IQ Research bytes #3: Visual working memory and (C)APD or auditory (Ga) processing

# 3 in the Research Bytes series. A few tidbits from my afternoon coffee break skim of a few recent research articles:

• Holmes et al (2008) present results that support the role of the visual-spatial sketchpad (visual-spatial working memory - Gv/Gsm?) and mathematics achievement in elementary-aged children. Of interest is the suggestion that younger children may rely more on the visual-spatial working memory system when first learning mathematics and may switch to more verbally-mediated working memory strategies as they develop (get older). Some usual caveats - relatively small sample size suggests the need for replication. Also, it would have been nice if measures of other CHC constructs would have been included as predictors to reduce the problem of model specification error (aka., variable omission error). If nothing else, the introductory literature review and discussion provide good overviews of current research and theory regarding visual-spatial working memory and its role in mathematics achievement. I find the general consensus that the visual-spatial sketchpad may consist of two different components (visual cache and inner scribe) interesting.
  

• It is becoming very clear to me, an educational/school psychologist trained researcher, that important research continues to be published by researchers in the field of speech and language, esp. as it relates to auditory processing (Ga) abilities and assessment. Unfortunately there seems to be little professional cross-fertilization between these respective fields. That being said, I found a recent American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology (DeBonis, 2008) of particular interest re: what some researchers in this field perceive as the state-of-the art of central auditory processing disorders (CAPD). Of interest is the recommendation (that I was not aware of) that this class of learning disorders should be called "auditory processing disorders" (dropping the "central" term). I was a bit dismayed to see the list of representative auditory test batteries not include some reliable and valid Ga tests from a number of contemporary intelligence batteries (probably due to the lack of professional field cross-fertilization referenced above). More disappointing to me was my discovery that there apparently was some type of major "consensus conference on the diagnosis of auditory processing disorders in school-age children" that has apparently not crossed the radar screen in my professions journals. Darn...now I got another article to read.
  

Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, school psychology, speech pathology, language, CAPD, APD, Ga, auditory processing, ASHA, Gv, Gsm, visual-spatial sketchpad, working memory, executive function

Brain fitness field status report

Interested in brain fitness? Check out post re: Sharp Brains first "state of the software field" report at IQ's Corner sister blog (The IQ Brain Clock).


Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, education, school psychology, neuropsychology, brain fitness, neurotechnology, Sharp Brains, IQs Corner, IQ Brain Clock

Beyond IQ Project: Power Point slides now available

Due to a number of requests, I've posted a set of PowerPoint slides that supplement the Beyond IQ: A Model of Academic Competence and Motivation (MACM) Evolving Web of Knowledge (EWOK). This presentation can be viewed on-line or downloaded for educational and training efforts.

Yes...intelligence is important. But a complete understanding of school learning requires a much larger "big picture" perspective that examines the amount and quality of instruction and, as summarized by the Beyond IQ Project, attention to important non-cognitive (aka., conative) learner characteristics.

The slides can be accessed either under the IQ's Corner Information and/or IQ's Corner PPT Slideshow sections of this blog (on the left-hand side of the home page).

All current Beyond IQ related blog posts can also be accessed via the Beyond IQ term under the Labels heading (same side of home page).

Enjoy

Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, school psychology, neuropsychology, education, IQ, IQ tests, conative, motivation, learning, competence

Cognitive assessment and RtI: Excellent overview by Brad Hale

Kudos to Brad Hale for his well written explanation "Response to Intervention: Guidelines for Parents and Practitioners" at Wrightslaw. The article provides an excellent overview of RtI (Response to Intervention) and the use of cognitive/neuropsychological assessment during the Tier III component of RtI models.

Readers who want to consult the article Brad references (Hale et al., 2006), which is the primary foundation for his thoughts on the use of cognitive/neuropsychological assessment in an RtI framework, can find a copy (along with guest blog comments by John Garruto) by clicking here.


Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, school psychology, neuropsychology, IQ, IQ testing, IQ scores, RtI, response to intervention, special education, learning disabilities, dyslexia, dysgrapia, dyscalculia

More on academic ability conception: Popular press paying attention

Clearly Dr. Carol Dweck has hit a chord with her popular press book dealing with cognitive/academic ability conception (Mindset: the New Psychology of Success) You can now listen to her being interviewed on NPR (Students' View of Intelligence Can Help Grades)

Before everyone jumps on this useful construct as a panacea, I would urge readers to place this very solid research in a larger perspective...namely, a comprehensive Model of Academic Competence and Motivation (MACM).


Technorati Tags: psychology, motivation, Mindset, Carol Dweck, motivation, academic competence, academic motivaton, ability conception, Beyond IQ, school psychology, educational psychology, neuropsychology

IQ's Corner Recent Literature of Interest 3-28-08

This weeks recent literature of interest can be found by clicking here.

Technorati tags: teaching tool. psychology. educational psychology. school psychology.

IQ's Corner Recent Literature of Interest 3-22-08

This weeks recent literature of interest can be found by clicking here.

Technorati tags: teaching tool. psychology. educational psychology. school psychology.

On the road again

I'm on the road again for work-related business. I hope to start posting with some degree of regularity later this week. Thanks

Random Tidbits from the mind blogosphere 3-24-08

• Interesting post (with link to article) at regarding cognitive control networks in the brain.
• Thanks to Mind Hacks for the tip regarding the BBC Radio 4 series Am I normal?
• Kudos to Sharp Brains for its membership in the Scientific American Partner Network.
  

Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, school psychology, neuropsychology, neuroscience, cognition, normality

Ravens, PsychWiki and psychometrics

Dr. John Raven (yes of Raven's Progressive Matrices fame) has asked me to disseminate some new resource information to IQ's Corner readers.

First is the PsychWiki resource. Dr. Raven wants people to be aware of the new a virtual lab meeting feature, a place where he has a post regarding attempts to make progress on "a shift toward a new measurement paradigm in psychometrics."

Second is a new book he has "in press" - Uses and Abuses of Intelligence. Information regarding this publication can be found at the Eye On Society site.

Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, school psychology, neuropsychology, intelligence, IQ test, IQ score, Ravens Progressive Matrices, Gf

2008 ISIR intelligence conference

Registration is now open for the 2008 International Society for Intelligence Research (ISIR) conference in Decatur, GA. Click here for more information. I plan to be there this year. If you are a serious scholar in the field of human intelligence, this is THE conference to attend.

Technorati Tags: ISIR, conference, intelligence, IQ, IQ test, IQ score, educational psychology, school psychology, cognition, neuropsychology

Cognitive load theory for school psychologists: Guest blog post by Walter Howe

This is another post re: cognitive load theory (click here to view prior posts). Walter Howe, Director of Psychological Assessments Australia, has written an nice overview called "Cognitive Load Theory for School Psychologists." The lead intro follows below. If you want to read the entire article (6 pages), click here to view/download the entire pdf file. Thanks to Walter for taking the time to write this brief overview.

If any other folks are interested in making guest blog posts relevant to IQ's Corner...please let me know.

Intro to Cognitive Load Theory for School Psychologists

• Have you ever done something successfully, but not known exactly how you did it? It’s a common experience. It works, but we generally either cannot repeat this feat readily or transfer this performance to other, similar situations. We have performed a particular task successfully, but we haven’t really learnt a lot.
• In CLT, this one-off success isn’t learning (in other theories it is regarded as learning, and termed implicit learning or procedural knowledge). Learning only occurs when we have abstracted a series of steps and rules that we can repeat in similar situations or even teach others so they, too, can be successful. These rules and procedures are called schemas or schemata and they are stored in long-term memory. Novices, by definition, either don’t have a schema for a particular learning task or it is very unsophisticated. Experts, on the other hand, have many, very sophisticated schemas, which they apply without thinking (i.e. the application of these schemas has become automatic).
• CLT is concerned with how we learn or (in CLT terms), how we develop schemas and automate them and become experts. It applies to learning relatively complex material, as schema acquisition and development are generally unimportant for simple tasks, although how simple a task is depends both on the task itself and the individual who is learning how to do it successfully, as you will see

Technorati Tags: psychology, school psychology, educational psychology, neuropsychology, cognitive load, cognitive load theory, instructional psychology, instructional design, learning, working memory, cognitive efficiency, CHC theory

IQ's Corner Book Nook APA Reviews 3-18-08

A new issue of PsycCRITIQUES is available online.

