Results of a training study with five-year-olds revealed that the children did not know the importance of differentiating referents from nonreferents and were unaware of complementary aspects of speaking and listening. After training in either speaking or listening modes and role switching experience, performance improved on tasks in trained and…

In this longitudinal study, infants' visual guidance of hand orientation was investigated by presenting a rod either horizontally or vertically to see if the orientation of the reaching hand was adjusted toward the orientation of the rod before contacting it. Subjects were l8 infants seen monthly between 18 and 34 weeks of age. (RH)

Effects of inversion and reversal on children's word recognition performance were examined in relation to age, reading level, and word familiarity to determine whether retarded readers have greater facility with disoriented text than do normal readers. An inverse relationship between number and time ratios was found. (RH)

Examines the effects of word duration on memory span in subjects of different ages. Concludes that developmental increases in short-term memory span can be explained in terms of increases in speech rate. Suggests that increases in speech rate with age reflect increases in the speed of articulation of individual words. (Author/AS)

Uses the balance scale task to assess the development of compensation across versions of the task. Shows that fully reversible thinking may not be typical even in college students; many subjects used the compensation operation inconsistently. Preschoolers tended to use the given information in a way that was opposite to that required for correct…

Three eperiments assessed the effects on strategy transfer of supplements to keyword method instruction; supplements included more comprehensive instructions concerning strategy application, additional practice with strategy during instruction, and combined directions and practice. Generally, results indicated that more explicit instructions are…

Compares spontaneous and instructed use of lexical, external consistency, and internal consistency standards of evaluation as a function of age, reading proficiency, and type of standard. A total of 108 elementary school students divided evenly between fourth and sixth grades identified problems embedded within passages of expository text. (RH)

Investigates the role active, self-produced movement might play in the type of rotation task typically used to assess spatial orientation in children 12 months to 18 months of age. Results indicated that, at least at 12 months, spatial orientation was indeed facilitated by allowing the infants (n = 13) to move through space on their own. (RH)

Assesses children's recall performance using three memory instructions: standard free recall, repetition, and categorical processing. Recall performance was about equal for standard versus repetition and superior when category processing is used, especially with highly representative items. Concludes that at both 7 years and 10 years the…

Reports that both learning-disabled (LD) and non-learning-disabled (NORM) children recalled disproportionately more adjacent words than semantically related or spaced words in a free recall task. Spaced words were less likely to be recalled by the younger children and by the LDs. NORMs' recalls were governed by purposive semantic processing to a…

Results of two studies indicate a tendency among young children to impose organization on information encoded in memory and in relation to increases in metric accuracy, decentration, and efficient scanning, which enable them to more accurately evaluate when such organization is and is not appropriate. (Author)

Tests the hypothesis that children's inability to encode item-specific and relational information in episodic events contributes to age differences in recall and recognition. In two experiments, grade school children and college adults were presented with word triplets varying in categorical relatedness. Processing of the item-specific and…

Demonstrates that the tendency toward canonicality is reduced when objects in differing orientation are presented side by side. The number of canonical errors is reduced when the object is opaque. (Author)

Finds evidence for a continuum between children relying heavily on spelling-sound rules and those using specific associations. Spelling nonsense words correlated more highly with spelling regular words than with spelling exception words. Skill at rules was overgeneralized to exception words. Rule use in spelling correlated with rule use in…

Reports free and cued recall experiments in which a new model was used to obtain measurements of age changes in storage and retrieval. Participants were 7- and 11-year-olds. Findings concern (1) contributions of storage and retrieval to memory development; (2) effects of errors and successes on memorization; and (3) difficulty of storing and…