Purpose: To examine the efficacy of Fast ForWord Language (FFW-L) and 2 other interventions for improving the phonemic awareness and reading skills of children with specific language impairment with concurrent poor reading skills. Method: A total of 103 children (age 6;0 to 8;11 [years;months]) with language impairment and poor reading skills…

The vigilance reinforcement hypothesis (VRH) asserts that errors in signal detection tasks are partially explained by operant reinforcement and extinction processes. VRH predictions were tested with a computerized baggage screening task. Our experiment evaluated the effects of signal schedule (extinction vs. variable interval 6 min) and visual…

This study examines how listener judgments of second language speech relate to individual differences in listeners' phonological memory, attention control, and musical ability. Sixty native English listeners (30 music majors, 30 nonmusic majors) rated 40 nonnative speech samples for accentedness, comprehensibility, and fluency. The listeners were…

In the past years, an increasing number of studies have investigated executive functions as predictors of individual differences in mathematical abilities. The present longitudinal study was designed to investigate whether the executive functions shifting, inhibition, and working memory differ between low achieving and typically achieving children…

In daily life (e.g., in the work environment) people are often distracted by stimuli that are clearly irrelevant to the current task and should be ignored. In contrast, much applied distraction research has focused on task interruptions by information that requires a response and therefore cannot be ignored. Moreover, the most commonly used…

Temperamentally exuberant children may be at risk for emotion regulation problems, but this may also depend on their capacity for effortful control. To examine this issue, we assessed 72 typically-developing 3- to 5-year-olds. Child exuberance, effortful control, and emotion regulation were assessed via maternal report and observations of child…

Duncan et al. (2007) presented a new methodology for identifying kindergarten readiness factors and quantifying their importance by determining which of children's developing skills measured around kindergarten entrance would predict later reading and math achievement. This article extends Duncan et al.'s work to identify kindergarten readiness…

A number of studies have documented the cognitive outcomes associated with bilingualism. To gain a clear understanding of the extent and diversity of these cognitive outcomes, the authors conducted a meta-analysis of studies that examined the cognitive correlates of bilingualism. Data from 63 studies (involving 6,022 participants) were extracted…

This study examines the relationship between a critical learning outcome of behavioral fluency and endurance, by comparing the effects of two practice procedures on multiplication facts two through nine. The first procedure, called whole time practice trial, consisted of an uninterrupted 1 minute practice time. The second procedure, endurance…

The following is a pilot study examining the impact of the Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education (CARE) program on a group of pre-school and elementary school teachers (n = 11). CARE is a professional development program that utilizes mindfulness practices and emotional awareness skills designed to reduce stress and improve teaching…

The long-term effects of the Cues intervention to reduce anxiety and enhance the interactive behavior of mothers of very low birth weight (VLBW) infants were investigated. A randomized trial comparing the Cues intervention to an attention control condition was conducted. A total of 122 mothers of newborns weighing less than 1,500 g were…

Sustained attention is modulated by the neurotransmitter noradrenaline. The balance of dopamine and noradrenaline in the cortex is controlled by the DBH gene. The principal variant in this gene is a C/T change at position-1021, and the T allele at this locus is hypothesised to result in a slower rate of dopamine to noradrenaline conversion than…

The present study used a person-centered latent variable approach to classify types of perfectionism among 6th-grade African American children living in an urban setting. In particular, the authors were interested in determining whether an adaptive subtype could be found and validated against external criteria. The authors also attempted to…

The objective of this study was to examine the level of agreement between child- and caregiver-reports of the child's psychosocial problems presenting to a Pediatric Emergency Department (PED) using a validated screening tool. This was an anonymous, prospective, cross-sectional, multi-informant (child and caregiver) study assessing cognitive,…

Universities and colleges are very interested in understanding the factors that influence their students' academic performance. This paper describes a study that was conducted at a mid-sized public university in the mid-south, USA, to examine this issue. In this study, the 10-scale, Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI) (Weinstein et…