Tested the ability of 19 older adults, given additional training in a mental imagination technique, to approach the performance of 16 younger adults on serial word recall tasks. Results indicated that negative age differences in older adults' performance were substantial, resistant to extensive practice, and applicable to all subjects. (BC)

Three experiments demonstrated that increasing the length of a mobile serial list impaired 6-month olds' memory for serial order. Findings indicated that the primacy effect was absent on a 24-hour delayed recognition test and was exhibited on a reactivation test, adding to growing evidence that young infants possess two functionally distinct…

This study investigated the impact of recency effect on multiple rule-based problem solving in an interactive multimedia environment. Forty-five college students were recruited and assigned to two groups: synchronized and unsynchronized interactive multimedia groups based on their spatial ability score. Results show that students in the…

A cross-sectional study that investigated memory variables in 100 subjects in 4 age ranges (17-22, 40-50, 60-70, and 75-99) found that the 60-70 year olds were more impaired with respect to retrieval than storage and the major problem with memory among the 75-99 year olds was retrieval from short- or long-term memory. Because the study was…

Factor analyses of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) have typically yielded three factors: two generally understood to reflect basic verbal and performance dimensions and one about which there is no consensus with regard to what is measured. The aim of the present study is to elaborate the meaning of the third factor by…

A study was performed to investigate the storage and retrieval dynamics that occur during paired-associate acquisition by means of the storage-retrieval separation technique discussed recently by Chechile & Meyer (1976). Thirty subjects learned an 18-item paired-associate list to a criterion of three perfect trials. In the test phase of each…

Mandler (1969) found that one-third of adult subjects were seriators and two-thirds were categorizers in a task where either strategy could be employed. Study 1 was a replication of his procedure with children from Grades 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9. While there was weak evidence that some older subjects chose the categorial strategy, there was little…

Students learned the numerical order of 14 U.S. Presidents through either a complex mnemonic strategy or their own technique. Performance pattern differences were detected between the groups, chiefly serial position profiles produced by those using their own techniques, and slower response time of subjects using mnemonic strategies. (Author/MBR)

Three experiments report additional evidence that it is a mistake to account for all interletter effects solely in terms of sensory variables. These experiments attest to the importance of structural variables such as retina location, array size, and ordinal position. (Author/PN)

A system of precategorized acoustic storage has accounted for the recency effect obtained in the immediate serial recall of sequences of digits, consonants, or syllables. Four experiments in recall of word sequences investigated fit to this model. A system of postcategorical lexical storage was concluded to explain the results. (Author/RD)

Discusses a study done using the Productivity Environmental Survey that reviews the learning style preferences of adults in a university setting. Twenty learning styles with three predictors were used. It was found that three styles (structure, evening, and afternoon preferences) were most effective. (Contains 20 references.) (MZ)

To investigate what children learn during computer programming instruction, students attending a summer computer camp were asked to recall either single lines or chunks of computer programs from either coherent or scrambled programs. The 16 subjects, ages 12 to 17, were divided into three instructional groups: (1) beginners, who were taught to…

Investigates the effects of acoustic similarity on memory span in 112 children four to 10 years of age. Acoustic similarity had progressively more effect on recall with increasing age. Implications for current theories of short-term memory and its development and for the use of acoustic similarity as an indicator of speech coding are discussed.…

The task group report presented in this publication is one of a series prepared by eminent psychologists who have served as consultants in the U.S.O.E.-sponsored grant study to conduct a Critical Appraisal of the Personality-Emotions-Motivation Domain. In order to achieve the goal of identifying important problems and areas for new research and…

The need for an empirically defensible means of sequencing instruction appears to have been the primary motivator for research into learning hierarchies. Four methods for generating candidates for learning hierarchies were reviewed: introspection, formal analysis, observation, and statistical "fishing." Experimental transfer of training…