When observers are presented with 2 targets in rapid succession, identification of the 1st is highly accurate, whereas identification of the 2nd is impaired at brief intertarget intervals (i.e., 200-500 ms). This 2nd-target deficit is known as the attentional blink (AB). According to bottleneck models, the AB arises because attending to the 1st…

We compared results of descriptive and functional analyses of problem behavior for 12 participants whose descriptive data have been reported previously (Thompson & Iwata, 2001). Results indicated that in only 3 of the 12 cases was problem behavior maintained by the consequence observed most frequently during the descriptive analysis. Attention was…

Two experiments tested predictions of the hemispheric coactivation model for redundancy gain (J. O. Miller, 2004). Simple reaction time was measured in divided attention tasks with visual stimuli presented to the left or right of fixation or redundantly to both sides. Experiment 1 tested the prediction that redundancy gain--the decrease in…

Memory impairment is a core feature in schizophrenia (SZ). The aim of this study was to investigate short-term memory (STM) and its sensitivity to distraction with visual-spatial material. This study comprised 23 recent-onset SZ patients and 23 healthy controls. The degree of disruption upon recall from interleaving irrelevant items within a…

Pain catastrophizing is generally viewed as an important cognitive factor underlying chronic pain. The present study examined personality and temperament correlates of pain catastrophizing in a sample of young adolescents (N = 132). Participants completed the Pain Catastrophizing Scale for Children, as well as scales for measuring sensitivity of…

The relationship between severe early institutional deprivation and scholastic attainment at age 11 in 127 children (68 girls and 59 boys) adopted from institutions in Romania was compared to the attainment of 49 children (17 girls and 32 boys) adopted within the UK from a non-institutional background. Overall, children adopted from Romania had…

Three variables (diagnosis, location of cues, and mental age of learners) influencing stimulus control and stimulus overselectivity were assessed with eight autistic children (mean age 12 years) and eight average children matched for mean age. Among results were that autistic subjects tended to respond overselectively only in the extra-stimulus…

Power Spectral Fast Fourier analysis of the scalp electroencephalogram was obtained from six locations in 69 children with learning disabilities without hyperactivity and 34 control children, during baseline and while performing reading, arithmetical, and spatial tasks. Significant EEG power and percent differences for specific frequencies were…

The contribution that attentional factors, listener biases, and other nonsensory variables make to stimulus dominance in a dichotic listening task was assessed by comparison of scores obtained in a conventional two-ear monitoring task and a yes/no target-monitoring task. Results suggested that nonsensory factors had little influence in determining…

A load theory of attention in which distractor rejection depends on the level and type of load involved in current processing was tested. A series of experiments demonstrates that whereas high perceptual load reduces distractor interference, working memory load or dual-task coordination load increases distractor interference. These findings…

Thirty preschool children (10 typically developing, 10 intellectually disabled and 10 hearing impaired) were videotaped during play. Data was collected for each participant group, covering the number, length and nature of social engagement opportunities (SEOs) and the children's attentional states during SEOs. The typically developing group had…

A recent meta-analysis found that across studies individual differences in aspects of children's emotionality predict social status [Dougherty, L.R., (2006). Children's emotionality and social status: a meta-analytic review. Social Development, 15, 394-417.]. In the present study we extended these findings by examining the emotion of interest and…

In search of strategies for increasing their pre-service teachers' thoughtful engagement with content and in an effort to model connection between choice of technology and pedagogical goals, the authors utilized collaborative software during class time. Collaborative software allows all students to write simultaneously on a single collective…

Gottlieb promoted the value of a developmental psychobiological systems approach to the study of human development. This approach recognizes the importance of comparative, animal-based research to advancing our understanding of the complexities and dynamics of the process of development. The major contribution of animal developmental studies is…

A theory is presented that attempts to answer two questions. What visual contents can an observer consciously access at one moment? Answer: only one feature value (e.g., green) per dimension, but those feature values can be associated (as a group) with multiple spatially precise locations (comprising a single labeled Boolean map). How can an…