Two studies with 28 Boston College undergraduates tested the hypothesis that people who report a poor sense of direction (SOD) have an impaired ability to use spatial information in an abstract or symbolic way. The hypothesis was not supported. Poor SOD correlates to a mental egocentrism in self-to-environmental-object relations. (TJH)

Most children who are congenitally deafblind are severely delayed in their communication development and many will not achieve symbolic understanding and expression. This article discusses developmental markers cited in the research literature as predictive of or facilitative of the development of symbolism. These markers include the growth toward…

Discusses several philosophies of linguistics and semiotics that debate the importance of words and their relationship to signs, language as the primary modeling system, and the historical primacy of verbal versus visual communication. Describes human communication as both language-based and nonverbal, both aspects inviting arbitrary and abstract…

The effects of different models of exploration questioning on young children's associative fluency were examined in two experiments with kindergarteners. It is concluded that asking descriptive and difference exploration questions are most facilitative of children's associative fluency. (Author/SEW)