The brain is the organ of knowledge and the organizer of human abilities, the means of recognizing a face in a crowd, of conversing about experiences and images, of forming thoughts and developing ideas, and of instantly understanding words coming rapidly in conversation. This book seeks to explain how the brain accomplishes all that it does.…

For many African American children from low-income backgrounds, cognitive performance can be enhanced in contexts thematically characterized by aspects of Afro-cultural ethos. This report presents and describes the results of six experimental studies (two studies on each) of three cultural themes of primary interest: movement, communalism, and…

This yearbook sharpens the views of mathematical reasoning and its development at all grade levels. Various perspectives about the nature of reasoning and addresses the many issues and concerns involving mathematical reasoning such as how learners reason in mathematics, how communication promotes reasoning, how teachers gather evidence of student…

The comparability of computerized and paper-and-pencil tests was examined from cognitive perspective, using verbal protocols rather than psychometric methods, as the primary mode of inquiry. Reading comprehension items from the Graduate Record Examinations were completed by 48 college juniors and seniors, half of whom took the computerized test…

The Communication Technology and Policy section of the proceedings contains the following 6 selected papers: "Interactivity as a Cognitive Process" (Mark Tremayne and Sharon Dunwoody); "Breaking Up News--An Investment in the Future? Correlations among Hypertext Comfort, User Satisfaction and Perceived Credibility" (Stephanie…

This paper argues that successful programs for students with learning disabilities provide ongoing, intensive, explicit, and direct instruction in learning strategies that enable students to become independent learners. It then describes SMARTER teaching, a method developed to help teachers shift their approaches to teaching to make them more…

The demise of the behaviorist paradigm and the rise of the social, cognitive, and interactionist models of second language acquisition (SLA) have led to the understanding that constructivist mechanisms are part of the process. Given the variety of empirical findings and understandings research in the field has yielded, this study attempts to offer…

The problem-solving strategies used by 10 radiologists and 10 radiology residents during the interpretation of difficult mammograms were examined under two experimental conditions. In the "authentic" condition, standard unmarked mammograms were used. On a second set of the same cases for the "augmented" condition, mammographic…

One hundred eighty children from Grades K, 5, and 9 performed a recall task within one of four instructional conditions: serial recall; standard free recall; labeling free recall; labeling cued recall. (Editor)

A discussion of research on the use of the task analysis procedures by both content specialists and instructional psychologists in instructional design. (HB)

Factors examined in this study indicate that group guidance experiences are an important agent of change in self concept, particularly in the way a person perceives how others see him. (RJ)