Three experiments examined how 4- to 10-year-olds' domain knowledge and observation of exemplars interact during concept acquisition and how exposure to novel exemplars causes knowledge revision. In all experiments, prior knowledge and exemplar observation independently influenced children's categorization judgments. Use of prior knowledge was…

Explored whether source-monitoring training (SMT) would help 3- to 8-year-olds report only experienced events during a target interview. Found that SMT reduced 7- and 8- year-olds' false reports in response to direct questions but had no impact on younger children's performance. Findings suggest a transition between 3 and 8 years in strategic use…

Examined the nature of numerical knowledge in 5-month-olds to inform the debate whether numerical abilities result from capacities dedicated to numerical cognition or to more general perceptual capacities. Found that 5-month-olds could determine the number of collective entities, moving groups of items, when non-numerical perceptual factors such…

This article reviews research on positive and negative effects of verbally or mentally rehearsing a memory of an abuse incidence on the length, accuracy, and structure of children's reports of a particular incident. Implications for interviewing children in sexual abuse investigations are discussed and a set of recommendations is provided.…

A study involving 20 Australian adults with severe hearing loss and 14 adults with severe-to-profound hearing loss investigated performance on a range of speech-recognition measures using hearing aids. Vowels were well perceived compared with consonants, and scores for sentences presented in quiet were higher than when there was background noise.…

The effect of optional retesting on the achievement of 1,314 college students in an individualized algebra course was studied. A performance improvement was found for about 90% of students who had earned a "B" or lower. Optional retesting appears to affect initial mastery, but not cumulative mastery. (SLD)

Discusses personal mastery for organizational change based on experiences used by Learning as Leadership at Fairchild Semiconductor. Topics include individual change leading to more accountability in workplace performance improvement; examining the past to uncover behavioral and communication patterns; creating goals for the future; and taking…

The purpose of the standards described in this article are to provide guidance and a common set of values for human resource development/human performance training (HRD/HPT) professionals. General Standards; Research and Evaluation; Advertising and Other Public Statements; Publication of Work; Privacy and Confidentiality; Teaching and…

Two studies determined the extent to which feedback could improve eighth graders' and adults' decision-making. Results showed that neither benefited from verbal feedback in choosing between easy and hard questions to earn points. Adults benefited more than adolescents from outcome feedback. Adults also benefited more than adolescents in context of…

Discusses the need for performance improvement consultants to demonstrate the effectiveness of work the field performs. Presents suggested guidelines related to responsibility and consequence, planning and results, using scientific literature, needs assessment, and resistance to change. Concludes with likely disclaimers that should be faced. (AEF)

Describes a study that investigated the relationship between transformational leadership practices, culture, and organizational effectiveness in 12 small manufacturing and service companies. Discusses difference between high-performance and mixed-performance companies and describes results from the Leadership Practice Inventory (LPI) and the…

Reviews studies indicating that performance-approach goals are associated with adaptive patterns of learning but note that, in other studies, these goals have been unrelated or negatively related to the same outcomes. Argues that there is a need to consider for whom and under what circumstances performance goals are good. (Contains 93 references.)…

Conducted meta-analysis to examine empirical inconsistencies and theoretical controversies concerning false-belief tasks and understanding about mental states. Found that a combined model including age, country of origin, and four task factors accounted for 55 percent of the variance in false-belief performance. Findings are consistent with…

Maintains that authors' meta-analytic findings make early competence accounts of theory of mind increasingly unlikely. Asserts that findings argue against executive function expression accounts, including that advocated by Scholl and Leslie (PS532407). Explains that meta-analytic findings directly contradict Scholl and Leslie's predictions…

Examined in four studies the predictive value of organizing locations into a systematic figure for predicting preschoolers' use of spatial relations in a mapping task. Found that seeing a dog pattern formed by search locations facilitated performance of 5-year-olds but not younger children. Verbal labels alone or adding lines to an unsystematic…