The study examined the effects of forward time gating (in which incremented portions of a word are presented) and word length on monosyllabic isolated word-recognition performance with 20 female college undergraduates. Listeners recognized time-gated words less frequently and with less confidence, and word length significantly influenced…

Standard or enhanced Blissymbols, designed to represent familiar actions, attributes, and objects, were shown to 20 3 year olds, who guessed their meaning. The number of their guesses that referred to the enhancements was twice as great as the number that referred to the standard Blissymbol base. (Author/JDD)

Two studies of children and adults investigated responses to a weight illusion task based on perceptual adaptation or contrast effects. Results showed improved performance only after the task was altered to highlight the relevance of the condition that produced the illusion. (RH)

Criticism of the theory that massed practice depresses performance as well as learning asserts that any generalization based on some limited amount of admissible evidence will provide an incomplete description of the psychological processes underlying skill learning. (JD)

Discussion of the development of job aids and personal performance tools focuses on self-charting as an effective feedback technique. The use of self-monitoring for various situations is described, the importance of setting goals is discussed, and computer programs developed for self-monitoring are explained. (eight references) (LRW)

Mentally retarded and nonretarded adults (n=32) performed visual vigilance tests in which single digits were presented at either a fast or slow rate and the rate shifted without warning. Retarded observers detected fewer targets and made more false alarms than did nonretarded observers in all test conditions. (Author/JDD)

A semantic or a phonetic cue was given when necessary in an object-naming task involving 30 first grade children. Although the children who were poor readers named fewer objects than good readers, both groups of children benefited from phonetic cues. In contrast, semantic cues had relatively little effect. (Author/JDD)

A study was conducted to isolate monitoring of test performance from other forms of monitoring and determine the effect of taking a test on expectations about performance. Results were consistent with claims that developmental changes in self-regulation could be tied to developmental changes in monitoring of performance and predicting performance.…

Discussion of the performance analysis process focuses on its use in traditional educational settings to prepare students as designers and trainers in a variety of settings. A flowchart of how to conduct a performance analysis is provided, and a worksheet to guide students through the performance analysis process is included. (four references)…

This study compared visual word recognition (speechreading) in video sequences showing either full face or lips plus mandible to 26 normal hearing college students and 4 adults with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. Percent phoneme correct scores were similar in the two conditions and scores significantly improved for the repeated measure in…

Two studies explored the relation of task understanding to performance in the Wason selection tasks, in which subjects successfully solve tasks involving either social exchange situations or cheating detection content and perspective. Findings indicate that previous results (Gigerenzer and Hug, 1992) could be attributed to three general properties…

Examined the accuracy of performance estimates by preschool and early grade school children to determine whether age-related improvements in accuracy may be attributed to better predictions or better performance. Found that older children's improved predictive accuracy on an academic task was due to improved performance, whereas their improved…

Adolescents identified letters presented to them on the basis of color. Subjects (n=20) with mental retardation exhibited facilitation when the target was identical to the target on the preceding trial but did not exhibit inhibition when it had been a distractor on the preceding trial. Inefficient suppression processes may result in performance…

Twenty preschool children with specific language impairment (SLI) were compared to matched peers on counting abilities. SLI children demonstrated knowledge of rules associated with counting but exhibited marked difficulty in counting objects. They showed difficulty with rote counting, displayed a limited repertoire of number terms, miscounted…

This paper presents results of 2 experiments examining effects of signal and masker uncertainty on 17 preschoolers' and 13 adults' detection of tonal signals in noise maskers. Effects of masker uncertainty significantly exceeded those of signal uncertainty. For most adults and some children, distracters produced higher thresholds and shallower…