In this paper, we present a recently developed and computer-based instrument for the detailed assessment of reading skills. The theory underlying its construction is van Dijk and Kintsch's (1983) strategy model of text comprehension. The target group of the instrument are adults with a presumably high level of reading ability, for instance university students. Therefore, we do not intend to assess difficulties in reading or achievement in learning to read. Apart from that, the subtests refer to basic cognitive processes of reading but not to metacognitive strategies or standards of comprehension. The instrument is designed for research purposes; we are planning to use it for the measurement of covariates in experiments on text comprehension (see Christmann, Groeben, Flender, Naumann & Richter, 1999). We begin

To account for the large demands of working memory during text comprehension and expert problem solving it is proposed that the traditional models of working memory involving temporary storage have to be extended to include a long-term working-memory portion. According to the proposed theoretical framework cognitive processes are viewed as a sequence of stable states representing end products of processing. In skilled activities these end products are stored in long-term memory and kept directly accessible by retrieval cues in short-term memory as proposed by skilled memory theory. These

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Final Report from Carnegie Corporation of New York’s

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ABSTRACT. Moral text processing was used as an ecologically valid method for assessing implicit and explicit moral understanding and development. The authors tested undergraduates, seminarians, and graduate students in political science and philosophy for recall of moral narratives and moral expository texts. Multivariate analyses of covariance using educational experience as an independent variable, age and moral judgment score as covariates, and recall of embedded moral arguments as dependent variables revealed a relation between education and level of moral arguments recalled. Lower-stage moral reasoning was best recalled by undergraduates, whereas higher-stage reasoning was best recalled by graduate students, with seminarians intermediate for both types of text. Moral judgment score was related to recall of the highest-level moral arguments even when age and educational experience were controlled. Moral judgment development appeared to be particularly helpful in recall of expository compared with narrative texts.

This paper discusses theories associated with information processing and memory. It includes descriptions and definitions of important terms and models that have been used to depict memory types and processors. The frameworks associated with the stage theory model and schools of thought on pattern recognition and representation models are discussed as well as those on schema, parallel distributed processing, and connectionist models. The paper ends with discussion on the assessment of cognitive processing in education today and activities for developing instruction that is built on the theories discussed. Educators are very interested in the study of how humans learn. This is because how one learns, acquires new information, and retains previous information guides selection of long-term learning objectives and methods of effective instruction. To this end, cognition as a psychological area of study goes far beyond simply the taking in and retrieving information. It is a broad field dedicated to the study of the mind holistically. Neisser (1967), one of the most influential researchers in cognition, defined it as the study of how people encode, structure, store, retrieve, use or otherwise learn knowledge. Cognitive psychologists hypothesize an intervening variable or set of variables between environment and behavior—which contrasts it with