When semantically-related photos appear with true-or-false trivia claims, people more often rate the claims as true compared to when photos are absent--"truthiness." This occurs even when the photos lack information useful for assessing veracity. We tested whether truthiness changed in magnitude as a function of participants' age in a…

Students are known to have various difficulties in dealing with organic reaction mechanisms. A systematic classification of these difficulties appears necessary to design appropriate support. This paper presents insights into whether and how Bloom's revised taxonomy can be used to classify student difficulties in dealing with organic reaction…

The aim of this study is to evaluate the cognitive levels of pre-service science teachers according to Bloom's Taxonomy about "density" using daily life problems. The case study design was used in the study. This study was carried out with 45 pre-service teachers. In order to identify the cognitive levels of pre-service teachers about…

People's expectations help them make judgments about the world. In the area of spatial memory, the interaction of existing knowledge with incoming information is best illustrated in the category effect, a bias in positioning a target toward the prototypical location of its region (Huttenlocher et al., 1991). According to Bayesian principles, these…

Text comprehension involves the ability to understand how texts relate to the situation they describe and to each other (i.e., a Document model). Research into Document models has emphasized the role of information sources in structuring readers' mental models of situations. The present article reviews research on source comprehension and examines…

This paper argues that development of students' evaluative judgement capability, which encapsulates a range of cognitive and social skills, should be considered as a primary objective of the collaborative problem-solving assessment practices in engineering. This is a response to call for preparing job-ready students. To meet the multiple demands…

The intelligence community uses "structured analytic techniques" to help analysts think critically and avoid cognitive bias. However, little evidence exists of how techniques are applied and whether they are effective. We examined the use of the analysis of competing hypotheses (ACH)--a technique designed to reduce "confirmation…

It is well-documented that retrieval practice enhances the recall of simple and complex information (Karpicke and Aue in Educ Psychol Rev 27(2):317-326, 2015). Evidence is also accumulating that retrieval practice can enhance other cognitive processes such as the ability to critically evaluate research articles (Dobson et al. in Med Educ…

Social rewards and punishments are strong motivators. Since experimental work has focused on young adults using simplistic feedback, the effects of more naturalistic stimuli on motivation, evaluative learning, and socio-emotional processing with advanced age remain unclear. Therefore, we compared the effects of static (photos) vs dynamic (videos)…

Previous research is mixed regarding whether laypeople are sensitive to sample size. Here the author argues that this is in part because sample size sensitivity follows a curvilinear function with decreasing sensitivity as sample size become larger. This functional form reconciles apparent discrepancies in the literature, accounting for results…

It has been suggested that due to functional similarity, sortal object individuation might be a primordial form of psychological essentialism. For example, the relative independence of identity judgment from perceived surface features is a characteristic of essentialist reasoning. Also, infants engaging in sortal object individuation pay more…

The construct of cognitive discourse functions (CDFs) has been proposed as a bridge between linguists and educationalists, linking 'subject specific cognitive learning goals with the linguistic representations they receive in classroom interaction' (Dalton-Puffer 2013. "A Construct of Cognitive Discourse Functions for Conceptualising…

In this study, considering the effect of interactive learning environments on human cognition, we have examined extraneous processing effects of multimedia materials on cognitive load, metacognitive judgments and learning outcomes. This study examines Augmented Reality Learning Environments (ARLE) and Virtual Reality Learning Environments (VRLE)…

Students' capacity for making evaluative judgements of their own work is widely acknowledged as central to their learning within programmes as well as being vital to their subsequent professional practice. In higher education literature, the act of evaluative judgement is usually portrayed as a process of deliberative, analytical reasoning…

This paper builds on two concepts, the first of which is the extended information processing model of expert design cognition. This proposes twelve internal psychological characteristics interacting with the external world of expert designers during the early phases of the design process. Here, I explore one of the characteristics, hierarchical…