Middle class children and adults (n=632) from eight age levels (mean ages 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 17, 19 and 33 years) were tested with the Profile of Nonverbal Sensitivity (the PONS test) to measure accuracy in decoding nonverbal cues. The prediction that nonverbal skills would increasingly differentiate over ages was confirmed. (RH)

This study investigated the extent of infant peripheral vision, specifically the extent of infants' constricted field, or tunnel vision. Thirteen infants, 2 to 5 months old, were tested using a psychophysical procedure to obtain contrast sensitivity thresholds at four retinal loci (-40, -15, +15, +40 deg.). Infants were placed in an infant bed in…

In this study examining infants' responses to optical expansion, 18 infants between 36 and 61 days old watched expanding shadows that differed in the terminal location of the center of expansion and the number of dimensions undergoing change. Babies consistently rotated their heads upward during expansion of a closed figure when the center of…

This paper reports the major findings and interprets the results of longitudinal and cross-sectional exPeriments concerning the development of visual accommodation in infants 1 to 3 months of age. The stimulus was a high-contrast, random checkerboard which was presented at three different distances from the infants (25, 50 or 100 cm). The physical…

Three experiments examined the effects of selected factors of interval size, timbre, loudness, and length of the melodic pattern on children's ability to perceive, the motion of 2- and 3-pitch melodic patterns. Subjects for all experiments were 32 second- and 32 fifth-grade children. The task for each experiment consisted of identifying the motion…

This study explored three aspects of the 2-month-old's perception of multisyllabic utterances. Questions addressed were: (1) Do infants perceive phonetic contrasts occurring either in the initial (Bada-Gada) or medial (Daba-Daga) positions of multisyllabic utterances; (2) Are infants more likely to perceive these contrasts in stressed as opposed…

This paper describes three experiments which investigated children's recognition of moving, active people. Experiments 1 and 2 found that young children had considerable difficulty in recognizing a videotaped person who initially performed a single 10-sec activity and then reappeared with a different activity and/or different hair style. The…

This document reports on a series of visual scanning studies done with Israeli preschoolers and kindergartners to resolve issues related to diagnostic test and instructional materials design. The first study assessed the effect of item content on error rate. Three multiple-choice tests, differing only in item content, were given to 38…

Analyzes third grade children's performance on the Mueller-Lyer Illusion for whole and partial presentations of the figure. Results do not support Piaget's theory of perceptual development but are consistent with the theory of simultaneous and successive syntheses. (Author/BH)

Somatotyping is a term that has evolved for the reliable recognition of the expected relationship between body type and personality traits. Using a somatotypic measure, a study was conducted to identify the developmental changes in children's attraction preferences within their own peer groups, as tested in kindergarten, third, and sixth grades.…

Sex and, to a partial degree, age had significant effects on sex role differentiation in preschool children, but income level had little effect. (Author/RL)

Studies the effects of perceptual salience on performance in problems requiring the coordination of information. Subjects were groups of children, younger adults, and older adults. For each of the age groups, those problems containing the most salient information were solved faster and more accurately than problems containing the least salient…

In this study, two similar depth perception experiments were conducted to investigate 3-month-old infants' perception of changes in depth while they were being moved. In the first, the subjects, 18 infants (80 to 105 days old) were lowered face down towards the textured floor of a 3-sided enclosure (visual crib). Three experimental conditions were…

Compares the performances of equivalent groups of six- and eight- year-olds in the United Kingdom and the United States on pitch transposition and rhythmic inversion music conservation tasks. Results showed older students outperformed younger. Maintains Piagetian explanations of results are inadequate. (Author/JDH)

A total of 100 third and ninth grade students participated in a study to determine how children of different ages perceptually segment a continuing behavior sequence presented on a television program. The children were shown a short segment from a motion picture on a videotape viewer. Following the viewing, the children completed unitizing…