Complex skill acquisition by performing authentic learning tasks is constrained by limited working memory capacity (Baddeley, 1992). To prevent cognitive overload, task difficulty and support of each newly selected learning task can be adapted to the learner’s competence level and perceived task load, either by some external agent, the learner herself, or both. Health sciences students (N = 55)...

This study sought to investigate the recent claim by H.-O. Karnath and his colleagues that the crucial locus of neurological damage in neglect patients lies in the right superior temporal gyrus (STG), and not in the right posterior parietal cortex (PPC) as conventionally thought. Using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), we first tested the involvement of the right STG in a task commonly u...

As far as incidental vocabulary learning is concerned, the basic contention of the Involvement Load Hypothesis (ILH) is that retention of unfamiliar words is, generally, conditional upon the degree of involvement in processing them. This study examined input modality and incidental vocabulary uptake in a task-induced setting whereby three variously loaded task types (marginal glosses, fill-inta...

Delivering transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) shortly after the end of a visual stimulus can cause a TMS-induced 'replay' or 'visual echo' of the visual percept. In the current study, we find an entrainment effect that after repeated elicitations of TMS-induced replay with the same visual stimulus, the replay can be induced by TMS alone, without the need for the physical visual stimulus. I...

The effect of division of attention between the evaluation of multichannel audio quality and involvement in a visual task (playing a computer game) was investigated. It was observed that involvement in a visual task may significantly change the results obtained during evaluation of audio quality for some listeners and for some experimental conditions. It was also found that this effect is liste...

Background Chronic abuse of heroin leads to long-lasting and complicated cognitive impairment. Dopamine receptors are critically involved in the impulsive drug-driven behavior and the altered attention, processing speed, and mental flexibility that are associated with higher relapse rates. However, the effects of the different dopamine receptors and their possible involvement in heroin-induced ...

This study examined relationships between mother-child interactions and children's behaviors in 119 urban African American mothers and their 6 - 7 year old children. Interactions during a cooking task and a follow-up child clean-up task were videotaped. Principal components analyses of behaviors during the cooking task yielded two factors in mothers (Sensitivity and Control), and three in child...