Two semantic theories of word learning, a perceptual complexity hypothesis (H. Clark, 1970) and a quantitative complexity hypothesis (E. Clark, 1972) were tested by teaching 24 preschoolers and 16 college students CVC labels for five polar spatial adjective concepts having single word representations in English, and for three having no direct…

This speech deals with the assumptions and approaches underlying educational assessment and suggests alternatives to standardized testing. It is proposed that the assumption that test items can be standardized is at the base of assessment problems; while there are standard mental functions which children develop, there are no standard items that…

A major problem in using traditional assessment procedures lies in the use of theoretical and statistical assumptions for interpreting and measuring attention, memory, and verbal abilities, and attempting to relate these constructs to academic subjects. With respect to evaluating temperaments and learning styles, the present methods of…

Studies investigating the functioning of persons who have cerebral lesions and evidence from the study of commisurotomized and normal subjects are reviewed. A study of recognition of pictorial stimuli by right-handed male children is also discussed. Studies about cerebral lesions and associated deficits have yielded information about the…

Reported is a study designed to determine the effects of diagnostic testing followed by prescribed remediation on the immediate and retained science achievement of middle school students, and to determine if effects of treatment were consistent across students' race and locus of control (LOC) levels. Three intact seventh-grade science classes were…

The three projects described in this paper were based on the intrinsic connection between language and the structure of perception and action. The first project explored the role of nonverbal frameworks in the development of communication between mother and child, beginning with the first word. It emphasized the role of the mother in the creation…

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a model of the psychological processes that take place when a persuader decides to use or not to use a given persuasive message. The assumption is made that if the perceived emotional impact of a message is more positive than an ethical threshold (which varies from person to person), the persuader will use…

Longitudinal data on the auditory forward and backward digit span (FDS and BDS) subtests of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) were obtained at five age levels (between 6 and 13), in samples of white and black children. Factor analysis and analysis of variance of the data were conducted to test 5 hypotheses, related to Jensen's…

DESIGNED FOR THE PSYCHOLOGIST, THE HANDBOOK DESCRIBES INSTRUMENTS COMMONLY USED FOR INTELLECTUAL EVALUATION OF CHILDREN SUSPECTED OF BEING MENTALLY RETARDED. INFORMATION IS GIVEN CONCERNING DEFIITIONS, IDENTIFICATION, AND CHARACTERISITICS OF MENTAL RETARDATION, TEST SELECTION, AND THE TEST SITUATION. TESTS DESCRIBED AND DISCUSSED INCLUDE…

The effect of sentence complexity on the ability of 40 trainable mentally retarded mongoloids (median IQ 34.3) to comprehend and imitate verbally presented strings was examined in two studies. Comprehension ability was tested by asking each subject to indicate which of two pictures was being described in the sentence spoken by the examiner. Eight…

Guilford's structure of intellect factors and his inherent form content of instructional materials were not confirmed as effective predictors of differences in learning from figural, symbolic, or semantic modes of visual presentation. The feasibility of using this model as an aid in design and production of instructional materials was investigated…

Objectives of this study on the influence of visual deprivation upon the divergent thinking dimension of intelligence were to compare the divergent thinking abilities of blind and sighted children in residential and day school programs, and to determine the relationship between divergent thinking and age of onset of blindness, mobility, school…

Communication methods for the hearing impaired are discussed in 12 conference papers. Papers from the United States are "Adjustment through Oralism" by G. Fellendorf, "Prospectus of Patterning" (a method of teaching speech to deaf children) by M.S. Buckler, and "Visual Monitoring of Speech by the Deaf" by W.…

The English language arts "strand curriculum" of the Iowa Department of Public Instruction depicts a "framework" for a K-12 program and encourages teachers to be concerned with three major dimensions of learning--concepts, attitudes, and skills. "Optimum Goals" and "Basic Considerations" are outlined for each "skill strand" and for each "content…

Listed alphabetically by author are 996 references on experimentation and investigation in the area of creativity since 1954. Included are all articles which have appeared in Psychological Abstracts since 1954, unpublished doctoral dissertations, masters theses, papers, and reports. (AJ)