Young children prefer to match in terms of color rather than form, and between the ages of 4 and 7 years they shift to a preference for form. A current explanation posits that the shift is an adaptive response by the young child to classroom stimuli, which stresses attention to form. In order to test this hypothesis, 120 children (5- and…

This study presented 24 third graders drawn from suburban elementary schools with high frequency, low discriminability words in four conditions. Subjects were randomly assigned to the four tasks individually. It was hypothesized that poor and normal readers would differ in their ability to read high frequency, low discriminability words presented…

This study examines serial habituation in a sample of 54 infants aged 2, 3, and 4 months to determine whether age changes are partially a function of different "strategies" rather than simply different rates of habituation. The serial habituation hypothesis proposes that attention and habituation of attention proceed in order of the relative…

The effects of types of both memorized items and probes (digit, word, and dot pattern), using Sternberg's character-recognition procedure, were studied. Reaction time (RT) was a linear function of the set size of memorized items consistent with a serial search model. Response type (positive or negative) affected the encoding time (intercept of RT…

This study tests the following hypotheses: (a) the ability to solve disjunctive concepts increases with age; (b) positive instances are of greater use in solving conjunctive concepts while negative instances are of greater use in solving disjunctive concepts; (c) older children will show greater improvement than younger children in concept…

The proceedings of the first national conference on visual literacy held in Rochester, New York (March 23-6, 1969) contain papers describing the concept of visual literacy (defined as vision competencies of integrating and interpreting sensory experiences fundamental to learning and communication). Related research is explored in areas such as…

This pilot study investigated (1) the extent scanning speed can be improved through practice, (2) the learning strategies students use in attempting to improve their scanning, and (3) differences between scanning rate for stimuli presented orally and visually. Subjects were advanced college students with average reading skills. Each subject was…

One theory of visual communication maintains three things. It holds that attention is a process for obtaining information, that it is a transaction between the visual and the viewer, and that the success of a visual communication is determined by the amount and relevance of information conveyed. Current research aims at evaluating…

The reflection-impulsivity (R-I) dimension of individual variation incognitive processes is discussed. A literature review focuses on studies that have supported the validity of the R-I dimension as a concept, and studies providing evidence of a direct relationship between the R-I dimension and visual scanningstrategies. This study compares the…

Visual fixation on one of two blank targets was reinforced with either visual or auditory stimuli in one of 3 intensity sequences: (1) low, medium, high; (2) medium, high, low; and (3) high, low, medium. An analysis of variance of learning scores for the 48 14-week-old infants resulted in a significant interaction of intensity and order and in a…

The purpose of this study was to improve the reliability of the Sigel Cognitive Style Test. Post hoc analysis of ninety test protocols had indicated that the original thirty-five card test could be shortened to improve the test's reliability. This analysis also showed that males were responding to certain cards differently from females.…

A study was conducted to determine the ways in which multi-sensory cues can be simulated and effectively used in the training of pilots. Two analytical bases, one called the stimulus environment approach and the other an information array approach, are developed along with a cue taxonomy. Cues are postulated on the basis of information gained from…

Four studies with infants and preschool-age children examined various pattern perception tasks considered to be related to the perceptual basis of the development of reading skills. Study 1 used 28 neonates to test the hypothesis that supplemental stimulation (rocking, patting, holding) has measurable effects upon attention to visual patterns.…

This study was designed to assess the relative effectiveness of four components of pretraining on a subsequent simultaneous discrimination and reversal: (1) making same-different judgments about the two stimuli; (2) making a specific observing response to the critical feature of the stimuli; (3) simple familiarization with the stimuli; and (4)…

A method called "Objectives-Art," by which disadvantaged students in a community college can be taught to structure paragraphs, is described. Works of art are intended to be a stimulus to the student's sense of unity between form and content, and the objectives are aimed at transferring the student's perception of form and unity into a process…