Three groups of three boys (6-12 years old) referred to a hospital study unit for evaluation of hyperactive behavior were tested on a classification task involving selective attention while on either dextroamphetamine or placebo. (Author/CL)

An interview with two adults who are fluent readers and writers leads to the conclusion that fluent readers get to be that way by reading, and by reading a great deal, from something of their own choosing. (JD)

Attempts to determine whether children at risk for schizophrenia manifest attentional impairments similar to those of adult schizophrenics. Surveys the performance of offspring of schizophrenic mothers relative to the performances of foster and community control samples on a battery of eight attention-demanding tasks. (Author/RK)

The sustained attention of 23 young adults with mild mental retardation and nonretarded subjects was assessed. Findings suggested that the sustained attention of the retarded differs from that of the nonretarded on those vigilance tasks that place demands on memory abilities. (Author/DB)

Examined ways in which irrelevant variations within a stimulus set interfered with performances of second and fifth graders and adults in a selective attention task. Stimuli were constructed from spatially integrated dimensions in experiment 1 and spatially separated dimensions in experiment 2. Developmental differences in perceived structure were…

Significant improvements in scanning and processing times, attention deployment strategies, and response accuracy on haptic and visual discrimination tasks coupled with increases in reflectivity demonstrate the effectiveness, durability, and generalizability of haptic training with 12 communications disordered/neurologically impaired elementary…

Reviews the literature dealing with the loci and parameters of visual selective attention. It is maintained that input selection can be found at several points in the course of processing. Specifically, a case is made for very early perceptual selection, called perceptual tuning, which can be based on higher-order conceptual or structural stimulus…

Anticipation guides--work sheets that students complete before reading a book--can be invaluable tools for building prediction skills and helping students learn where to focus their attention. In this book, veteran teachers Joanne I. Hines and Pamela J. Vincent offer classroom-tested anticipation guides for a variety of trade books sure to engage…

The field of experiential education can be enhanced through the use of meditation. The vision statement of the Association for Experiential Education includes the aim of creating a just and compassionate world. This goal can be approached one person at a time by encouraging each individual in the field to become a just and compassionate person.…

Author outlines several ways to rouse the chronic classroom sleeper, including one derived from Rip Van Winkle. (PD)

An experiment tested the effects of Feedback, Control, Distance, and Relevance on Person's attraction to Other in various roles. Other results are also discussed. (DB)

When time for task completion was reduced, performance of 30 educable mentally retarded elementary students on a peg placement task did not degrade, although too much or too little available time increased the use of random placement. (Author/CL)

The Institute at Virginia has focused its efforts on learning disability (LD) children with attentional problems with emphasis on cognitive behavior modification techniques. Studies included investigations of metacognition, information processing, self-recording of task-related behavior, and strategy training. Adult-child interactions and…

A comparison of the effects of methylphenidate (Ritalin) and response cost in reducing the offtask behavior of two boys (7 and 8 years old) with attentional deficit disorders and hyperactivity revealed that response cost (with free time as the reinforcer) was superior to Ritalin in increasing ontask behavior and improving academic performance.…