Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) are characterized as having motor difficulties and learning impairment that may last well into adolescence and adulthood. Although behavioral deficits have been identified in many domains such as visuo-spatial processing, kinesthetic perception, and cross-modal sensory integration, recent…

Humans perceive a wide range of temporal patterns, including those rhythms that occur in music, speech, and movement; however, there are constraints on the rhythmic patterns that we can represent. Past research has shown that sequences in which sounds occur regularly at non-metrical locations in a repeating beat period (non-integer ratio…

Several studies have demonstrated that affective states influence the number of associations formed between remotely related concepts. Someone in a neutral or negative affective state might draw the association between "cold" and "hot", whereas someone in a positive affective state might spontaneously form the more distant association between…

Background: Our ability to look at structure and function of a living brain has increased exponentially since the early 1970s. Many studies of developmental disorders now routinely include a brain imaging or electrophysiological component. Amid current enthusiasm for applications of neuroscience to educational interventions, we need to pause to…

Speech utterances are phoneme sequences but may not always be represented as such in the brain. For instance, electropalatography evidence indicates that as speaking rate increases, gestures within syllables are manipulated separately but those within consonant clusters act as one motor unit. Moreover, speech error data suggest that a syllable's…

To best meet the needs of an increasingly diverse student population, we must develop an integrative writing pedagogy that is informed by what the cognitive and neurosciences have uncovered about learning so that our theories of learning and practices of instruction are consistent with our most current and accurate knowledge of the biological and…

Individuals with autism often show a fragmented way of perceiving their environment, suggesting a disorder of information integration, possibly due to disrupted communication between brain areas. We investigated thirteen individuals with high-functioning autism (HFA) and thirteen healthy controls using the metastable motion quartet, a stimulus…

The existence of persistent postconcussion symptoms (PPCS) is controversial, and there is ongoing debate as to whether the etiology of PPCS is psychogenic or physiogenic. In addition, there is a lack of agreement on diagnostic definitions of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and concussion and the terms are used interchangeably in the research…

In the United States 40% of all traumatic brain injuries (TBI) are in children under the age 14. This means a portion of the school age population is exposed to head injury every year. The effect this injury and experience can have on a child varies, but it is important for educators, counselors, and family to understand the psychosocial…

Long-term follow-up studies conducted during the K-12 school years suggest that challenges related to childhood traumatic brain injury (TBI) tend to persist or worsen over time. A 1999 survey of State Directors of Special Education revealed that most states had emerging initiatives for children with TBI and were expanding their capacity to serve…

The evolution of South African universities continues to be shaped by both apartheid and more recent post-apartheid policies. Yet the South African university system is mainly an elite, low participation and high attrition system, offering a medium quality education. Moreover, there is uneven attention to the opportunities that…

In line with the frontal hypothesis of aging, the ability to plan ahead undergoes substantial change during normal aging. Although impairments on the Tower of London planning task were reported earlier, associations between age-related declines and specific cognitive demands on planning have not been studied. Here we investigated the impact of…

In this special section, 9 studies and 6 commentaries make a unique contribution to the study of personality. They focus on the five-factor model and, in particular, one of those 5: conscientiousness. This trait has had astonishing success in the actuarial prediction of adaptive outcomes in adulthood and aging, but we have little understanding of…

The field of neuroscience has experienced enormous growth over the past few decades. Educators look to neuroscience to become better teachers; lawyers and judges explore the literature to gain insight into court cases; and marketers consider the use of brain scans to glean information about consumer preferences. With this increased interest in…

Secure, trusting bonds are essential if young people are to grow, learn, and thrive. But millions of modern youth are disconnected, struggling in overstressed families, depersonalized schools, and violent communities. Those most vulnerable because of maltreatment display behavior that increases their alienation from caring adults. How do adults…