A study investigated reconstructive recall for linguistic style. It was hypothesized that (1) features of linguistic style would be more difficult to recall than underlying content, (2) reconstructive errors would include stylistic forms recalled as standard forms when subjects lacked productive control of a particular feature of a style, and (3)…

Problem solving skills such as patterning facts, locating problems, separating problems and solutions, and presenting effective written products are essential to success in the business community. Facts can be patterned using a grid relating a problem's effect at the individual, group, situational, and organizational level. Such a grid tests each…

A study examined whether (1) there are untested indices of difficulty that can be used to enhance the accuracy of readability formulas, (2) the same readability formula can be used to assess the readability of text for mature and immature readers and for good and poor readers, and (3) some one model of the reading process or some synthesis of…

To provide a theoretical base for investigating the influence of inferential error on group decision making, current literature on both inferential error and decision making is reviewed and applied to the Watergate incident. Although groups tend to make fewer inferential errors because members' inferences are generally not biased in the same…

How people organize sensory data is influenced not only by their role as actor observer; the extent of their empathy for other actors; and the vividness, availability, representativeness, and negative impact of the data; but also by the culture from which it springs. To determine how the attributions people make are affected by culture, which can…

In studies examining the influence of recall on judgments, social psychologists have generally concentrated on the content of recalled material rather than on the process of recall. To investigate the impact of recalled behaviors (content) and the ease with which these behaviors came to mind (process) on assessment of one's own assertiveness, 158…

A study investigated the reading comprehension processes of gifted readers, specifically their use of comprehension strategies and their metacognitive awareness. Grade level differences in strategy use and metacognitive awareness were also examined. A standardized reading test and a metacognition questionnaire were administered to 100 gifted…

The Systems Thinking and Curriculum Innovation (STACI) project is a multi-year research effort intended to examine the cognitive demands and consequences of learning from a systems thinking approach to instruction and from using simulation-modeling software. This study tests the potentials and effects of integrating the systems approach into…

The purpose of this study was to examine the thinking underlying the questions posed by a science teacher to her seventh grade students in an instructional activity called Mind Games, in which hypothetical situations focussed on scientific issues are proposed and explored at least once during each major instructional unit. Mind games are conveyed…

The utilization of program evaluation may be made more effective by means of the application of contemporary persuasion theory. The Elaboration Likelihood Model--a model of cognitive processing, ability, and motivation--was used in this study to test the persuasive effects of source credibility and involvement on message acceptance of evaluation…

The development and use of item shells in the construction of a series of standardized tests of reading comprehension at the elementary school level are described. An item shell is an item that is devoid of specific content, but contains key words and a distinctive syntactic structure. The specific content of the item shell varies depending on the…

Over the past several years, one study after another has uncovered a positive relationship between interpersonal interaction and individual achievement. According to a handful of these studies, interaction is more effective than are individually-based strategies for promoting reasoning. We give our attention here to the link that possibly exists…

The research and development efforts performed by principal investigators under sponsorship of the Office of Naval Research Cognitive and Neural Sciences Division during 1988 are documented. The title, name and affiliation of the principal investigator, project code, contract number, current end date, technical objective, approach, and progress of…

A theory of learning based on recent insights from sociology and semiotics is explicated. Building on the work of Vygotsky, Dewey, Halliday, Barnes, Deely, Eisner, and others, this sociosemiotic model of learning is used as a frame of reference for thinking about the process by which texts are created from sensation. It is argued that the process…

To determine where U.S. citizens receive their political and current events knowledge, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) interviewed people at a Boston shopping mall. This preliminary report, the first in a series to examine the political knowledge gap between the affluent and the economically disadvantaged, examined…