Investigated 7-year-olds', 9-year-olds', and adults' ability to classify children's and adults' faces by sex using only biological based internal facial structure. Found that participants categorized adult faces by sex at accuracy levels varying from just above chance (7-year-olds) to nearly perfect (adults). All groups were less accurate for…

Examined age differences in the missing-letter effect during letter-detection tasks. Found expected increase in magnitude with age of the effect even when function words and content words were equated for frequency. Word scrambling improved letter detection in function words compared to content words among older subjects, arguing against increased…

Applies an established model of organizational alignment to distance education in postsecondary institutions and recommends performance-oriented approaches to support growth by analyzing goals, structure, and management practices across the organization. Presents performance improvement strategies such as benchmarking and documenting workflows,…

Examined whether different lexicalization patterns of motion events in English and Spanish predicted how college student speakers performed in recognition memory and similarity judgment tasks. Found no language effect in recognition memory after either linguistic or non-linguistic encoding, nor in similarity judgments after non-linguistic…

This study examined effects of individual differences in speak-span scores and variations in memory demands on class-inclusion performance of 10-, 13-, and 15-year-olds. Results from regression analyses and the mathematical model indicated that differences in age, speak span, and memory load affected performance. Effects of speak span and memory…

Three experiments tested whether it is possible to teach college students who are not trained investigators to comprehend information regarding knowledge of conservation problems and mathematical equivalence conveyed through children's hand gestures. Findings suggest that instructing adults to attend to gesture enhances their assessment of…

Used a popular children's picture book to explore preschool children's understanding of false beliefs. Found that, irrespective of age, children had a greater probability of demonstrating their understanding of false belief during the narrative task than during a traditional false belief task. (Author/KB)

Nineteen mothers of 23 children who received special education services in inclusive classrooms with support from paraprofessionals found that the mothers identified closely with paraprofessionals and believed that they were compassionate, dedicated people who functioned in four major roles: connector, team member, instructor, and physical…

A study assessed the ability of 20 bilingual Spanish- English-speaking children (ages 4-5) with specific language impairments (SLI) to detect and produce grammatically valid "definite article + noun" forms in Spanish. Students were more likely to offer an accurate response when the response followed an implicit morphemic rule. (Contains…

Reviews and evaluates representative models of performance from multiple disciplines. Presents an integrated taxonomy of performance domains and clarifies performance outcomes and performance metrics. Proposes a research agenda related to performance domains. (AEF)

Two experiments tested a neo-Piagetian model of verbal short-term memory, comparing it with the articulatory loop model. Findings indicated that the proposed model accounted for effects of M capacity, word length, and presentation modality on short-term memory. The model's fit to the data was acceptable, and parameter estimates were consistent…

Developed an instrument to evaluate the performance of educational administrators at a Canadian medical school. After 3 yearly evaluations, 20 administrators and 80 evaluators acknowledged broader input into evaluation, but saw little evaluation-related improved performance. (SLD)

Examines the role of training for improving the performance of people in ways that both they and their organizations value, focusing on what the true worth of training is and can be. Proposes a model for calculating return-on-investment (ROI) in training. Presents a case study of its application within an operational context at a bank. (Contains…

Human performance technologists add value by making systematically important connections. After illustrating the connections made in various professions and organizations, this article discusses the importance, purpose, history and process of making connections. (AEF)

Provides a literature review on project management related to corporate instructional design activities. Highlights include project integration, strategic planning, resource allocation, optimizing performance and quality, constructing a project team, generating a productive working climate, and implementation strategies. (LRW)