• If you are a subscriber, please go to http://psycinfo.apa.org/psyccritiques and log in.
• If you would like subscription information, please go to http://www.apa.org/psyccritiques.
• If you have a subscription to the product and experience any access problems, please go to http://members1.apa.org/memhelp1.html.

---

March 19, 2008
Volume 53, Issue 12

Book Reviews
1.	Evidence-Based Outcome Research: A Practical Guide to Conducting Randomized Controlled Trials for Psychosocial Interventions Authors: Arthur M. Nezu and Christine Maguth Nezu (Eds.) Reviewer: Freddy A. Paniagua
2.	Essentials of Global Health Author: Richard Skolnik Reviewer: Connie Evashwick Case Studies in Global Health: Millions Saved Author: Ruth Levine and the What Works Working Group Reviewer: Connie Evashwick
3.	Marketing Public Health: Strategies to Promote Social Change (2nd ed.) Authors: Michael Siegel and Lynne Doner Lotenberg Reviewer: Stuart W. G. Derbyshire
4.	Understanding Health Promotion Authors: Helen Keleher, Colin MacDougall, and Berni Murphy (Eds.) Reviewer: Ajlina Karamehic
5.	Coalitions and Partnerships in Community Health Author: Frances Dunn Butterfoss Reviewer: Isidro Maya Jariego
6.	Reprogenetics: Law, Policy, and Ethical Issues Authors: Lori P. Knowles and Gregory E. Kaebnick (Eds.) Reviewer: Leslie M. Lothstein
7.	Youth Violence and Delinquency: Monsters and Myths Authors: Marilyn D. McShane and Frank P. Williams III (Eds.) Reviewers: Marios Constantinou, Natalia Pilipenko, and Maria Karekla
8.	The Jung–White Letters Authors: Ann Conrad Lammers and Adrian Cunningham (Eds.) Reviewers: Gabriel Rupp and Harold Jenkins
9.	Human Nature: The Categorial Framework Author: P. M. S. Hacker Reviewer: Keith E. Davis
10.	Handbook of Clinical Interviewing With Adults Authors: Michel Hersen and Jay C. Thomas (Eds.) Reviewer: James A. Moses, Jr. Handbook of Clinical Interviewing With Children Authors: Michel Hersen and Jay C. Thomas (Eds.) Reviewer: James A. Moses, Jr.
11.	The Prism of Grammar: How Child Language Illuminates Humanism Author: Tom Roeper Reviewer: Veda Brown
Film Review
12.	Beowulf Director: Robert Zemeckis Reviewer: Mary Ann Cook

Born to count?

Interesting post at Deric Bownds Mindblog re: article suggesting we have an innate number sense.

Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, school psychology, education, math, arithmetic, number sense, genetics, Gq, IQs Corner, Mindblog

Highlights of Sharp Brains brain fitness software report

More on the Sharp Brains first report on the status of the brain fitness software market...a list of highlights over at the Brain Injury News and Information Blog.


Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, aging, neuropsychology, neuroscience, brain fitness, neurotechnology, Sharp Brains

IQ's Corner Recent Literature of Interest 3-16-08

This weeks recent literature of interest can be found by clicking here.

Technorati tags: teaching tool. psychology. educational psychology. school psychology.

Random tidbits from the mind blogosphere 3-12-08

• Check out Visual Thinking, Imagery, and the Brain at the Eide Neurolearning blog.
• Magical Thinking post at the Mouse Trap.
• Thinking under pressure (aka., not chocking) at the Frontal Cortex.

Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, neuropsychology, neuroscience, mind blogosphere

Off task: Age of American Unreason

It is not often that I make postings re: books that are not central to the focus of IQ's Corner's mission. But, on occasion, I do read a stimulating book and would like to suggest others take a peak.

