Person changes can be of three kinds: developmental trends, swells, and tremors. Person unreliability in the tremor sense (momentary fluctuations) can be estimated from person characteristic curves. Average person reliability for groups can be compared from item characteristic curves. (Author)

In this study, designed to explore the relationship between pleasure and cognitive challenge, 32 normal first grade children and 32 MA-matched familial mentally retarded children were given puzzles representing four difficulty levels. (Author/SB)

These experiments consider the effects of aging on response times to stimuli of increasing complexity in serial choice RT tasks, whether age differences were reduced or abolished on such tasks, and examines repetition effects of a particular coding rule. (Author/RK)

A three-volume series of French language textbooks designed for children is found to be well-designed and well-presented. The quality of the series is judged according to these criteria: presentation of grammar, phonetics, theme, points of interest, characters, setting, photos, as well as the quality of the paper on which the text is printed. (MSE)

Mentally retarded students with and without Down syndrome (N=20) made 2,400 responses on a discrete pursuit-tracking task (aligning a pointer with a target light). Both groups showed significant improvements on the task such that their performance was comparable to nonretarded subjects at the same functional level. (Author/JW)

Reports three experiments with kindergartners and first graders which used one-trial multidimensional reasoning tasks like those of Toppino (Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, v30, p496-512, 1980). Feedback information and preliminary experience with simple forms of the task produced high performance levels, and verbal labeling in the…

Study examined speech complexity among 22 sets of parents and their school-age children during two time periods approximately one year apart. Parents and children were videotaped while completing a block design task and their conversations were transcribed. Speech patterns were found to differ at the two times. (Author/BN)

Consistency of gain from changing test answers was tested for students instructed about answer-changing research results, and composition of the gain was analyzed by examining the students' reasons for changing. Mean gain remained positive and consistent with gain for previously studied uninstructed groups; amount of change was also stable.…

Forty students aged 9-18 were asked to explain the meanings of lexically ambiguous advertisements from magazines, newspapers, and brochures. Older subjects explained the meanings correctly more frequently than younger subjects. The psychological meanings of the ads were found to be more difficult to explain than the physical meanings. (Author/JDD)

Analyzes the effect of language of instruction on the verbal reasoning of sixth grade French-English bilinguals (N=36). Results showed a significant interaction between language of instruction and language of presentation and differences associated with level of difficulty and mean response times. (Author/CB)

Processing of verbal analogies was evaluated by recording eye fixation patterns during solution of problems that represented a broad range of difficulty. Findings on easier problems replicated previous work. On difficult items, high verbal ability individuals adapted processing strategies to a greater extent then did low ability students.…

A study examined the relationship between pharmacy graduates' scores on high school examinations at ages 16 and 18 and the complete pattern of university examination scores and concluded that the scores on advanced tests at age 18 could be useful for student selection and achievement prediction. (Author/MSE)

A study found that in dental schools, a heavier student workload is associated with higher student ratings of dental courses, suggesting that workload may bias student perceptions. (MSE)

Two experiments examined hyperactive children's tendency to underfocus their attention during learning. Taken together, the results of both experiments demonstrated the validity of the attentional diffusion hypothesis and indicate the need to assess the central processing demands associated with central and incidental learning in order to evaluate…

The matching model of education, in which instructional activities are matched to the conceptual level (abstract to concrete) of the students, is recommended for second language instruction. Suggestions are made for varying the amount of structure in communication-centered activities. (MSE)