During social interactions, people's eyes convey a wealth of information about their direction of attention and their emotional and mental states. This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of past and current research into the perception of gaze behavior and its effect on the observer. This encompasses the perception of gaze direction…

This literature review focuses on the confirmed, suspected, and speculative effects of violent and non-violent video game exposure on negative and positive outcomes. Negative outcomes include aggressive feelings, aggressive thoughts, aggressive behavior, physiological arousal, and desensitization, whereas positive outcomes include various types of…

This article seeks answers to questions, such as how children's writing develops and how young students express themselves in writing at various stages of their development. This article reviews the literature through a wide lens as it examines elementary students' writing and is intended to lead to a more comprehensive understanding of…

This paper draws attention to the literature in the areas of learning, specifically, constructivism, conceptual change and cognitive development. It emphasizes the contribution of such research to our understanding of the learning process. This literature provides guidelines for teachers, at all levels, in their attempt to have their students…

This article serves two functions. First, it addresses why studying collaborative discourse and collaborative argumentation is important for promoting students' deep-level understanding of content. A literature review is presented examining the evidence for this claim, concluding that engaging in collaborative discourse and argumentation might…

Synchronous audiographic conferencing (SAC) refers to a combination of technologies for real-time communication and interaction using multiple media and modes. With an increasing institutional uptake of SAC, users require an understanding of the complex interrelations of multiple media in learning scenarios in order to support pedagogic-driven…

The literature on humor generally focuses on the nature of incongruities as the root of humor. In this article, the author takes the examination of humor one step further by meditating on the mental frame involved with humor. He is interested in what cultural experiences would predispose the individuals within a given culture to have a sense of…

The authors review research showing that when recalling autobiographical events, many emotionally disturbed patients summarize categories of events rather than retrieving a single episode. The mechanisms underlying such overgeneral memory are examined, with a focus on M. A. Conway and C. W. Pleydell-Pearce's (2000) hierarchical search model of…

This review synthesizes and critically examines 19 empirical studies that have addressed the domain-specificity/domain-generality issue in personal epistemology. We present an overview of traditional and more contemporary epistemological stances from philosophical perspectives to offer another basis from which to examine this issue. Explicit…

This article presents an introductory study of early-grade level geography education in terms of human ecology using accepted cognitive process and knowledge dimensions related to learning. The central question addressed is "at what cognitive process and knowledge levels do kindergarten and first-grade teachers teach geography?" A tentative answer…

This article was presented as the 2008 Wallace Foundation Distinguished Lecture at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association in New York City. It argues that, to generate robust and generative theories of human learning and development, researchers must address the range of diversity within human cultural communities. The…

This article critically reviews the literature that examines the anxiety phenomenon in the field of second/foreign language learning. A major theme that runs through this review is how anxiety comes into play in second/foreign language learning, and whether it is a central construct or only an add-on element that is negligible. Anxiety is defined…

Background: There is increasing interest in applying neuroscience findings to topics in education. Purpose: This application requires a proper conceptualization of the relation between cognition and brain function. This paper considers two such conceptualizations. The area focus understands each cognitive competency as the product of one (and only…

Dissociation is typically defined as the lack of normal integration of thoughts, feelings, and experiences into consciousness and memory. The present article critically evaluates the research literature on cognitive processes in dissociation. The authors' review indicates that dissociation is characterized by subtle deficits in neuropsychological…

The purpose of the present review of literature and research is to examine the benefits the arts provide as enhancements for teaching and learning provided for both educators and students in PK-12 school settings. The relationship between exposure to the arts and student achievement within the academic disciplines such as mathematics,…