In addition to my recent book post about "The second civil war", today I'd like to draw attention to a book I just completed...a book that makes a good case (sometimes a bit over the top) for the trend towards anti-intellectualism and anti-reasoning in the U.S. culture. The book is the "Age of American Unreason" by Susan Jacoby. It is currently in the top 10 best selling books on the NY Times Book list (click here for review). If you, like I, are embarrassed at the lack of knowledge people demonstrate during Jay Leno's "Jaywalking", as well as the reports of just what our population does and does not know...you might enjoy this book. It is thought provoking.


Technorati Tags: psychololgy, books, Age of American Unreason, reasoning, intellectuals

State of the Brain Fitness Software Market - Sharp Brains 2008 report.

[This is a post I made at IQ's Corner sister blog - the IQ Brain Clock}

As I've mentioned previously, and also at IQ's Corner (click here), the Raph Nader of the emerging field of brain fitness software is Sharp Brains. I love their blog so much that I provide a feed of all their topic posts on the right-hand side of my IQ Brain Clock blog.

Sharp Brains just released their first "State of the Brain Fitness Software Market 2008" report. I would love to read it, but @ $495 the price is too step for me.

Kudos to the folks at Sharp Brains.


Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, neuropsychology, neurotechnology, brain fitness, Sharp Brains

More on cognitive load theory

Yet another journal article re: cognitive load theory. Clearly we folks interested in assessment should to more talking with those doing research in instructional design/psychology.


Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, education, cognitive load, instructional design, instruction, working memory, Gsm

Cognitive assessment and RTI: Shinn response, correction, plus...

My prior FYI post regarding the Kearns and Fuch's LDA presentation resulted in some spirited exchange over on the NASP listserv. The most detailed response came from Dr. Mark Shinn (see his mug shot to the left). Below are Mark's listserv comments "as is" (with some slight formatting changes by the blogmaster).

Mark was also gracious enough to provide me a full conflict of interest disclosure statement which can be found at the bottom of this post. Finally, I think I have a correction to make. In an email response on the NASP list, I suggested that Fuch's was a student of Dr. Stan Deno, who is widely considered as the father of CBM. Doug was a student at the U of M prior to my arrival, so I am not aware of the complete history. But, I now believe that Doug was not involved with Dr. Deno during the development of CBM. I believe Doug's doctoral mentor was the late and great Bruce Balow. However, Doug has been involved in researching various aspects of CBM as it relates to LD identification. Enough said....I don't have time to run down the lineage of all fellow U of M scholars.

Also, I want to make a statement re: one of the products that Dr. Shinn mentions in his COI statement...namely...AimsWeb. Of all the tools for continuous monitoring I've been most impressed with the AimsWeb product...just my two cents. Finally, I'm done commenting on this thread. Folks who want to track further developments should attend to the NASP listserv.

Mark Shinn responded to a members "exciting" response to my prior blog post re: the Kearns & Fuchs LDA presentation.

• Before going overboard with excitement, I'd encourage a careful read of the presentation.
• This is not about the role/importance of cognitive assessment in LD identification. In particular, this is not a presentation about ATIs.
• On slide 60, regarding the "potential concerns" note: "Many of the studies did not identify cognitive deficits at all" "When they did, they did not always use cognitive assessment"
• This is among a number of other weaknesses.
• Slide 62 states "The Use of Cognitive Assessment Has Potential (Their Emphasis) Benefit--"May" is not the same as "Does" and this review doesn't provide much of a compelling argument as to how or why I could go on and on, but it would not be a good use of time. Note, however, among a number of concerns...
• The authors seem to confuse the p value with impact...the lower the p, the greater the effect (slides 34, 42. Minnesota statisticians would be chastising beyond belief. Effect sizes were reported only on Slide 55. Only 10 of the 36 studies were judged to be of high quality while 14 were judged to be of low quality--not excluded, but still interpreted anyway. Subjects were unspecified, but IF the topic was the role of cognitive assessment in SLD, then one would presume that the studies would have SLD students as subjects. A few clearer are not targeted on SLD. For example, on slide 48, the students are 14 students with low WMRT scores. Slide 41 lists subjects as ADHD. Hmmmm.
• Dependent measures...Visuo-spatial working memory circles, Span Boards, Raven's Head movements (slide 34). Perhaps most importantly, the presentation reports results of cognitive "interventions," not cognitive assessments. Let's see Slide 31 Do cognitive interventions have a positive effect on cognitive outcomes?
• Slide 34 Findings: Students in intervention had greater Slide 35 Performance on cognitive tasks can be improved with a working memory intervention improvement in Slide 36 Cognitive interventions have a positive effect on cognitive outcomes Slide 37 Do studies with hybrid cognitive+academic interventions produce academic gains and on and on and on...
• As a final note, what is the difference between a "cognitive" intervention and an "academic intervention?" Seems like an artificial contrivance.

