Effects of Self-Monitoring on On-Task Behaviors of At-Risk Middle School Students

The purposes of this study were to evaluate the effects of self-monitoring on increasing the on-task behaviors of four at-risk middle school students, and to examine its indirect effects on academic performance. Additionally, we attempted to develop and validate cost- and time-efficient procedures that typical classroom teachers could use. The data from a multiple baseline design across three academic settings, replicated with four students, revealed immediate increases in on-task behavior as each student began to self-monitor in each sequential setting. The data also revealed slightly higher levels of academic performance and, in most instances, gradually accelerating trends. These findings suggest that self-monitoring is a cost- and time-efficient procedure that classroom teachers can use to teach at-risk students to manage their own behaviors.     

On the cognitive processes underlying contextual interference and observational learning

The main goal of the present study was to determine whether observation of an unskilled model learning a timing task enables the observer to develop a cognitive representation of the task similar to the one acquired through physical practice (Adams, 1986; Bandura, 1977; Lee & White, 1990). To reach that goal, we tested whether a contextual interference effect would be obtained in a retention test of subjects who had observed an individual practicing three variations of a timing task under a random or a blocked schedule of practice. Similar patterns of results in an immediate retention test were found following observation and physical practice. This suggests that observation indeed engaged the observers in the same type of cognitive activities as did physical practice. Moreover, a schedule of practice made up of 100% physical practice led to improved learning compared with a schedule of practice made up of 50% observation followed by 50% physical practice. This suggests that learning is enhanced more by numerous implementations of a motor program than by its mere construction or retrieval.     

Stimulus congruity,irrelevant spatial SR correspondence,and display-control arrangement correspondence: A reply to O'Leary,Barber, and Simon (1994)

Summary We recall how Hasbroucq and Guiard (1991) defined stimulus (S) congruity, the SS-correspondence factor they demonstrated to account for both the Simon effect and the Hedge and Marsh effect, and how they explained the mechanisms that bring S congruity into play in the verbal and nonverbal versions of the Simon task and in the Hedge and Marsh task. We show that, contrary to O'Leary, Barber, and Simon's claim, Hasbroucq and Guiard used a consistent definition of S congruity across the various tasks of interest. Finally, we recognize that Hasbroucq and Guiard's experiments produced no direct falsification of the display control arrangement correspondence (DCC) hypothesis — the special-purpose hypothesis put forward by Simon and his group as an attempt to reconcile the Hedge and Marsh effect with their interpretation of the Simon effect in terms of irrelevant spatial SR correspondence —, but we argue that the DCC account is unnecessary and implausible.     

Gender differences on the WPPSI,the WISC-R,and the WPPSI-R

The WPPSI, WISC-R, and WPPSI-R were administered in a counterbalanced design to 72 children between the ages of 5 years, 10 months, 16 days, and 6 years, 7 months, and 15 days to test the hypothesis that mean verbal IQs on these scales would be higher for boys than for girls. Results indicated that the mean verbal IQs for boys were significantly (p<.05) higher than those for girls on all three scales. Also, significant (p<.05) differences favoring boys were found onVocabulary andComprehension subtests on all three scales. These differences are probably a peculiarity of these scales and may not need any elaborate theoretical explanation. However, clinical uses of verbal and performance IQ discrepancies may not justifiably ignore the examinees’ gender.     

Some data concerning a sensorimotor versus semiotic processing in a form-recognition task

This study investigated how sensorimotor activities interact with the geometric characteristics and the meaning of an object during development of writing. These changes were studied in 4- to 7-yr.-old girls. Analysis showed that visuo-spatial activities play a role in denomination and graphic activities, especially during critical periods of development. These activities have varying effects at different stages of development. The spatial factors studied here act differently in a verbal task (denomination) and in a perceptual-motor activity (graphic activity).