Younger (6- to 8-year-old) and older (9- to 11-year-old) children took a multiple-choice test that yielded comparable performances at the two age levels. When subjects estimated their overall performance at the end of the entire test, older children were more accurate and less variable than younger children. (Author)

Attention patterns of 93 preterm infants were observed and measured at term, at four months of age, and at eight years. Suggests that preterm infants who continued to fixate an unchanging stimulus for protracted periods of time were less intellectually able in childhood. (Author/DR)

Examines alert newborn and five-month-old infants' responsivity to variations in spectral composition of a rattle sound. Head orientation and cardiac responses to sound were recorded. Heart rate change did not vary as a function of frequency at either age, suggesting that all stimuli were equally effective in eliciting the infant's attention.…

This study examined the effects of pictorial changes on recall of spoken text in a television news broadcast viewed by adolescents and adults. Adult recall of spoken text was impaired by mid-sentence picture editing while adolescents' recall was enhanced so long as accompanying pictures were relevant to verbal text. (MBR)

Compares how proficient and nonproficient college freshman writers adapt their persuasive essays for a particular audience and occasion, noting that good writers take greater advantage of audience information than poor writers. (HOD)

Kindergarten, second-grade, and fifth-grade students reconstructed an episode from an array of pictures and foils. Generally, children integrated picture sequences into logically ordered episodes whenever sequence structure encouraged such organization. Among the results, recall of logical sequences surpassed that of illogical sequences at all…

Because young children have poorer auditory temporal resolution than older children, a study measured the auditory filters of two 6-year-olds, two 10-year-olds, and two adults by having them detect a 400-ms sinusoid centered in a spectral notch in a band of noise. (HOD)

Describes two studies in which young children were shown pictures that represented sound with postures and contexts, with conventions, and with combinations of information. Shows that the different types of pictorial representation of sound were not equivalent in their ability to evoke a correct interpretation. (HOD)

The effect of the location, in picture or text, of spatial, contextual, and operational information on comprehension was evaluated. Results showed that textual presentation of spatial information produced fewer errors, pictorial presentation reduced performance times, and pictorial presentation of contextual information reduced assembly times and…

Examines differences in habituation in a visual attention task as a function of chronological age, mental age, and handicapping condition. Subjects were 102 children who ranged in age from 3 to 36 months and who were classified as Down Syndrome, cerebral palsied, developmentally delayed, or multiply handicapped. (Author/RH)

Two implications of Bartlett's constructive theory of memory (better memory for schema-consistent material and alteration of schema-inconsistent material) were tested. Procedures involved the recall of gender-relevant pictures by kindergartners, second graders, and fourth graders with either more- or less- stereotyped attitudes. Findings suggested…

Preschool children's awareness of distinctions between animate and inanimate objects was assessed by showing stimulus films of animate and inanimate objects that moved in different ways. Results indicated that five- and some four-year-olds performed near adult levels, whereas three-year-olds did not, although the animate-inanimate distinction did…

Discusses previous pictorial research and its limited potential, and describes function-based research approach, which attempts to make findings relevant by identifying potential picture functions in terms of contributions to instructional processes and procedures broadly applicable to various objectives and strategies. Relevance of this approach…

Discusses research on representational pictures, which share physical resemblance with the concept the picture represents; analogical pictures, which convey a concept; and arbitrary pictures, or highly schematized visuals related logically to the things they represent. The contributions of each type to adult conceptual learning and learning from…

Evaluated the effects of stimulus complexity and rule usage on a visual perspective-taking task administered to preschoolers, first, third, and fifth graders, and adults. Errors decreased with age, and more errors occurred with the more complex visual arrays. Very young children could not reliably match a photograph to a physical array. (Author/RH)