This volume is a festschrift dedicated to James J. Jenkins, a pioneer in many areas of experimental psychology. It has three major goals: to provide a forum for debate on current theoretical issues in cognitive psychology, to capture the "state of the art" in reviews of research methods and results, and to generate ideas for new research directions and methodologies. Contributors -- including Jenkins' former students and present colleagues -- ponder fundamental questions such as:

* How do people learn to read?

* What happens during the processes of speech perception?

* How do people acquire problem solving skills?

* How do cognitive and motor skills develop and integrate with one another?

Many chapters focus specifically on ecological and applied cognitive psychology. Specific topics covered include visual and speech perception, language, memory, motivation, child development, problem solving, and pedagogy.