This essay concerns the development of cognitive and perceptual skills in children from birth to the age of nine. It surveys issues, beliefs, and information about perceptual and cognitive procedures. It discusses the issues of nature-nurture, maturation-learning, continuity-discontinuity, and critical periods. It describes the development of…

Six separate experiments were undertaken to test the hypothesis that poor readers in first, second, and third grade would have more difficulty with simple perceptual discriminations than would good readers in the same grades. Various tasks were used in the experiments, including discrimination of line orientations, checking letters in three-letter…

This report presents results from an experimental comparison of four kinds of Head Start programs (Montessori, Traditional, Bereiter-Engelmann, and Darcee) and a 3-year follow-up through second grade. The four programs are described, and the immediate and stable effects of each program on children's cognitive, motivational and perceptual…

The author discusses the desirability of a synthesis of the arts, wherein students of all ages integrate all the senses through music, dance, visual art, and writing. He says that a total and sustained separation of the senses results in a fragmentation of experience. (Author/KC)

Investigated was whether reading achievement could be increased by exposure to logical and perceptual tasks as found in science process activities. (MP)

This article discusses children's phonological limitations, including perceptual difficulties and productive difficulties. (NCR)

Studies the nature and development of perceptual estimation in a task requiring the coordination of spatial dimensions. (BD)

Rorschach protocols of both black and white children from 7 to 14 years of age, who had been evaluated at a child guidance clinic, were rescored with respect to developmental level of perceptual integration. It was found that black children had higher perceptual-integration scores in comparison to their white counterparts. (Author)

Adults and 4-year-old children were tested to determine whether the children were able to decode sets of familiar minimal pairs as well as adults. They listened to words spoken in a normal voice and a whisper. Indications were that the 4-year-old's perceptual mastery of English phonology is not yet complete. (SW)

Significant events in this field include the learning disabilities movement, diagnosis and prescription, attempts at early detection, and international comparisons. (MKM)

Academically successful university students, after being taught effective study skills, had significantly higher approval of their teachers and gained insight into their own study habits, but did not differ significantly from a control group in semester grade point average. (MJB)

Analysis of recent literature covering visual experiments with infants and young children documented a progression of visual functions in early development. (Author)

The study found that providing feedback and goals in an accelerating standards condition had a positive effect on the learning of eight retarded children (mean age 9 years) on a five-choice discrimination task requiring vocabulary and perceptual competence. (Author/DB)

Describes some of the common principles underlying the operation of the cortex in an effort to understand the human brain. Discusses the structure of the cortex, its specific areas, and its map-making abilities. Describes some of the recent discoveries about brain operation, development and functioning. (TW)