This essay reviews progress in empirical economics since Leamer'rs (1983) critique. Leamer highlighted the benefits of sensitivity analysis, a procedure in which researchers show how their results change with changes in specification or functional form. Sensitivity analysis has had a salutary but not a revolutionary effect on econometric practice.…

Lavie and Torralbo (2010) present a response to the critique of load theory put forward by Tsal and Benoni (2010). We note that this response includes long discussions that dilute the major points of the debate and deals only with the first experiment in Tsal and Benoni, and we question whether it covers the broader critique we offer. In our…

In "Replicating Milgram: Would People Still Obey Today?" Jerry M. Burger (see record 2008-19206-001) reported a high base rate of obedience, comparable to that observed by Stanley Milgram (1974). Another condition, involving a defiant confederate, failed to significantly reduce obedience. This commentary discusses the primary contributions of…

Load theory of attention proposes that distractor processing is reduced in tasks with high perceptual load that exhaust attentional capacity within task-relevant processing. In contrast, tasks of low perceptual load leave spare capacity that spills over, resulting in the perception of task-irrelevant, potentially distracting stimuli. Tsal and…

Comments on The dissemination and implementation of evidence-based psychological treatments: A review of current efforts by Kathryn R. McHugh and David H. Barlow. The lead article in the February-March issue by McHugh and Barlow (2010) emphasized the need for "dissemination and implementation of evidence-based psychological treatments."…

Whether it is a rapid-fire Twitter event as part of #ASEchat, or BBC Radio 4's "Inside Science," the discussion of practical work generates powerful debate. While it is right that the best use of practical work is continually discussed, its value in science teaching is without question. The level of discussion is being further heightened…

From an early age, so much emphasis goes into teaching children the fundamentals of color theory, in particular the primary colors of red, yellow, and blue. Toys, building blocks, furniture, and so many other items used in a preschool environment are manufactured in these three colors. Yet, recent research has uncovered that babies as young as…

On the basis of consistently finding significant overall costs to the ongoing task with a single salient target event, Smith, Hunt, McVay, and McConnell (2007) concluded that preparatory attentional processes are required for prospective remembering and that spontaneous retrieval does not occur. In this article, we argue that overall costs are not…

E. Dhooge and R. J. Hartsuiker (2010) reported experiments showing that picture naming takes longer with low- than high-frequency distractor words, replicating M. Miozzo and A. Caramazza (2003). In addition, they showed that this distractor-frequency effect disappears when distractors are masked or preexposed. These findings were taken to refute…

Comments on Deep-level diversity and leadership by Kristen M. Klein and Mo Wang. In the special issue on Diversity and Leadership (April 2010), the authors made a strong case for the importance of diversity in workplace leadership, rejected premature declarations that workplace discrimination is obsolete, and called for leadership theories that…

Are small and large numbers represented similarly or differently on the mental number line? The size effect was used to argue that numbers are represented differently. However, recently it has been argued that the size effect is due to the comparison task and is not derived from the mental number line per se. Namely, it is due to the way that the…

"Charting New Territory: Tapping Charter Schools to Turn Around the Nation's Dropout Factories" argues for a more prominent role for charter operators in turning around perennially low-performing high schools. However, the report's ultimate findings and conclusions are out of proportion to the strength of the research evidence on school…

Howe's (2009) critique of positivistic tendencies in the education research community is valuable and pertinent. His analysis is nonetheless one-sided, finding fault with one side of current divisions alone. In an effort to retain the good points of his analysis, the author first summarizes Howe's argument, interpreting it as a critique of hasty…

J. C. Ziegler, C. Perry, and M. Zorzi (2009) have claimed that their connectionist dual process model (CDP+) can simulate the data reported by S. O'Malley and D. Besner. Most centrally, they have claimed that the model simulates additive effects of stimulus quality and word frequency on the time to read aloud when words and nonwords are randomly…

This article focuses on the first school for indigenous girls in Algeria that opened in Algiers in 1845. The founder, Eugenie Luce, taught girls the rudiments--French language and grammar, reading, arithmetic, and Arabic, while the afternoon hours were devoted to sewing. This early focus on teaching French in order to achieve the "fusion of…