that adults who stutter will be slower in producing syntactically complex sentences than fluent adults and will benefit more from sentence-structure priming than will fluent adults. Method: Adults who stutter (n = 15) and fluent adults (n = 15) participated in 2 experiments. In Experiment 1, adults in both groups…

We present calculations of ion-atom collisions using a partial-wave expansion of the projectile wavefunction. Most calculations of ion-atom collisions have typically used classical or plane-wave approximations for the projectile wavefunction, since partial-wave expansions are expected to require prohibitively large numbers of terms to converge…

Uncertainty may be an important component of the motivation provided by learning games, especially when associated with gaming rather than learning. Three studies are reported that explore the influence of gaming uncertainty on engagement with computer-based learning games. In the first study, children (10-11 years) played a simple maths quiz.…

This paper describes a simple, rapid and low-cost technique for growing bacteria (or other microbes) in an environmental gradient, in order to determine the tolerance of the microbial population to varying concentrations of sodium chloride ions, and suggests how the evolutionary response of a microbial population to the selection pressure of the…