Dr. Shinn's COI statement: Mark R. Shinn, Ph.D. has commercial relationships with three companies. He serves as a paid consultant to Pearson Assessment as Chief Scientist for AIMSweb, a company created by Gary Germann and Steven Jennen that was sold to the Psychological Corporation in 2006. His responsibilities include contributing to software/product development and improvement and field testing. He does not receive royalties or commissions on AIMSweb sales. He also is a consultant to Glencoe Publishing, a McGraw-Hill Company, for their Jamestown Reading Navigator (JRN) product. JRN is a reading intervention for at risk and very low-performing adolescents. His role has been to assist JRN in the use of CBM maze as part of their reading progress monitoring systems. He is scheduled to receive royalties (one-quarter of 1%) should the product achieve profitability. He also currently serves as an unpaid contributor (without royalties) to VMath, published by Voyager, a math intervention for at risk students Grade 3-12. HIs role has been to assist VMath in the development and use of CBM Math Computation as part of their math progress monitoring system.


Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, school psychology, IQ, IQ testing, intelligence, CBM, NASP, AimsWeb

Cognitive assessment and RTI: Kearns and Fuchs @ LDA

Someone sent me a copy of the Kearns and Fuchs handouts from their Feb. 2008 "Cognitive Assessment in an RTI Framework" presentation at the Learning Disabilities Association of American (LDA) conference. It is interesting to see the growing number of scholars who see a place for cognitive assessment in the emerging RTI (response to intervention) paradigm. It is also nice to see these scholars integrating contemporary intelligence theories (e.g., CHC theory) in their literature reviews.

See related prior posts re: my recent CHC/non-CHC (from CHC lens)-->achievement literature integration project...which, although not focused on intervention studies, does provide evidence for the relations between specific broad and narrow CHC abilities and reading and math achievement.


Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, school psychology, special education, IQ, IQ testing, cognitive assessment, RTI, LDA

Cognitive load instructional theory and working memory

[double click on image to enlarge]

Yesterday I made a post to the NASP listserv, with a redirect to a post at this blog, regarding the importance of working memory to cognitive functioning and school learning. Wally Howe, president of Psychological Assessments Australia, made a wonderful follow-up post regarding the relevance of cognitive load theory to instruction-- a theory grounded heavily in the notion of designing instruction around the constraints of working memory.

Wally's responses to my NASP post (and redirect to detailed blog post) follow below. Following Wally's comments are references I found in my IAP Reference Database. For those references where I had previously harvested copies of the article (n=8) there are "click here" links to the articles.

I have always intended to review and summarize this literature (see 4 prior posts on cognitive load theory)...but alas.....I've never found the time. Maybe some reader will be interested in reading the articles (via the links below) and will be willing to write a guest blog post. If anyone is interested in drafting such a guest post, please contact me at iap@earthlink.net.

Wally Howe comments: Just a comment on this thread. I am not entirely up to date on all the literature, but thought I might put in my two cents worth for comment. I have studied under John Sweller at the University of NSW. Kevin, you have mentioned his work previously as being of interest and although he doesn't work in individual differences, his work appears to overlap with this discussion of MW. Sweller has researched Cognitive Load Theory. This research, mainly using adolescents working High School math problems, has looked at how different ways of formatting materials effects learning. He argues that the main factor in learning complex material is working memory - it has huge limitations, so to learn, humans have to work within these limitations (and even find ways around these limitations). Thus any method that reduces the cognitive load on working memory is useful (eg worked examples, using both visual and auditory working memory together etc). He has an evolutionary explanation for this, too, as it is somewhat unusual that a limitation like this has survived for so long if one believes in natural selection.

