Purpose: This study examined learning via perception, learning via production, and semantic depth as contributors to word learning in preschool-aged children. There is broad evidence that semantic depth is an important contributor to word learning, especially when semantic cues are repeated and spaced out over time. Perceptual learning and…

This study of 48 children with congenital blindness who attended mainstream schools focused on the tactile and haptic skills they needed in typical academic and everyday tasks. The results showed that, in general, the children mastered such tactile tasks, but some items posed special problems. (Contains 4 tables.)

Reports a study designed to determine whether students with learning problems could increase their own reading efficiency by learning through resources that complemented their perceptual strengths. Subjects were 16 children in a second grade learning disabilities class. Their reading vocabularies were improved during the perceptual program.…

Investigated the extent to which 3.5-month-old infants trained in amodal auditory-visual relations between falling objects and the sounds they made could generalize their intermodal knowledge to a new task and across events. Found that infants tested with familiar events and with events of a new color or shape showed learning and transfer…

Four studies examined 10- to 18-month-old infants' ability to detect and encode correlations among features in a motion event. Findings indicated that the youngest infants process static features in an event independently but do not process correlations among dynamic features; the oldest detect correlations between all three features when the…

Compares fourth-graders' subtest scores on the Stanford Achievement Test (SAT), the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS), and the Metropolitan Achievement Test (MAT). Finds right-brain dominant students scored better on four SAT subtests, and left-brain dominant students scored better on four ITBS subtests and two MAT subtests. (NH)

The relationship between conceptual complexity and stimulus saliency was explored in a 3 x 4 factorial design using 144 undergraduates. Levels of complexity were represented by varying the ratio of relevant-to-irrelevant dimensions (1:3, 2:2, and 3:1). The saliency factor varied according to the discriminability between each attribute within…

The impact of age effects on nonverbal memory for auditory or tactual patterns has been largely neglected in research studies. The effects of age on nonverbal memory were investigated by comparing subjects (N=120), divided by age decades into six groups (N=20), through tests using visual, auditory, and tactual items which were resistant to verbal…

Examines the relationship between perceptual modality measured by the Swassing-Barbe Modality Index (SBMI) to musical aptitude measured by Primary Measures of Music Audiation (PMMA) in kindergarten students. Reports correlations between the measures that support findings at other grade levels. Supports the theory that perceptual modalities become…

Differences in how the two hemispheres of the brain handle spatial information were studied with blind subjects and blindfolded sighted subjects. The performances of all groups declined as the relative disorientation between the target and its duplicate increased, suggesting that visual imagery is not crucial to mental rotation. (Author/SEW)