Why is instructional gesture ineffective in some contexts? And what is it about learners that predicts whether they will learn from gestures? This between-subjects linear measurement training study compares gesture instruction to two controls--operant action and transient action--in a diverse sample of first-grade students (N = 174, M[subscript…

First-grade boys (N=260) were classified according to response style on a continuum of reflectivity-impulsivity using Kagan's Matching Familiar Figures Test. For all groups, performances were poorest under reward conditions and better under the punishment and reward plus punishment conditions. (ST)

Issues include consistent individual differences in children's strategy choices, interpretation of differences within a framework, and the relation of differences to standardized test performance. (RJC)

It was concluded that in grade school children the tendency to be reflective in problem solving also entails a disposition to take longer in making decisions. (Author)