Basic Problem
How do people find misplaced car keys, remember to take medications, set up their computers, understand jury instructions, learn to dance, select retirement plans, drive to a new destination, or purchase expensive appliances? Such everyday problems involve various basic cognitive processes such as memory, comprehension, and problem solving.

Laboratory Approach
We know much about how basic cognitive processes operate in humans, based on a half-century of laboratory research. Cognitive psychologists have made these discoveries primarily in the laboratory setting, using constrained materials (such as word lists), carefully-controlled methods (such as reaction-time paradigms), and a relatively homogeneous group of participants (college students).

Real-World Settings
It is also important to study how cognitive processes operate in everyday settings. Here we see cognition in action - when people are highly motivated to do things important to their lives. Some investigators argue that we must observe people only in real-world settings - anything else would be artificial and not "ecologically valid." Others argue that there are so many uncontrolled variables in the real world that we cannot conclude anything from naturalistic observation methods; instead, we should work only in the laboratory where we can achieve experimental control. Most investigators operate only at one end of this dichotomy. However, it may be more useful to view it as a continuum, as shown below:

Ecological Validity		Experimental Control
--real-world settings --observational methods		--laboratory settings --experimental methods

Our Approach
Research in the Day Cognition Lab examines everyday cognitive phenomena at both ends of this continuum and at intermediate points as well. For example, we observed that people often make mistakes in taking prescription medications. We examined the written information provided to them, such as hospital release forms (Day, 1988) and pharmacy leaflets (Day, 1998), and found problems with "cognitive accessibility." We redesigned these materials, had people study either the original or revised versions in a controlled laboratory setting, then tested their memory, comprehension, and problem solving. Performance improved (sometimes dramatically) with the revised materials. We are in the process of studying the revised materials back in real-world settings, to determine their effects on cognition and behavior.

Current Projects
Current projects focus primarily on four everyday domains and include such disparate settings as hospitals and dance floors. Basic cognitive processes are at the core of each project, as shown below.

BASIC COGNITIVE PROCESS EVERYDAY DOMAIN Percep-   tion Memory Compre-   hension Repre-   sentation Problem Solving Medical Cognition Courtroom Cognition   Memory for Movement     Cognition and Teaching

Implications
Research on everyday cognition provides many practical applications for the everyday world. It also provides implications for traditional laboratory studies of cognition. For example, it reveals whether well-studied cognitive phenomena and principles are general in nature or are confined to laboratory paradigms. Some cognitive principles may operate in the same ways across a wide variety of contexts, while others may work differently with more complex materials, in more complex situations, and/or different types of people. Furthermore, some cognitive phenomena and principles may be discovered only in the real world.