Many training applications of virtual environments (VEs) require people to be able to transfer spatial knowledge acquired in a VE to a real-world situation. Using the concept of delity, we examine the variables that mediate the transfer of spatial knowledge and discuss the form and development of spatial representations in VE training. We report the results of an experiment in which groups were trained in six different environments (no training, real world, map, VE desktop, VE immersive, and VE long immersive) and then were asked to apply route and con gurational knowledge in a real-world maze environment. Short periods of VE training were no more effective than map training; however with sufficient exposure to the virtual training environment, VE training eventually surpassed real-world training. Robust gender differences in training effectiveness of VEs were also found.

Individual cognitive competence depends on the knowledge an individual possesses and the individual's capacity for manipulating information, regardless of its meaning. We can think of such capacities as mechanistic processes for thinking. Individual differences in mechanistic processes are a significant component of the capacities tested by verbal aptitude tests. The mechanistic processes themselves must be subdivided into processes that occur automatically and that require attentional resources for their execution. Automated and controlled processes apparently bear different relations to inter-and intra-individual differences in verbal comprehension capacity. Individual differences in the choice of strategy for task execution can affect the role of different mechanistic processes on performance. On the other hand, strategy choices themselves are predictable on the basis of subject characteristics.Language is the human way to communicate. People who quickly grasp the meaning of statements are universally admired. Philadelphia lawyers may be less universally admired, but their ability is acknowledged. Verbal ability is not the only facet of thought, but it is one of the most important. How should we account for it?In this article, verbal ability will refer to performance on a standard, group-administered verbal aptitude test, such as the Scholastic Aptitude Test, Verbal Composite (SAT-V) or the verbal composite score of the Washington Pre-College Test (WPCT-V). 1 These groupadministered interviews can be used to predict a variety of human performances, ranging from grade point average to measures of socioeconomic success. Table 1 presents some rele-

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The linguistic relativity (Whorfian) hypothesis states that language influences thought. In its strongest form, the hypothesis states that language controls both thought and perception. Several experiments have shown that this is false. The weaker form of the hypothesis, which states that language influences thought, has been held to be so vague that it is unprovable. The argument presented herein is that the weaker Whorfian hypothesis can be quantified and thus evaluated. Models of cognition developed after Whorf 's day indicate ways in which thought can be influenced by cultural variations in the lexical, syntactical, semantic, and pragmatic aspects of language. Although much research remains to be done, there appears to be a great deal of truth to the linguistic relativity hypothesis. In many ways the language people speak is a guide to the language in which they think.