Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the impact of cognitive load imposed by a speech production task on the speech motor performance of healthy older and younger adults. Response inhibition, selective attention, and working memory were the primary cognitive processes of interest. Method: Twelve healthy older and 12 healthy younger…

We examined whether eBooks for children (aged 3 to 8) available on the market can serve as a good support for language and literacy. This follows studies published 10 years ago, which showed that children's e-books are usually overloaded with multimedia effects that distract children from the storyline, and from language and literacy learning.…

Numerous studies have investigated how stress impacts veridical memory, but how stress influences false memory formation remains poorly understood. In order to target memory consolidation specifically, a psychosocial stress (TSST) or control manipulation was administered following encoding of 15 neutral, semantically related word lists (DRM false…

Retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) is the observation that retrieval of target information causes forgetting of related nontarget information. A number of accounts of this phenomenon have been proposed, including a context-shift-based account (Jonker, Seli, & Macleod, 2013). This account proposes that RIF occurs as a result of the context…

Executive function (EF) predicts children's academic achievement; however, less is known about the relation between EF and the actual learning process. Furthermore, more research is needed to better understand how different aspects of the learning environment interact with EF to influence learning. The current dissertation includes two studies to…

Initial learning can interfere with subsequent learning (proactive interference [PI]), but recent work indicates initial testing can reduce PI. Here, we tested 2 alternative hypotheses of this effect: Does testing reduce PI by constraining retrieval to the target list, or by facilitating a postretrieval monitoring process? Participants first…

Previous work shows that doing a continuous performance task (CPT) shifts attentional biases in neurotypical individuals towards global aspects of hierarchical Navon figures by selectively activating right hemisphere regions associated with global processing. The present study examines whether CPT can induce similar modulations of attention in…

We summarize the argumentative theory of reasoning, which claims that the main function of reasoning is to argue. In this theory, argumentation is seen as being essentially cooperative (people have to listen to others' arguments and be ready to change their mind) but with an adversarial dimension (their goal as argument producers is to convince).…

Objectives and Theoretical Frame: Previous research has established the role of proactive interference (PI)--when old knowledge interferes with acquiring new knowledge--in forgetting simple experimental materials like lists of words (Wickens, 1972), nonsense syllables (Keppel & Underwood, 1962), and word pairs (Postman & Keppel, 1977).…

The presentation of extraneous (i.e., irrelevant or unnecessary) information may hamper learning with multimedia. The present study examined whether people can learn to ignore unnecessary information with increasing experience with the task and whether this depends on the layout of that information. In two experiments, participants learned about…

Poor academic performance from extensive social media usage appears to be due to students' inability to multitask between distractions and academic work. However, the degree to which visually distracted students can acquire lecture information presented aurally is unknown. This study examined the ability of students visually distracted by social…

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of rhythm training in basketball on the lay-up skill and visual attention ability of 9-10-year-old school children. 56 primary school children (28 experimental groups and 28 control groups) receiving education in the Republic of Macedonia took part voluntarily in the study. At the beginning of the…

The article is devoted to the issue of learning from the cognitive perspective. As life-long learning is an integral part of our modern life, the authors were attracted by the phenomenon when even young people demonstrate cognitive "resistance" to learning. This particular study is focused on cognitive destructions as challenges to…

Using multimedia inside the English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom has been anticipated by several researchers and educators recently as a new necessary component of language learning. This is ascribed on the one hand to the continuous advancements in the new technological devices that might be used in presenting the various types of…

Much of the online education literature stresses the importance of teacher presence. The most common techniques used by online teachers to achieve presence are frequently posting written announcements, providing clear written instructions on assignments, offering students meaningful written feedback, and timely responding to emails. However, if…