Investigated visual word recognition of first- through fifth-graders. Found that the "viewing position effect" typically seen in skilled readers and visual field asymmetries in recognizing individual letters in words emerged early at the end of the first year of reading instruction. Noted that findings support the view that basic reading skills…

Examined persistence of sensory memory by studying developmental differences in recall of attended and ignored lists of digits for second-graders, fifth-graders, and adults. Found developmental increase in the persistence of memory only for the final item in an ignored list, which is the item for which sensory memory is thought to be the most…

Two studies examined understanding of notational representation among 3- to 5-year-olds. Children solved problems when shown cards with a picture or word indicating identity or a quantity indicator. In the easier condition, children had difficulty solving the problems as a function of their familiarity with the notation, suggesting weaknesses in…

Examined ability of Quebec French-speaking first graders to categorize words on the basis of vowel categories. Found that ability to categorize vowels does not develop uniformly but is affected by degree of spectral/articulatory proximity between vowels, by syllable structure, and potentially by characteristics of the input phonology. (JPB)

Examined whether a detailed analysis of age-related changes in error patterns could reveal the mechanisms underpinning development in short-term memory. Tested developmental changes among 7- to 11-year-olds in their serial recall of lists of 6 letters, finding developmental differences in the patterns of errors. (JPB)

Examined exogenous orienting among infants between 7 and 21 weeks of age in 2 experiments using display with multiple potential attention targets. Found that as early as 7 weeks of age, sensitivity for a small moving stimulus can be significantly influenced by the simultaneous presence of competing attention targets. Found large increases in…

Two studies examined the relationship between phonological sensitivity and 5-year-olds' acquisition of new words that systematically differed in the familiarity of their sound structures. Found that phonological sensitivity was related to pair-associated learning of phonologically unfamiliar, but not familiar, words. Following phonological…

Explored whether teacher feedback modified first and second graders' preferences and perceptions concerning a target child with behavior problems. Found that feedback had at least minimal effects at each level (liked, average, disliked) of the target's reputation. When combined with a liked reputation, positive and neutral-salient feedback…

Two experiments investigated infants' sensitivity to amount of continuous quantity and to changes in amount of continuous quantity. Found that 6-month-olds looked significantly longer at a novel quantity than at the familiar quantity. Nine-month-olds looked significantly longer at an impossible event than at a possible event. Findings question…

This study investigated the relationship between dyslexia and speech perception, phonology, and morphology among 7-, 8- and 9-year-olds. Findings indicated that only the developmentally language impaired showed clear speech perception deficits. Phonological dyslexics and developmentally language impaired showed inflectional morphology…

Two experiments examined age differences in children's dual-task performance. Findings indicated that when capacity for single-task performance was controlled, age differences between second and fifth graders did not exist in performance of dual-tasks of equal priority. When tasks had different priorities, only fifth graders could differentially…

Three studies examined strategy flexibility in mathematical problem solving among high school students on Scholastic Assessment Test-Mathematics problems and among college students on Graduate Record Examination-Quantitative items. Results suggested that strategy flexibility was a source of gender differences in mathematics ability as assessed by…

Compared effects of a computer-assisted remedial reading program providing speech-supported reading in context with or without explicit phonological training. Found that phonologically trained second to fifth graders gained more in phonological skills and untimed word reading than untrained children. Children with more contextual reading gained…

Third-graders showing negligible mastery of multiplication combinations were randomly assigned to two groups which practiced different subsets of combinations. Retest results were inconsistent with Siegler's (1988) proposal that item-specific computational practice is necessary to change error patterns and promote mastery. Results suggested that…

Examined whether 5- and 6-year-olds understand that addition and subtraction cancel each other and whether this understanding is based on identity or quantity of addend and subtrahend. Found that children used inversion principle. Six- to eight-year-olds also used inversion and decomposition to solve a + b - (B+1) problems. Concluded that…