John hasn't researched how individual differences in working memory (or different aspects of it) effect learning, which is more yours and my interest, Kevin, but his model of human learning puts MW firmly at the centre, as does the research you have just outlined.

At NASP recently, one presenter suggested that "Intelligence is what allows students to learn in spite of their teachers" - a somewhat cynical view, you may think, but a comment worthy of further thought. If MW is central to learning, those with high capabilities in this area will not be as effected by cognitive load as those not so lucky - the formatting of learning materials for example, won't be as critical for them. The knowledge of how cognitive load effects learning isn't widely appreciated (or even researched in detail), so it's no surprise that teachers do not consciously or systematically design lessons to reduce it (so don't deserve blame - ignorance is a defence in my opinion). Thus these lucky students build procedural knowledge more quickly and so are advantaged increasingly as they learn more and come to be be seen as "highly intelligent". I conceptualise Gs, or fluency in some contexts, as the speed with which information can move between long term memory (knowledge store) and working memory and the presenting problem. Given that working memory decays very quickly, the speed with which an individual can move information back and forth helps immensely, both in accessing data and refreshing data.

I also agree with your premise that there are different factors underpinning the construct of MW that come in to play with different people - speed, size of store, speed of decay etc, but we don't seem to measure too many of these at the moment. There must also be interact ional effects too, just to make the picture even more complex. MW may well be too global a construct to fully explain a wide range of individual differences.

Sweller's research is very practical. Even if we can tease out all the factors underpinning MW, we still have to design teaching materials and programs that make learning more efficient or in some cases, possible, in spite of problems in these complex cognitive processes.

Wally Howe.


1. Ayres, P., & Paas, F. (2007). Can the cognitive load approach make instructional animations more effective? Applied Cognitive Psychology, 21(6), 811-820.

2. Ayres, P., & Paas, F. (2007). Making instructional animations more effective: A cognitive load approach. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 21(6), 695-700.

3. Barrouillet, P., Bemardin, S., Portrat, S., Vergauwe, E., & Camos, V. (2007). Time and cognitive load in working memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory and Cognition, 33(3), 570-585. (click here)

4. Brunken, R., Plass, J. L., & Leutner, D. (2003). Direct measurement of cognitive load in multimedia learning. Educational Psychologist, 38(1), 53-61.

5. DeNeys, W., & Schaeken, W. (2007). When people are more logical under cognitive load - Dual task impact on scalar implicature. Experimental Psychology, 54(2), 128-133.

6. DeStefano, D., & LeFevre, J. A. (2007). Cognitive load in hypertext reading: A review. Computers in Human Behavior, 23(3), 1616-1641.

7. Fink, A., & Neubauer, A. C. (2001). Speed of information processing, psychometric intelligence: and time estimation as an index of cognitive load. Personality and Individual Differences, 30(6), 1009-1021. (click here)

8. Gerjets, P., & Scheiter, K. (2003). Goal configurations and processing strategies as moderators between instructional design and cognitive load: Evidence from hypertext-based instruction. Educational Psychologist, 38(1), 33-41.

9. Hasler, B. S., Kersten, B., & Sweller, J. (2007). Learner control, cognitive load and instructional animation. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 21(6), 713-729.

10. Igo, L. B., Kiewra, K. A., Zumbrunn, S. K., & Kirschbaum, A. L. (2007). How best to remove the snare from the pair: Construction and cognitive load hypotheses. Journal of Experimental Education, 75(2), 130-144.

11. Kalyuga, S., & Sweller, J. (2004). Measuring knowledge to optimize cognitive load factors during instruction. Journal of Educational Psychology, 96(3), 558-568. (click here)

12. Lee, H., Plass, J. L., & Homer, B. D. (2006). Optimizing cognitive load for learning from computer-based science simulations. Journal of Educational Psychology, 98(4), 902-913.

13. Mayer, R. E., & Moreno, R. (2003). Nine ways to reduce cognitive load in multimedia learning. Educational Psychologist, 38(1), 43-52.

14. Mayer, R. E., Moreno, R., Boire, M., & Vagge, S. (1999). Maximizing Constructivist Learning From Multimedia Communications by Minimizing Cognitive Load. Journal of Educational Psychology, 91(4), 638-643.

