Several papers have proposed that the grading system affects students' incentives to exert effort. In particular, the previous literature has compared student effort under relative and absolute grading systems, but the results are mixed and the implications of the models have not been empirically tested. In this paper, I build a model where…

This study examines the impact of fluctuations in the unemployment rate before high school graduation on educational attainment measured 30 years later. I find evidence that important heterogeneity is masked by estimating average effects across the ability distribution. Using data from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, this analysis…

Time and space represent two key aspects of episodic memories, forming the spatiotemporal context of events in a sequence. Little is known, however, about how temporal information, such as the duration and the order of particular events, are encoded into memory, and if it matters whether the memory representation is based on recollection or…

This study assessed the utility of a brief assessment (the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-4th Edition; PPVT4) as a proxy for verbal IQ (VIQ) in large-scale studies of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In a sample of 2,420 proband with ASD, PPVT4:IQ correlations were strong. PPVT4 scores were, on average, 5.46 points higher than VIQ; 79% of children…

Impaired insight is common in schizophrenia. Etiological models focusing on single determinants have not succeeded in explaining insight deficits. More complex models seem promising. This study tests Startup's (1996) model of insight and cognition, predicting a curvilinear relationship and specific insight-cognition configurations. Patients with…

The present article reviews the phenomenology of obsessive-compulsive checking, examining how action processing can be differentially affected across distinct checking subtypes. Checking is a normal phenomenon which ensures that an intended goal has been actually completed. Checking symptoms have consistently been connected to impairments in…

Individuals with disorders of the corpus callosum (DCC) may have subtle cognitive differences. Historically, confabulation has been associated with DCC. Therapies to mitigate confabulation is a newly emerging field. This study explores the possible educational implications that those with DCC may experience with confabulation. The community of…

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics domains draw heavily on spatial reasoning (NRC, 2006). One particular science thought to be especially spatially-complex is astronomy. Understanding astronomy requires using a "space-based perspective" to explain phenomena we see from an "Earth-based perspective." That is, it…

Spatial inscriptions of information--visualizations--can be a great asset to problem solving. Calendars and Cartesian graphs are two examples of visualizations that reorganize non-spatial information (temporal and quantitative) into a visual format. People readily rely on these visualizations to plan and see patterns, which intuitively attests to…

This study was an attempt to investigate Iranian EFL learners' private speech across proficiency levels and gender while doing reading comprehension tasks. Moreover, it was an attempt to examine the different forms of private speech produced by Iranian English learners. Six forms of private speech were coded and analyzed: affective markers,…

Students leaving the Japanese secondary education system have typically spent hundreds of hours studying English grammatical structures and memorizing vocabulary lists but relatively little time putting that knowledge to communicative use. This lack of language practice can result in feelings of anxiety when faced with compulsory university…

Material development is important for training beginner student interpreters, as it guides the direction of interpreting learning. One key principle is difficulty progression, which requires a good knowledge of the indicators of difficulty. Since text structure outweighs words and sentences in the information processing of consecutive…

Many undergraduate chemistry students struggle to understand the concept of stereoisomers, molecules that have the same molecular formula and sequence of bonded atoms but are different in how their atoms are oriented in space. Our goal in this study is to improve stereoisomer instruction by getting participants actively involved in the lesson.…

Standard Australian reading assessment tests are criticized for being culturally inappropriate for use with Australian Indigenous children, particularly for those living in remote and very remote regions, as these tests are culturally biased towards mainstream Australian culture and imperceptive to Indigenous knowledge, language, concepts, and…

Spatial ability has been shown the positive correlations with the mathematics achievement of typically developing children. However, whether there is a relationship between spatial ability and mathematics achievement in deaf children and the mechanisms that underlie the relationship remain unknown. 256 deaf children in Grades 3 to 9 in two special…