The steps of a task analysis research program designed to identify the in-session performances involved in resolving lingering bad feelings toward a significant other are described. A rational-empirical methodology of repeatedly cycling between rational conjecture and empirical observations is demonstrated as a method of developing an intervention…

Examines procrastination by college students (30 women, 7 men) of academic and nonacademic tasks at beginning and end of semester. Analysis found that procrastinated tasks early in the term were more effortful and anxiety provoking than other tasks during the term. Results imply that academic and nonacademic tasks should be challenging, yet fun,…

Reports the findings of a cross-sectional study that investigated the acquisition of relative clauses by 27 Tamil-speaking children who ranged in age from 2 years and 11 months to 6 years and 6 months. A picture-cued production task was used to elicit relative clauses from the child subjects. (Author/VWL)

In two masked priming experiments with Chinese characters, orthographic priming effects were observed in lexical decision and naming tasks despite the fact that the primes were phonologically unrelated to the target characters. Data suggest that the recovery of lexical information for Chinese characters does not depend on the prior activation of…

Analyzes the concept of civilization as it is construed in anthropology and history, and uses the various dimensions as a frame for understanding how children grasp and make active use of the concepts in their interpretation of historical information. Subjects were 9-year-old students whose understanding and use of the notion of civilization was…

Functional neuroimaging of bilinguals and monolinguals used in conjunction with experimental cognitive tasks has been successful in establishing functional specialization as a principle of brain organization in humans. Consistent results show that attained proficiency and possibly language exposure are more important than age of acquisition as a…

Addresses the question of whether there are different characteristics and language performance conditions (involving assumed different levels of cognitive demand) associated with different levels of fluency, complexity, or accuracy in test candidate responses. Participants were pre-university students taking English courses. (Author/VWL)

This study investigated students' allocation of responding as a function of task difficulty and type of reinforcement contingency (i.e., accuracy based or time based). Four regular education fourth-grade students were presented with two identical stacks of easy and then difficult math worksheets using a reversal design. Regardless of condition,…

We evaluated computerized training and testing programs with children who were having difficulties learning prereading skills. The programs were derived from equivalence research and were written in authoring software designed for educators. After learning to match uppercase and lowercase printed letters to the corresponding letter names (Tasks 1…

Organizing and designing Learning Center activities requires planning so that students are engaged in meaningful learning tasks and the tasks are differentiated for varied learning levels. In this article, suggestions for designing and managing Learning Centers, including a Center for small group instruction, are described. Finally, ideas for…

Background: The study is concerned with the cognitive abilities of children with specific language impairment (SLI). Previous research has indicated that children with SLI demonstrate difficulties with certain cognitive tasks despite normal non-verbal IQ scores. It has been suggested that a general processing limitation might account for the…

In the novel noun generalization task, 2 1/2-year-old children display generalized expectations about how solid and nonsolid things are named, extending names for never-before-encountered solids by shape and for never-before-encountered nonsolids by material. This distinction between solids and nonsolids has been interpreted in terms of an…

Highlights identified patterns of pupil perception observed during an experimental study concerning 10-year-olds who were supporting one another in small groups of three as they were verbally preparing for an argumentative writing task. Exemplifies the perspective-taking strategies used by participants to assist each other and make themselves…

Engineering Design is rightfully regarded as a key element within all university Engineering courses and most laboratory assignments and project work seek to optimise the student's acquisition of knowledge and understanding of this process. Within this paper Engineering Design has been classified into a new "hierarchy of task level" each…

Background: The delayed oculomotor response (DOR) task requires response inhibition followed by movement of gaze towards a known spatial location without a current stimulus. Abnormalities in response inhibition and in the spatial accuracy of the eye movement are found in individuals with schizophrenia and in many of their relatives, supporting the…