The defining attributes of analytic ability as they relate to theoretical cognitive styles were explored in a study using a sample of 492 males aged 16-21 years. The Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT--Witkin, Oltman, Rasher, and Karp) was used to measure field dependent and independent aptitude. Scores on the GEFT were compared with scores on an…

Reported are three series of experiments analyzing the development of the visual function of infants. The first experimental series was aimed at the investigation of infants' reaction to moving objects. The second experimental series dealt with the analysis of the development of binocular vision in infants. The goal of the third series was to…

Two studies investigated whether young children acquiring verbs at an exceptional rate can use the syntactic structure of familiar and unfamiliar verbs to make conjectures about some aspect of the meanings of those verbs. The preferential looking paradigm (Golinkoff and Hirsh-Pasek, 1981) was used to set up a naturalistic pairing of scene and…

Undergraduates (n=99) differing in spatial ability were tested on problems involving the mental rotation of familiar alphanumeric stimuli and unfamiliar stimuli drawn from the Primary Mental Abilities Space Test. Individual differences in spatial ability were associated with speed rather than accuracy of mental rotation processes. Ability…

Reports research demonstrating that fourth-grade subjects could not solve a basic transverse patterning problem involving pairs of geometric forms even after 90 trials. The addition of one nonspatial dimension, however, resulted in solution. Also, the greater the number of nonspatial dimensions present, the better the learning. (Author/SDH)

In order to enhance the understanding of visual literacy, one of its constituents, visual learning (VL), is examined in terms of underlying assumptions, hypothesized behaviors, and implications of both assumptions and behaviors. Assumptions are: (1) VL encompasses all changes in behavior arising from the individual's responses to visual…

Three experiments test the relationship between implicit speech and comprehension processes for meaningful material. (Author/AM)

Experimental research on the environmental conditions that promote generative language learning is reviewed. Recombinative generalization is introduced as a process that enables individuals to express and to comprehend novel utterances. This review focuses on the use of a miniature linguistic system paradigm to explore how recombinative…

This investigation experimentally examines a networking learning strategy involving an information processing strategy that relates to the internal cognitive organization of to-be-learned information and its effects upon the learning of field-dependents. The learning behavior of field-independents is also compared to that of field-dependents with…

This study examines the relationships among oral, visual, and a combination of oral and visual presentational stimuli; concrete or abstract types of content; and high or low verbal learner ability. The 248 third grade students either heard a short story, watched pictures showing the same short story, or heard and watched a combination of the oral…

This experimental study was conducted in an attempt to determine how children--four, seven, and 11 years old--perceive implied motion cues in combination with a variety of objects. Ninety children, 30 in each age group, were shown 24 pictures. There were three kinds of objects, each with an inherent active and static dimension. Each of these six…

Results of two studies investigating children's abilities to use different kinds of cues to infer another's affective state are reported in this paper. In the first study, 48 children (3, 4, and 6 to 7 years of age) were given three different kinds of tasks (interpersonal task, facial recognition task, and vocal recognition task). A cross-age…

This study explored what children talk about when they watch television as a means of learning more about how and why children verbally encode information. Preschool and third-grade children watched four animated television programs that varied in amount of dialog (one high-dialog, two moderate, and one no-dialog). Their comments while viewing…

A non-aversive modification of Bekesy Audiometric Procedures (BAP) used in assessing hearing ability has been found to produce interpretable audiograms from children whose responses to the unmodified BAP were erratic and uninterpretable. In an experiment with six 8-year-old children, three subjects were assigned to a condition in which a light cue…

THREE STUDIES INVESTIGATE AUDITORY AND VISUAL MEMORY ABILITIES AND THEIR POTENTIAL ROLES AS INSTRUCTIONAL AND PERSONNEL PREDICTORS. STUDY I PRESENTS TO 185 COLLEGE FRESHMEN 42 ABILITY TESTS FROM WHICH SEVEN MAJOR ROTATED FACTORS EMERGE--SERIAL MEMORY SPAN, SERIAL INTEGRATION, ASSOCIATIVE MEMORY, ABSTRACTS FROM SOCIAL INTERACTION SITUATIONS, VERBAL…