In Study 1, upper-division university students took the Witkin Group Embedded Figures Test. Neither race nor sex differences were found. In Study 2, Black and Euro-American freshmen completed that test, a modified Kohs Black Design Test, and the WAIS Picture Completion Test. Racial differences on embedded figures appeared. (Author/SJL)

In two experiments, students were shown a visual display and then a related text passage, or vice versa, to determine which condition improved recall. Results with 100 undergraduates and 112 middle school students supported the expected outcome of improved recall when the display preceded the text. (SLD)

Investigated the development of reorientation abilities in humans in contrast to other mammals. Findings support the domain specificity of human's core cognitive abilities, the conservation of cognitive abilities across related species and over the course of human development, and the developmental processes by which core abilities are extended to…

Examines the influence of sign language structures on the spontaneous use of time and space markers in French and French Sign Language. The study compared the use of nonspatialized utterances and spatialized structures of deaf and hearing children, adolescents, and adults. Findings shed light on the different types of errors in understanding. (17…

Investigates the relationship between working memory (WM) capacity (particularly visuo-spatial working memory (VSWM)), the ability to mentally rotate three-dimensional objects, and mathematical skills. Explains that in experiment 1, VSWM was examined; and in experiment 2, contributions of other WM components to mathematical skills was examined.…

Examines the impact of computer animations that illustrate chemical reactions occurring inside a battery on students enrolled in a college introductory chemistry course. Implies that instructor-guided animations may help students acquire a better understanding of targeted chemistry concepts, and that the relationship between narration, spatial…

Discusses variables related to task performance in the solution of the water-level problem, where subjects were asked to indicate the water surface orientation in a tilted vessel. Subjects ages 7 to 15 years participated. Suggests that field effects and the kind of rules in use contribute to the differences in performance, which can be shown even…

Notes Halpern's general support for Casey's model. Addresses differences in Casey's and McKeever's findings on familial handedness and females' spatial ability by performing another experiment in which data are analyzed according to two different theoretical assumptions. Addresses the question of the heritability of handedness by noting that what…

Describes two activities involving sorting, counting, and determining relationships that use sameness and difference, spatial skills, pattern identification, number bonds, and generalization. (DDR)

Performance on working memory span tasks by 53 children with intellectual disabilities (ages 11-12) was compared to 45 age-matched and 41 mental-age matched controls. Although consistency was poorer than children age-matched on all tasks, performance of subjects exceeded mental-age matched controls on visuo-spatial short-term storage and…

A study involving 93 children (ages 10-12), 295 with poor reading skills, found many children with dyslexia and some garden-variety poor readers showed significant left neglect on the Clock Drawing Test. In poor readers with dyslexia, spatial construction deficits were observed like those of parents with acquired right-hemisphere lesions.…

The effects of peer collaboration on mathematical and spatial reasoning were assessed for 152 fourth graders. Effects on learning with logical-physical materials were assessed 1 year later. Findings suggest that peer collaboration is effective for tasks that require reasoning but not for tasks that require rote learning or copying. (SLD)

The construct and predictive validities of the Perceptual Ability Test (PAT) were examined. The results indicate that each of the subtests exhibits different predictive validity. A linear combination of PAT subtest scores was found to be more predictive of first-year dental school technique performance than the total PAT score. (Author/MLW)

Provided are activities for creating tangrams. Illustrates how to make tangrams and use them. (YP)

Suggested that strategy choices for solving addition problems were related to numerical and spatial ability domains, while the speed of executing the component process of fact retrieval was related to arithmetic ability only. Findings supported the convergent validity of the strategy choice model and its discriminant validity. (RH)