15. Moreno, R. (2007). Optimising learning from animations by minimising cognitive load: Cognitive and affective consequences of signalling and segmentation methods. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 21(6), 765-781.

16. Moreno, R. (2006). When worked examples don't work: Is cognitive load theory at an Impasse? Learning and Instruction, 16(2), 170-181. (click here)

17. Owens, P., & Sweller, J. (2008). Cognitive load theory and music instruction. Educational Psychology, 28(1), 29-45.

18. Paas, F., Renkl, A., & Sweller, J. (2003). Cognitive load theory and instructional design: Recent developments. Educational Psychologist, 38(1), 1-4. (click here)

19. Paas, F., Tuovinen, J. E., Tabbers, H., & VanGerven, P. W. M. (2003). Cognitive load measurement as a means to advance cognitive load theory. Educational Psychologist, 38(1), 63-71. (click here)

20. Paas, F., & vanGog, T. (2006). Optimising worked example instruction: Different ways to increase germane cognitive load. Learning and Instruction, 16(2), 87-91.

21. Renkl, A., & Atkinson, R. K. (2003). Structuring the transition from example study to problem solving in cognitive skill acquisition: A cognitive load perspective. Educational Psychologist, 38(1), 15-22.

22. Schnotz, W., & Kurschner, C. (2007). A reconsideration of cognitive load theory. Educational Psychology Review, 19(4), 469-508. (click here)

23. Sirois, S., & Shultz, T. R. (2006). Preschoolers out of adults: Discriminative learning with a cognitive load. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 59(8), 1357-1377.

24. Tuovinen, J. E., & Sweller, J. (1999). A Comparison of Cognitive Load Associated With Discovery Learning and Worked Examples. Journal of Educational Psychology, 91(2), 334-341.

25. vanMerrienboer, J. J. G., & Sweller, J. (2005). Cognitive load theory and complex learning: Recent developments and future directions. Educational Psychology Review, 17(2), 147-177. (click here)

26. Vrij, A., Fisher, R., Mann, S., & Leal, S. (2006). Detecting deception by manipulating cognitive load. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 10(4), 141-142.


Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, school psychology, instruction, instructional design, cognitive load theory, working memory, Gsm, NASP, neuropsychology

Working memory and school learning research - a embarressment of riches

Today there was an FYI post to the NASP list regarding a newsletter article that discussed the importance of working memory and school learning. I'm always a bit skeptical of popular press articles that address complex psychological research...esp. articles that tend to rely on one source (as I have been that "one" source in such articles). That being said, it is nice to see the popular press attending to an important contemporary research issue....working memory.

Unfortunately for school-based practitioners, the sheer volume of working memory research published the past few decades is impossible to read and synthesize with ease. For example, I just ran a literature search of the IAP Reference Database looking for articles that had the keywords "working memory" in their record. I found over 1,300 articles! (click here to see/download all references)

Fortunately, Dr. Milt Dehn has taken a stab at summarizing the extant working memory/school learning research in a new book (Working Memory and School Learning). I saw it at the NASP convention in February and can't wait to get a copy (HINT to Milt and/or his publisher---how about a complimentary copy for giving this book a nice plug?). I have known Milt for many years and he is a model school psychologist scientist-practitioner. He is a "bridger"...one who has the unique ability to translate research and theory into understandable presentations and writings that are understandable to those who work in the schools.

PS - If you plan to purchase this book, I would recommend supporting the author of the book as much as possible...thus, place your orders via Dr. Dehn's private consulting biz.

Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, school psychology, neuropsychology, working memory, learning, Gsm, intelligence

IQ's Corner Simply Headlines on hiatus

Over the past few months something strange has been happening to IQ's Corner Simply Headlines daily mind blogosphere e-newsletter. Somehow all kinds of inappropriate email addresses were added en-mass to the subscription list. I made contact with the folks at Simply Headlines and decided that it would be best to simply close down this service for my readers.

But, the good news is that I will start it again when Simply Headlines releases V4...which will have a mechanism to stop mass email sign ups.

So...if you are a regular reader...stay put....the newsletter shall return.