The authors describe a new visual illusion first discovered in a natural setting. A cyclist riding beside a pair of sagging chains that connect fence posts appears to move up and down with the chains. In this illusion, a static shape (the chains) affects the perception of a moving shape (the bicycle), and this influence involves assimilation…

Two experiments investigated whether motion metaphors for time affected the perception of spatial motion. Participants read sentences either about literal motion through space or metaphorical motion through time written from either the ego-moving or object-moving perspective. Each sentence was followed by a cartoon clip. Smiley-moving clips showed…

Relates gender roles, role loss, and memory. Proposes that, without meaningful present roles to frame one's past experience, memory is likely to be characterized by a high frequency of nonintegrated, relatively meaningless relationships, in turn leading to a narrowing of horizons and inability to take the role of the other. (Author/ABB)

Forty deaf high school students defined words from the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and then ranked missed words in terms of expected difficulty level. After judging the accuracy of the rank-order judgments, it was determined that deaf students were unable to judge their feeling of knowing, but two hearing groups were able. (Author/JDD)

Prior attitudes and personal involvement with the subject of a message do not necessarily affect a listener's recollection of the speech or his assessment of the speaker's position. This is the conclusion of a study in which subjects listened to messages presenting positions for, against, and neutral on the topic of legalizing the use of…

Prior to considering the ability of infants to think, this discussion attempts to dispel prevalent myths about babies' thought processes. The fact that infants do not intentionally manipulate their parents; are not identical; are not simply hedonistic seekers of bodily pleasures; and are not passive, disorganized beings needing training into…

Defensiveness is the most frequently utilized concept to explain inadequate change on the part of consultees. Defensiveness, in this context, indicates a motive to protect a central component of the self-concept, or a motive to present oneself favorably. Another source of consultee resistance to change results from the limitations of the human…

The report presents the results of an evaluation of the educational impact in two Los Angeles County, California, elementary schools, of Interactive Classroom Television Systems (ICTSs -- closed circuit systems that permit continuous two-way visual communication between teachers and partially sighted students and enable such students to make the…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 13 titles deal with the following topics: the role of visual pattern perception in the development of children's reading skills; a comparison of students' silent reading, oral reading, and listening comprehension; semantic…