An experiment tested differences in story comprehension of a video-played silent sequence to one group of British native speakers of English and to three groups of nonnative speakers of English with different backgrounds. Comprehension results, measured by questions and summary writing, indicate that nonnative speakers are less able to recognize…

Infants' visual fixations were monitored while they viewed predictable and unpredictable sequences of stimuli. Analyses of anticipatory fixations indicated that by two months of age, infants form expectations for the reappearance of visual stimuli positioned opposite to each other. By three months, infants rapidly form expectations for asymmetric…

A study involving 48 undergraduates found a link between motion detection and letter-position encoding and a positive relationship, albeit a nonlinear one, between motion detection threshold and the likelihood of making letter errors. This result held when age, IQ, reading age, and phonological awareness were taken into account. (CR)

Two experiments examined infants' reliance on object shape versus color for word generalization to animate and inanimate objects. Infants were taught labels for either novel vehicles or novel animals using preferential-looking procedure or an interactive procedure. Results of both experiments indicated that infants limited their word…

Examines the main arguments for using ads in the English-as-a-Foreign-Language classroom. With reference to recent research, focuses on some of the appealing uses of language, visual elements, and culture in advertising, and on how language teachers could exploit them in their classes. (Author/VWL)

Evaluated role of visual input during reaching and grasping. Found that both infants and adults completed a reach and grasp to a darkened object but used vision when object remained visible. Infants contacted the object more often when it remained visible, although with longer durations and more movement units. Adults reached faster and more…

Four visual lexical decision experiments using the masked priming paradigm tested for effects of prime word frequency and cumulative root frequency with primes varying in degree of morphological and orthographic overlap with free root targets in French. (Author/VWL)

Examined visual fixation in infants 6 months to 2 years old for fit with theory of attentional inertia. Found that fixations had lognormal distribution, heart rate decreased during a look, and heart rate returned to prestimulus levels immediately before look offset. Older children showed different looking patterns to two types of stimuli; younger…

Two studies investigated whether an appropriate versus an inappropriate hemisphere alluding stimulation treatment of children with L-type dyslexia produces differential reading effects, and effects of hemisphere specific stimulation on children with L-, P-, and M-type dyslexia. Results support the validity of dyslexia subtyping and the…

Investigates the effects of audiovisual media on preschool children's attitudes toward music presentations from "The Lion King" and "Fantasia." Finds that the listening times for music-plus-video presentations of both selections were longer and a majority of the children expressed a preference for "The Lion King" over "Fantasia." (CMK)

Presented five- and eight-month olds with silent moving and static video images of self, peer, and doll, and sounds of self and nonsocial objects. Found that recognition of one's image develops through experience with dynamic facial stimulation during first eight months. By five months, infants treat their faces and voices as familiar and social…

Three experiments compared infants' reactions to videos of normally responsive women varying in eye contact. Found that, relative to frontal faces, three-month olds smiled less at images averting head and eye (H&I), head alone (H), and closing eyes (ECL) but not at averting eyes (E). Five-month-olds smiled less at H&I, E, and ECL but not…

Two experiments examined role of affective correspondence between signal and outcome in 4-month olds' associative learning. Found that only when consoling infant-directed speech signaled the sad face did infants' visual interest in a checkerboard increase. Arousing infant-directed speech signaling either the smiling or sad face produced positive…

Investigated degree to which two shape dimensions were represented categorically by children and adults when learning object names. Found that adults accepted names more often to objects that fell within proposed shape boundaries than to objects that crossed boundaries. Children were just as likely to generalize names to novel objects that fell…

This study examined the discriminability of lexigrams versus printed words with eight adults with severe mental retardation. A match-to-sample teaching paradigm was used. Subjects discriminated lexigrams better than printed letters and were more successful at matching lexigrams to referent objects than matching printed words to referent objects.…