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Introduction: Our study aims at assessing the validity of summative criteria-referenced self-assessment in higher education, and in particular, if that validity varies when the professor counts self-assessment toward the final mark. Method: One hundred and twenty-two first year students from two groups in Teacher Education at the Universidad de Cadiz (Spain) participated in the study, each group following a different course in the same six-month period. The relevant difference between the two courses was that, in one of them, self-assessment was included among the assessment methods and counted for 5 per cent of the final mark. The professor was the only marker in the other course. Once the courses finished, participants completed a self-assessment questionnaire that included competences, learning results and contents, and were asked to give themselves a mark. Self-assessment data were compared with the marks given by the professor, and the 10 students with the highest discrepancies were interviewed. Results: In both groups, the students' self-assessments were higher than the marks given by the professor, with significantly higher differences in the students with poorer results and in the group in which self-assessment counted towards the final mark. In this group, no relationship was found between the professor's and the students' assessments. Discussion: When self-assessment does not count towards the final mark, students' and professor's assessments tend to be highly similar; when self-assessment counts towards the final mark, over and underestimations increase dramatically. The main reasons that we found for this are the desire to obtain the highest possible grades and the stress associated with self-assessment. Implications of implementing self-assessment in higher education are discussed. (Contains 3 tables.)

Research into the acquisition of knowledge incorporated in schema showed that the recognition of typical and atypical events decreases differently over a retention interval. In addition, the models of a priori probability of response have proven useful when applied to recognition memory in the study of schema. The main aim of this research has been to extend the above findings to a classroom situation. The script 'Going to school' was compiled by 8- or 9-yr.-old children and the events of the script were divided into typical and atypical. A recognition task was carried out over five retention periods. The recognition scores were calculated as ratios of hits to false alarms, and the probability effects were corrected using the memory score formula (MS). Analysis confirmed that typical and atypical events are processed in a different manner over different retention periods and permitted suggesting some applications in both learning and instructional processes, especially in initial teaching of subject matter and in planning of activities.

Many researchers have been using the concept of 'typicality' to explain the influence of knowledge structures on processing visual stimuli. In this paper we try to establish a preliminary method for measuring the typicality of natural objects contained in environmental scenes. The results are discussed in the context of research on how objects in scenes are identified. We also suggest that scales of typicality continue to be developed.

We have elaborated a program for the instruction of 54 3-yr.-olds using visual aids (cards showing the graphic representation of a number printed on three different types of backgrounds). Analysis showed differences in the increase in scores obtained by the children before and after the application of the program depending on the type of background.

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In this study, ROC and z-ROC parameters are applied in word recognition memory, with words classified according to frequency and class. In doing so, unbiased techniques can be used to assess hits and false alarms and to obtain standardized distributions for each experimental condition. Our results confirm the existence of differences in word recognition memory for experimental exposition time, type of words and other pre-experimental effects. These data are consistent with familiarity and recollection models when words' frequency is used, and with familiarity, recollection and dual-route models when words are organized according to class. Finally, we argue in favour of an interactive processing model (words organized according to frequency) versus a processing model nearer to modularity (words organized according to class).