Among 30 Hong Kong Chinese fourth graders, sensitivities to character and word constructions were examined in judgment tasks at each level. There were three conditions across both tasks: the real condition, consisting of either actual two-character compound Chinese words or real Chinese compound characters; the reversed condition, with either the…

In two experiments, we investigated the robustness and automaticity of adults' and children's generation of false memories by using a levels-of-processing paradigm (Experiment 1) and a divided attention paradigm (Experiment 2). The first experiment revealed that when information was encoded at a shallow level, true recognition rates decreased for…

Tests the appropriateness of the levels-of-processing model for hearing impaired children on a recognition memory task. Subjects were 89 children ranging in age from 6 years to 12 years. (MP)

Outlines a theory of metaphor that posits varying levels of semantic processing and formalizes the levels in terms of kinds of semantic mapping operators. Predicted complexity of semantic mapping operators was tested using metaphor interpretations of 204 children aged 6-12 years and 24 adults. Processing score increased predictably with age. (SAK)

The development of two-digit number processing in children, and in particular the influence of place-value understanding, has recently received increasing research interest. However, place-value influences leading to decomposed processing have not yet been investigated for multi-digit numbers beyond the two-digit number range in children.…

This study tested whether the first level in processing orientation information results in perceiving whether a shape is upright or nonupright. Theory states that nonupright orientations are not distinguished from each other. As predicted, three- and four-year-olds discriminated upright from nonupright pictures more readily than they discriminated…

Examined how developmental differences in perceptual and conceptual priming between 8 and 19 years coincide with differences between familiarity and recollective responses on explicit memory tests employing the Remember/Know paradigm. Found few age-group differences in perceptual priming following a levels-of-processing encoding manipulation. In…

Two experiments studied the impact of the nature of information available at different processing levels on differences in haptic (tactile) and in visual, free classification development. Found that exploration characteristics (involving simultaneous versus independent processing of stimulus dimensions) and presentation of the stimulus dimensions…

Individuals with autism frequently show impairments in text reading comprehension. This often is attributed to poor ability to draw inferences during reading and to inadequate access to relevant knowledge. The current study tested this hypothesis by measuring the time taken to read the same question, relating to either physical or social world…

Three experiments investigated the roles of resource-sharing and intrinsic memory demands in complex working memory span performance in 7- and 9-year-olds. In Experiment 1, the processing complexity of arithmetic operations was varied under conditions in which processing times were equivalent. Memory span did not differ as a function of processing…

The mental capacity of 120 children aged 10 to 16 years was measured with 2 visual information-processing tasks, and their level of moral development was assessed with the Sociomoral Reflection Measure. Results suggest that mental capacity is a necessary but not sufficient condition for moral developmental growth. (LB)

There has been much recent interest in letter position coding in adults, but little is known about the development of this process in children learning to read. Here, the letter position coding abilities of 127 children in Grades 2, 3, and 4 (aged 7-10 years) were examined by comparing their performance in reading aloud "migratable" words (e.g.,…

The aim of the study was to undertake a behavioral investigation of the development of automatic orthographic processing during reading acquisition in French. Following Castles and colleagues' 2007 study ("Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 97," 165-182) and their lexical tuning hypothesis framework, substituted-letter and…

Two experiments examined child and adult processing of hierarchical stimuli composed of geometric forms. Adults (ages 18-23 years) and children (ages 7-10 years) performed a forced-choice task gauging similarity between visual stimuli consisting of large geometric objects (global level) composed of small geometric objects (local level). The…

In three experiments, memory for intentionally encoded words was compared with memory for encodings, induced by asking semantic, phonemic, or surface questions. Subjects were second-, fourth-, and sixth-grade students, and junior and senior high school students. (Author/MP)