A set of four experiments investigates the relationship between phonological coding and reading ability, using a picture-word interference task and a decoding task. Results with regard to both adults and children suggest that while poor readers possess weak decoding skills, good and poor readers show equivalent evidence of direct semantic and…

Although developmental increases in the size of the position effect within a mispronunciation detection task have been interpreted as consistent with a view of the lexical restructuring process as protracted, the position effect itself might not be reliable. The current research examined the effects of position and clarity of acoustic-phonetic…

Assesses children's comprehension of "because" and "so" on enactment and sentence completion tasks. Results provide evidence against a componential model for the acquisition of causal connectives. Supported is the position that understanding of relational terms is initially context dependent; linguistic development generates…

Contrasts the hypothesis that phonological memory, but not phonological sensitivity, accounts for significant variation in young children's receptive vocabulary. Presents the view that both phonological memory and sensitivity are manifestations of a latent phonological processing ability. Suggests that with age and performance IQ effects…

Explored the effects of differences between English-language and Chinese numerical systems for naming months and days on calendar calculations. Chinese and U.S. 8- and 10-year olds and undergraduates were asked to name a date coming before or after another given date. Found that Chinese speakers used calculations; English speakers recited names.…

Developmental changes in the interaction between word order and structural cues were investigated. Hebrew-speaking children between 4 and 10 years old interpreted noun-verb-noun utterances. Both word order and structural cues affected interpretation by all subjects, though the role of structural cues increased with age. (Author/DB)