Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Some influences of computers on theory and methodology in cognitive research are discussed. Theoretical constructs that cognitive science has borrowed from computer science include processing algorithms, processing rates, information organization, and information selection. The application of these constructs to human information processing is considered, with illustrations from memory and reading research. Further, the role of computers in research methodology is evaluated, on the basis of a comparison of 1962 and 1992 journal articles. Attributes considered include the nature of stimulus control, item content and physical features, cognitive task demands, information feedback to subjects, and assessment of individual differences in cognitive strategies. These methodological attributes are illustrated by memory and reading paradigms for which computer technology is critical. Computer science has enriched theory and data in cognitive science, but the comparison of journal articles from 1962 and 1992 suggests that many psychologists are not taking full advantage of these possibilities.

This paper discusses the design and development of an interdisciplinary social science computer laboratory for teaching undergraduate research methods courses and research components of applied and theoretical courses. The U.S. Census of the Population, a database commonly used in all of the social sciences, is used in order to give students research experience and to avoid ethical problems involved in working with animal and human subjects in an undergraduate course. Some issues in laboratory design and required changes in teaching methods are discussed.

Pointing tasks with a mouse are very useful in psychological experiments concerned with a subject’s ability to track a visual object or to move to a target location (e.g., to find a word in text). Such tasks are quite easily performed by subjects, and numerous variables may be obtained from the mouse movement. In this article we describe a set of Turbo Pascal 6.0 units and a program running on the IBM PC family that show how data (x,y coordinates) recorded from a mouse movement can be analyzed to give dispersion, direction, and distance of the movement.

In the spring of 1983, Drexel University announced that all incoming freshmen the following fall would be required to have access to a personal computer being designed by Apple. This paper reports on the impact of that decision over the next 2 years.

EPA2000 is a program for the assessment of off-line measured metacognitive skills and arithmetical performances in primary school children with mathematical-learning disabilities. The program is designed as a script engine. The concept makes it possible to modify and translate the test into different languages without reprogramming. A user-friendly script editor is built-in, with which all of the parameters of the test can be modified and translated in different languages.