Describes ways in which educators are using microcomputers to teach special education students basic skills and to handle paperwork demanded by legal regulations. A comparison of Individualized Education Program (IEP) software packages currently available and a profile of a Louisiana school district's special education network are included. (MBR)

This study investigated the relationship between measures of speed of cognitive information processing and intelligence test scores. Cognitive processing measures were significantly related to IQ scores. Reaction time tests measure cognitive operations basic to intelligence, and individual differences in intelligence are partly due to variability…

Predictors of retrieval times produced by students having difficulty developing a reliance on retrieval for simple addition were discovered. The findings support the notion that separate limitations operate in working memory when retrieval occurs and call into question the use of the term "retrieval deficit" to explain difficulties…

Verbal coding and listening comprehension ability differed among skilled and less skilled readers in second, third, and fifth grades. As verbal coding speed increased, comprehension skill became the more important predictor of reading skill. Apparently, verbal coding processes, which are slow, inhibit other reading processes. (Author/CP)

A cue-target visual attention task was administered to 25 children (ages 10-12) with dyslexia. Results showed a general pattern of slower responses in the children with dyslexia compared to controls. Subjects also had longer reaction times in the short and long cue-target interval conditions (covert and overt shift of attention). (Contains…

Experiment 1 suggested that age differences in line-drawing interpretation among subjects between 6 and 24 years reflected changes in short-term memory for features and changes in strategies used to integrate features over space and time. Experiment 2 suggested that older observers were more active in their attempts to interpret drawings and that…

A new model is presented that explains reaction time fluctuations in prolonged work tasks. The model extends the so-called Poisson-Erlang model and accounts for long-term trend effects in the reaction time curve. The model is consistent with Spearman's hypothesis that inhibition increases during work and decreases during rest. (TJH)

Four students, aged 15-19, with moderate mental retardation learned to cash checks and use an automatic teller through either a decreasing prompt hierarchy or time-delay procedure. Both strategies led to acquisition of target tasks and were equally effective in producing performance maintenance; however, the decreasing prompt hierarchy was more…

Reports five experiments; the first two assessed the effect of the selectional restriction requirements of verbs and the animacy of nouns on sentence comprehension, the third determined the cause of the interaction found in the first set of studies, and the fourth and fifth were self-paced reading experiments. (52 references) (Author/CK)

Left versus right hemispheric auditory-verbal processing ability was studied in 28 learning-disabled children and adolescents, by measuring the influence on reaction time of the hand used to respond versus the hemisphere stimulated. The LD children did not develop the ability to suppress right hemisphere linguistic processes as a function of age.…

In one experiment, subjects from third grade through college relied on memory retrieval rather than on counting to solve multiplication problems. An effect of confusing problems on error rates and reaction times indicated the activation of related information. In a second experiment, subjects demonstrated automaticity of fact retrieval on simple…

The general intelligence factor (g) was investigated using 170 university students across three batteries of ability measures: (1) a short-term memory battery; (2) the Multidimensional Aptitude Battery; and (3) a reaction time battery. Results support the notion of g and suggest short-term memory as an essential aspect of intelligence. (SLD)

How the ultimate proficiency in a second language is affected by the age at which learners begin learning the target language was studied. Results showed a striking difference in mean reaction time for native versus nonnative groups, even for early bilinguals. (16 references) (Author/LB)

Children and adults were tested on six speeded perceptual-motor and cognitive tasks, including a (1) response time task; (2) button tapping task; (3) pegboard task; (4) coding task; (5) picture matching task; and (6) mental addition task. Age-related change in processing time on most of these tasks was described by a single exponential function.…

Describes study of undergraduates that measured the effect of audiovisual channel correspondence during television news programs on attention and memory. Learning variables in multimedia presentations are discussed, reaction time with visual and auditory probes is examined, factual memory and visual memory tests are described, and implications for…