It is difficult to give a precise meaning to the term "concept" because to specify any sense to the term is already to be using concepts. It is impossible to talk about concepts without at the same time having made epistemological and metaphysical commitments. If the epistemological and metaphysical commitments are inadequate, then the…

Four experiments studied 4- to 6-year-old children's understanding of inferential reasoning as a source of knowledge. To assess understanding that knowledge of relevant premises leads to knowledge of the conclusion, children had to judge the knowledge of another person, who was presented to the child as being aware of two premises. (Author/BN)

Children's memory for a standardized, hierarchically organized event was tested in two experiments. Results indicated that the rudiments of a hierarchical structure had emerged after a single experience. Results are discussed in terms of implications for the development and organization of event memories. (PCB)

Reported are two studies which describe the early development in children of the ability to consider every one of an array of instances. Taken together with other recent studies, the data reveal early development in preschool children of a fundamental, general problem solving skill. (PCB)

Hypothesizes that writing systems affect cognitive strategies at a deeper level of human information-processing than is generally accepted in present day psychology. Discusses why almost all varieties of alphabets, syllabaries, and consonantal systems have been written to the left while vocalic systems have been written to the right. (JD)

Two experiments tested the hypothesis that scripts (event schemas) provide a basis for categorical structures in semantic memory. Significantly better memory and organization were achieved on slot-filler lists than on either taxonomic or complementary lists, suggesting that slot-filler categories are more available in preschoolers' semantic…

Focuses on understanding mental models people develop for judging veracity. Hypothesizes that individual differences in models predict participants' attributions and confidence in making attributions. Indicates that participants' mental models for detecting deception are detailed, changing, and idiosyncratic, varying in structure and degree of…

Answers Burn's question related to a previous study on the nature of knowledge about abstract algebra. Claims that a previous paper presents research that attempts to contribute to knowledge of how students' understanding of certain group concepts may develop instead of teaching abstract algebra with the computer software ISETL. (ASK)

A high school sophomore and a graduate student completed the Occu-U-Sort. Cognitive mapping with concurrent verbalizations showed how the task elicits different cognitive structures in novices and experts. Uses of the card sort for diagnosing career problems and prescribing interventions were identified. (SK)

Claims that people determine whether something is a member of a given artifact kind by inferring that it was successfully created with the intention that it belong to that kind. Discusses function-based and intentional-historical accounts of artifact concepts. Concludes that a rich set of inferential capacities is needed to constitute a theory of…

Reports on connectionist models that simulated the formation of global-level and basic-level representations in young infants; revealed a global-to-basic order of category emergence; uncovered formation of two global-level representations--initial "self-organizing" perceptual level and subsequent "trained," non-perceptual…

Competency-based education (CBE) has moved from observing task performance to the cognitive structures underlying performance. This appropriation of cognitive psychology has not reconciled differences in definitions of competence. Instead, it is used to explain the purposes of CBE in meeting the needs of industry, supplanting any other values that…

Cognitive research findings depict learning as an active, constructivist, cumulative, and self-regulated process leading to the development of understanding and complex, skilled performance. Nurse educators can use these findings to design courses reflecting complex performance, providing for collaborative learning, encouraging student reflection…

Compares science and technology in terms of approach to the natural world; aims, goals, and purposes; and knowledge structures and content. Concludes that the goal of technology is better viewed as production of things, products, processes, or systems to alter the natural world. (SK)

Discusses racism from disease perspective. Posits underlying schema of irrelevance as cognitive structure acquired in childhood to cope with inconsistent data of racial oppression in ideologically egalitarian society. Sees schema coming into conflict with diversity in U.S. life and individual manifesting disease symptoms. Utility of group…