The development of visual orienting to a cued target on the part of practicing and nonpracticing tennis players aged 13, 16, and 25 years was examined. Results indicated that practicers were not faster than nonpracticers in processing visual information and that subjects of all ages oriented attention voluntarily to cued locations. (LB)

Young adults with learning disabilities were divided into two groups: successful (n=29) and unsuccessful (n=21). Variables discriminating the groups (verbal intelligence quotient, length of enrollment, and math achievement discrepancy) did not accurately predict group membership. Qualitative analyses revealed personal attitudes and behaviors and…

Experiments in the Netherlands assessing speechreading in a total of 80 deaf children (ages 8-18) under different conditions found that the use of 3 different video images (entire face, two-thirds profile, and lips only) and 4 different speech rates did not result in significantly different scores. (Author/JDD)

This study, involving 24 preschool children with stuttering problems, found no significant differences between subgroups based on stuttering severity and phonologic ability. Phonologic difficulties of the disfluent word, and the fluent word following it, did not contribute to fluency breakdown regardless of the children's stuttering severity or…

Offers a sketch of a concept called the "liminal state" that may represent a central element of designing and a condition that facilitates the best design products and processes. A definition of "liminal state," some contexts in which it may occur, and some areas where liminal states might improve performance are given.…

Explores the issue of interactivity in distance education courses being compromised through the use of telecommunications technology. Factors contributing to low interactivity are discussed, including one-way communication, schedule conflicts, and lack of standards; and ways to increase interactivity are suggested, including two-way communication,…

This study examined factors associated with failure of child abuse victims to attend their first recommended counseling session. Attenders (n=84) differed from nonattenders (n=45) on the basis of race, whether the center to which they were referred was private or public, whether the family had a telephone, and the mother's attitude toward…

Two studies assessed the relation between anxiety and cognitive task performance in 11- to 13-year-old New Zealand children. Contrasting predictions were tested from a cognitive-attentional model and a risk-factor model. Results showed that only the predictions taken from the risk factor model were supported, and only for the girls. (SH)

Five adult males with profound retardation were assessed on a motor task during baseline, satiation, and deprivation conditions, with three classes of consequences: small food items, music, and social praise. Each stimulus class functioned as reinforcement, with different degrees of effectiveness during satiation versus deprivation conditions.…

Investigates document ranking methods in thesaurus-based Boolean information retrieval systems and proposes a new thesaurus-based ranking algorithm called the Extended Relevance algorithm. Performance comparisons are made between the Extended Relevance algorithm and previous thesaurus-based ranking algorithms. (Contains 20 references.) (LRW)

Finds that quality of public speaking students' speech performance correlated positively with cumulative grade point average, total preparation time, time spent preparing a visual aid, number of rehearsals for an audience, time rehearsing silently, time rehearsing out loud, number of rehearsals out loud, research outside the library, and…

Two experiments examined preschoolers' ability to apply multiple labels to representational objects and to people. Found that preschoolers reliably produced or accepted several words per entity and accepted a high percentage of class-inclusive and overlapping word pairs. The mean number of words produced in labeling task was related to receptive…

The six Holland-based Interest Scale scores yielded by the Harrington-O'Shea Career Decision-Making System (CDM) (T. Harrington and A. O'Shea, 1982) were related to sex, race, and performance on the Kaufman Adolescent and Adult Intelligence Test for 254 adolescents and young adults. CDM scores did not relate to most of the variables studied, and…

Provides information for constructing two-dimensional performance graphs for students to assess their competencies and to diagnose difficulties in the important area of problem solving. (ASK)

The rates and durations of stereotypic behaviors in four adolescents with severe mental retardation were measured during two daily vocational training sessions and during contiguous periods of leisure in special education classrooms. The major differences in stereotypy between leisure and vocational training were differences in episode length.…