This critique is concerned with the validity of three basic assumptions underlying the performance-based teacher education program. These assumptions are 1) The teaching act is the sum of performances into which it is analyzed. 2) The performance unit is a matter of indifference, i.e., the number and character of the performance unit can vary…

The effect of a realistic noise level (typing) on the intellectually challenging task of proofreading was examined. The results indicate noise subjects were poorer at identifying grammatical errors, worked slower and less steadily. (Author/DE)

Describes two experiments which were conducted to investigate the responses of eight-year-old children to differently worded spoken instructions for simple tasks, for which sentence length and complexity were systematically varied. Results indicate that children's accuracy improved with shorter and slower instructions. (Author/DB)

An experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of time perspective on performance expectancies and the subjective evaluation of outcomes in regard to a task at which subjects had previously succeeded or failed. Subjects first succeeded or failed on either an easy or difficult task. They then stated performance expectancies and made…

This study is from a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Ph.D. degree at the Institute for Child Study, University of Maryland.

Twenty-five retarded and 25 nonretarded children, mean age 16 and 9 years respectively, matched for mental age, performed two-bit (four-choice) and three-bit (eight-choice) problem solving tasks to determine whether group performance differences would increase with task complexity and whether performance of the retarded children would be poorer.…

CRITERION MEASURES DEVELOPED FOR ON-THE-JOB PERFORMANCE OF PHYSICIANS WILL BE USED IN A SUBSEQUENT STUDY TO DETERMINE HOW MUCH THE PERFORMANCE OF PHYSICIANS CAN BE PREDICTED BY THEIR INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENTS IN MEDICAL AND PREMEDICAL SCHOOL. APPROXIMATELY 29 MEASURES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH COLLEGE OF MEDICINE AND OTHER PHYSICIANS IN THE UTAH…

Several studies have shown that the elderly do not perform well on the Piagetian problems of logical thinking; the present set of studies aimed at demonstrating that the elderly maintain the competence to solve such problems. The first study performed by the authors assessed performance of 60 noninstitutionalized middle-class elderly females on…

Eighty-four nine year old children, twelve in each of seven experimental groups, learned a two-choice successive discrimination problem. The parameters that were systematically manipulated included: (1) immediate versus delayed reinforcement; and (2) forced preresponse stimulus exposure versus stimulus exposure during the delay interval,…

Various experiments demonstrated that the difficulty level of several performance-type intelligence test tasks is determined directly by stimulus and task variables that vary the information to be processed. The implications of these findings for intelligence and the problems of an experimental approach to the measurement of intelligence are…

Results of the present and previous studies indicate the consistency of achieving improved performance through the low comparison level. (Author)

Based in part on a PhD dissertation (Irwin) submitted to the University of Pennsylvania.

Subjects answered multiple-choice questions at three points in time. They worked alone, then in units of 1, 2, 3, 5, and 7 persons, and again alone. Performance on the task was to provide the following information: (1) initial ability level of subjects; (2) the ability of groups of differing size and leadership to utilize their resources; and, (3)…