The effectiveness of sound as a reinforcer of manipulative responses was studied with 50 infants four to 12 months old. Noisy toys were manipulated significantly more frequently than quiet ones by infants from six to 10 months old. (Author/SEW)

Sighted subjects assembled puzzles under separate conditions of visual-haptic perception and used vision and touch simultaneously to illustrate visual-type involvement and links in haptic encoding processes. A cognitive component in perceptions was found. When visual input was inadequate or independent of haptic perception, tactual information was…

Details are presented regarding the essential elements of an effective early childhood physical education curriculum. Components include movement awareness, fundamental locomotor skills, fundamental nonlocomotor skills, fundamental manipulative skills, and health-related fitness. (CB)

Observed drawing by toddlers and preschoolers using primary and standard markers, pencils, and crayons to determine the influence of implement diameter on children's drawing products, performances, and preferences. The relationship between drawing and early home manipulative experience was also investigated. Confirmed findings of previous studies…

The conceptual categories that children have developed in their second year were studied in five experiments using object manipulation tasks. Subjects included 152 children from 18 to 31 months of age. These very young children had formed global conceptions of many domains of objects. (SLD)

Two experiments used object-manipulation tasks to examine whether one- to two-year-olds form superordinate-like categories by attending to object parts. Findings indicated that 14- and 18-month-olds behaved systematically toward categories with different, but not matching, parts. Without part differences, none formed superordinate categories.…

Discusses the development of the human hand from birth to age three as it contributes to the formation of human personality. Considers how parallels in eye, hand, brain, and motor skill development portray the evolving complexity and adaptation of the human grasp and illustrate Montessori theories about the relationship between physical experience…

Two experiments investigated sensory/motor-based functional knowledge of man-made objects: manipulation features associated with the actual usage of objects. In Experiment 1, a series of prime-target pairs was presented auditorily, and participants were asked to make a lexical decision on the target word. Participants made a significantly faster…

Environmental familiarization is a learning phenomenon embedded within most tasks used to study learning and motivation. Given its prevalence there is surprisingly little systematic behavioral research on factors affecting familiarization. The six experiments reported in the present report used rats' tendency to interact more with a novel object…

Tool use consists of at least two coupled phases of activities, involving multi-step problem solving. It therefore provides an interesting window on the development of planning in goal-directed behavior. This study investigated 2-year-olds' and 3-year-olds' hand use in picking up and subsequently using a tool for displacing a target-object towards…

In this study, a desktop virtual reality earth motion system (DVREMS) is designed and developed to be applied in the classroom. The system is implemented to assist elementary school students to clarify earth motion concepts using virtual reality principles. A study was conducted to observe the influences of the proposed system in learning.…

The smaller size and lower strength level of children may indicate that adaptations of sport-type games, such as basketball, are necessary to maximize skill performance. Children between the ages of 9.0 and 12.7 years were given two subtests of the Alliance for Health, Physical Education, and Recreation Skills Test, the Speed Pass and Front Shot.…

The purpose of this study was to longitudinally examine the development of symbolic play in 2-year-old Japanese infants. The subjects were four children who were individually tested once a month from the age of 12 to 24 months in laboratory settings. Assessment materials consisted of three sets of miniature toys, a doll and junk objects. Each set…

Two studies involving stereotypic hand gazing revealed that: (1) a dramatically increased therapy program substantially reduced a 35.4 month-old boy's hand gazing and augmented his toy manipulation skills; and (2) both glasses and toys effectively reduced hand gazing by two visually impaired 30.3 and 17.9 month-old children. (Author/CB)

Sixth grade pupils from a junior high school in Southeastern Ohio were given the OWVI. No significant differences among social classes were found in work values. Significant differences were found between boys and girls in three work values--Altruism, Object Orientation, and Solitude. However, similarities outweighed differences between the value…