The relationship between latency to respond and performance on the ITPA Visual Association subtest was investigated for 50 preschoolers. Performance was a function of age and response latency. It was concluded that for children who don't have the appropriate search strategy, the visual association subtest doesn't give a valid assessment.…

The results showed that accuracy depended on both stimulus complexity, modality, and mental age, regardless of whether or not the Ss were retarded. The selection of haptic search styles also depended on these factors but, in addition, was influenced by the intellectual status of the children. (Author/DLS)

Describes a study of 16 kindergarten children--eight good prereaders and eight poor prereaders--designed to determine if there were relations between reading skill and the processing of distinctive features of patterns. Concludes that both pattern classification and feature processing appear to be involved in early reading skills. (TJ)

Cites studies showing that impulsive children can perform more reflectively with respect to response time and/or accuracy if exposed to reflective models, self-verbalization strategies, increased concern over performance accuracy, and training in attention deployment, delay of response and visual discrimination. (BF/JH)

A series of experiments tested a recent suggestion that vertical symmetry of a stimulus display can serve as a visual diagnostic for responding "same" in a letter-matching task. The data of chief interest were same reaction times to vertically symmetric (e.g., AA) and asymmetric (e.g., LL) displays, each composed of two side-by-side uppercase…

Matching-to-sample skills are involved in language acquisition and reading and counting abilities. The rapid, even errorless, induction of matching performances in young children and 28 individuals with mental retardation (ages 11-20) was demonstrated through the structuring of a visual array that promoted detection of the relevant stimulus.…

Discussion of how to teach students to use different environments for learning focuses on visual awareness and visual problem solving skills in a visual literacy walk. Highlights include observation techniques, multiple perspectives, categorizing and analyzing visual information, and generating multiple solutions for problem solving tasks. (six…

Investigated relationship between critical flicker fusion (CFF) thresholds and five personality characteristics (alienation; social nonconformity; discomfort, expression, and defensiveness) under three auditory stimulus conditions (quiet, noise, meaningful verbal stimuli). Results from 60 college students revealed that auditory stimulation and…

Argues that reading instruction should be understood as an integrated instructional program simultaneously juxtaposing learning styles, modality dependencies, and visual literacies. Argues, too, that teaching the "basics" of reading includes mastery of the fundamentals, involvement leading to verbal interaction, critical reading, and synthesis…

In three experiments, three normal preschoolers were presented with sorting tasks ordinarily insoluble for four-year-olds. Found that, although the subjects had difficulty correctly sorting the pictures when told what criterion to sort by, they could provide correct answers when asked what they were looking for. This self-instructional effect was…

Describes an in-depth, comprehensive method that enables students to understand the basic concepts of visual perception. (JRH)

Noting that children who can easily categorize a picture in terms of what it depicts may have difficulty understanding the picture as a representation or thing in itself, four experiments with children around four years old examined their responses to pictures as things in themselves. Results showed that some children had difficulty understanding…

Three studies examined infant preferences for attractive faces of White males, White females, Black females, and infants. Infants viewed pairs of faces rated for attractiveness by adults. Preferences for attractive faces were found for all facial types. (BC)

In a study of oddity performance, subjects were required to choose one distinct bimodal stimulus from a display that included other stimuli that did not differ from each other. Oddity performance was evaluated with both reversal assessments and assessments with new stimuli. The usefulness of bimodal training in oddity learning was demonstrated.…

In four year olds who had been exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) before birth, prenatal exposure was associated with less efficient visual discrimination processing and more errors in short memory scanning. Postnatal exposure was unrelated to cognitive performance. (GLR)