In young infants, activation or inhibition of body movements on perception of environmental events is important to enable them to act on the world or understand the world. To reveal the development of this ability, we observed movement patterns in all four limbs under the two experimental conditions. Infants assigned to the interaction condition…

This article describes the results obtained with two types of social rewards used in early stimulation of Down's syndrome children. In the study we focus on the efficiency of the employment of the social rewards or reinforcements used in the early stimulation, bearing in mind that the children with Down's syndrome possess a social development…

An extensive literature on the causes of challenging behaviors has been developed, primarily in the applied behavior analysis literature. One hundred and seventy-three empirical studies were reviewed where functional assessment serves as the primary method of identifying these causes. Most of the studies were able to identify a clear function or…

We report a series of experiments designed to demonstrate that the presentation of a sound can facilitate the identification of a concomitantly presented visual target letter in the backward masking paradigm. Two visual letters, serving as the target and its mask, were presented successively at various interstimulus intervals (ISIs). The results…

This study assessed whether two people with profound multiple disabilities and minimal motor behavior would be able to control environmental stimulation using thumb poke ability with a mouse wheel and a newly developed mouse driver (i.e., a new mouse driver replacing standard mouse driver, and turning a mouse into a precise thumb poke detector).…

Between- and within-family changes in 4 dimensions of parent involvement in children's learning were examined from prekindergarten to kindergarten and from kindergarten to first grade. Children's literacy, language, and mathematics skills were individually assessed at prekindergarten entry and end of first grade. Parents' provision of cognitive…

Persistent disparities exist between African American children and their European American counterparts across developmental domains. Early childhood intervention may serve to promote more positive outcomes among African American children. The current study examined whether and how the Early Head Start (EHS) program benefited African American…

The neural mechanisms underlying perceptual learning are still under investigation. Eureka effect is a form of rapid, long-lasting perceptual learning by which a degraded image, which appears meaningless when first seen, becomes recognizable after a single exposure to its undegraded version. We used online interference by focal 10-Hz repetitive…

These two studies extended previous research on the use of verbal instructions and support technology for helping persons with mild or moderate Alzheimer's disease perform daily activities. Study I included seven participants who were to carry out one of two previously targeted activities (i.e., either coffee preparation or table setting). Study…

The present study investigated how spatial working memory recruits early visual cortex. Participants were required to maintain a location in working memory while changes in blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signals were measured during the retention interval in which no visual stimulation was present. We show working memory effects during the…

Increased concern about the low levels of literacy and numeracy among Grade 3 learners in South Africa is resulting in more emphasis being placed on the preparatory Grade R year. The level of learning readiness of pupils when entering formal teaching in Grade 1 is determined by perceptual motor stimulation that pupils received during the preschool…

Relationship between major risk factors of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and sleep disorders in the infants is the subject of review and discussion. Improper micro-environmental characteristics (especially poor environmental organisation and lack of developmental stimulation), pre-term delivery and/or infant low birth weight, prone sleep…

This study compared word recognition for words written in a traditional flat font to the same words written in a three-dimensional appearing font determined to create a right hemispheric stimulation. The participants were emergent readers enrolled in Montessori schools in the United States learning to read basic CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant)…

This paper introduces a research project in which five chemistry teachers, working in cooperation with university researchers, implemented a new teaching approach using context-based modules specially designed to stimulate the intrinsic motivation of students. The intention was to induce change in chemistry teachers' teaching approach from more…

This study evaluated the influence of the frequency of reading and writing habits (RWH) associated with education on the performance of adults in brief neuropsychological tasks. A sample of 489 Brazilian subjects, composed of 71% women, aged 21-80 years, with 2-23 years of formal education, was evaluated by the Brazilian Brief Neuropsychological…