Two studies examined whether 4-year-olds' difficulty using relational information in spatial tasks was due, in part, to their inability to deal with situations where both objective and egocentric cues were available and pointed to different responses. Findings indicated that the presence of conflict significantly affected children's performance in…

Two studies with 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds examined whether young children can differentiate expertise in the minds of others. Findings indicated that all children could correctly attribute observable knowledge to familiar experts, such as a car mechanic. Preschoolers had difficulty making attribution of knowledge of scientific principles to…

Discusses the organizational mindset of human performance technology (HPT) practitioners at the 2001 International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) International Conference. Outlines the framework for organizational alignment, the importance for gatekeepers (those who provide access to the company to outsiders; need to development of a…

Three experiments in which photo or video presentations could guide one's search for a hidden object showed that under certain circumstances even 24-month-olds displayed representational insight. The first two experiments replicated earlier findings of chance performance across 4 trials, with 24-month-olds performing above chance in 3 of 4…

Summarizes the results of the American Society for Training and Development Human Resource and Performance Management Survey of 1996 that examined the performance outcomes of downsizing and high performance work systems, explored the relationship between high performance work systems and downsizing, and asked whether some downsizing practices were…

A. S. Kaufman (1994) recommended that clinicians substitute Symbol Search, a new subtest, for the Coding subtest when calculating Performance and Full Scale IQs on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III. Tables are provided for accurate derivation of IQs, percentile ranks, and confidence intervals when this substitution is made. (SLD)

Discussion of information retrieval performance evaluation focuses on a case study using a statistical repeated measures analysis of variance for testing the significance of factors, such as retrieval method and topic in retrieval performance variation. Analyses of the effect of query expansion on document ranking confirm that expansion affects…

Provided 2- and 2.5-year-olds with partial visual information about a ball's path as it moved toward a hiding place. Found that both age groups were equally proficient at tracking the ball as it rolled behind a transparent screen with 4 opaque doors, but 2.5-year-olds were more likely to reach to the correct door when asked to find the ball.…

Describes how high school and college tennis coaches can prepare their athletes for competitive success, noting factors involved in performance excellence and presenting the BADGE instructional framework, which teaches players that their efforts are the greatest single influence upon future results. The paper explains the importance of positive…

To assess children's understanding of intentions as distinct from desires, this study presented 3- to 7-year-olds and adults with situations in which intentions were satisfied but desires were not, or vice versa, in a story-comprehension task and target-hitting game. Findings indicated that younger children were unable to differentiate desires and…

This study examined the hypothesis that group size can influence whether 9- to 10-year-olds display self-assertive versus self-deprecating responses to interpersonal competition, especially under stress. Findings indicated that individuals displayed more assertive behaviors during competitive game-playing in groups than in dyads, and more…

Examined influence of newly acquired information on 5- to 7-year-olds' memory and general representation of a personally experienced novel event. Found that advance information specific to the event led to better recall and better integration of the experience into a general event representation both soon after the event and 4 months later.…

Thirty-five learning-disabled readers (mean age 10) and 43 controls were compared on a sentence span task and on recall of everyday features, consequential events, and misleading information. Results indicated that subjects were deficient on working memory and naturalistic measures, but their naturalistic memory deficits did not appear to relate…

Discusses job aids as a method to improve human performance by replacing the requirement for a specific skill or knowledge. Types of job aids are described, the role of job aids in training is explained, job aid design is examined, and benefits of job aids are discussed. (10 references) (LRW)

A series of three studies found that increased age was associated with lower levels of performance on tests of spatial visualization by unselected adults and adults with extensive spatial visualization experience. Age-related effects for some aspects of cognitive functioning may be independent of experiential influences. (RH)