Perceptual,language, and academic achievement of English,spanish, and navajo speaking children referred for special classes

The purpose of this study was to determine the perceptual language and academic achievement functions of English, Spanish, and Navajo children experiencing learning problems and referred for placement into special education classes. Those test variables which discriminated among the native English-speaking children and the children who spoke Spanish or Navajo natively were, as predicted, those tasks which involved knowledge of the linguistic rules of English. It would seem that, taken as a group, the school learning problems experienced by the native Spanish- or Navajo-speaking children were the result of their limited linguistic competence in English, the language of instruction in their classrooms.     

Subject knowledge of the Experimenter''s interest in handedness and familial sinistrality variables and laterality test outcomes

We investigated the possible influence of common "demand characteristics" on the results on behavioral language laterality tasks. The demand characteristics were (1) whether Ss were or were not recruited for study according to their handedness, and (2) whether a detailed familial sinistrality inquiry was conducted before or after the tasks. Tasks were the Dichotic Consonant Vowel Task (DCVT) and the Bilateral Object Naming Latency Task (BONLT). Results showed no effect of demand characteristics on the BONLT. On the DCVT, however, prior inquiry regarding familial sinistrality was associated with significantly reduced right ear advantages (REAs). Interactions showed that the greatest reduction in REAs occurred in Ss with left-handedness in their families, who were asked about familial sinistrality prior to the tasks, who took the DCVT after the BONLT, and who were also recruited by handedness. Results, though generally reassuring regarding the robustness of the tasks against these sources of bias, raise some cautions for the DCVT.     

Urban Aboriginal‐Australian and Anglo‐Australian children: in‐group preference,self‐concept,and teachers' academic evaluations

The in‐group preference and self‐concepts of urban Aboriginal‐Australian and Anglo‐Australian children have never been compared, nor their relationships to teachers' evaluations of academic performance. In this study, 60 Aboriginal (primarily local Nyoongah) and 60 Anglo children aged 6–12 years were tested on in‐group preference; children aged 8+ were tested on self‐concept. Also, their teachers evaluated them on their general academic performance. Results indicated that Anglo children showed greater in‐group preference and scored higher on teacher evaluations than Aboriginal children, although there was no difference on self‐concept. No correlation existed between in‐group preference and self‐concept. It was concluded that the problems faced by Aboriginal children are only likely to be alleviated by a great deal of structural change. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Children's attributions of intentions to an invisible agent

Children ages 3-9 years were informed that an invisible agent (Princess Alice) would help them play a forced-choice game by "telling them, somehow, when they chose the wrong box," whereas a matched control group of children were not given this supernatural prime. On 2 unexpected event trials, an experimenter triggered a simulated unexpected event (i.e., a light turning on/off; a picture falling), and children's behavioral response to these events (i.e., moving their hand to the opposite box) was coded. Results showed a significant Age GroupxExperimental Condition interaction; the only children to reliably alter their behavior in response to the unexpected events were the oldest children (M=7 years 4 months), who were primed with the invisible agent concept. For children's posttest verbal explanations, also, only these children saw the unexpected events as being referential and declarative (e.g., "Princess Alice did it because I chose the wrong box"). Together, these data suggest that children may not regularly begin to see communicative signs as embedded in unexpected events until they are around 7 years of age.     

Field dependence-independence in Navajo children

Twenty Navajo boys and 20 Navajo girls 9 1/2 years of age were administered the Children's Embedded Figures Test. Mean scores were compared to Anglo normative scores for the same age range taken from Witkin et al. (1971). In contrast to previous research and hypothesized results, the Navajo sample scored significantly higher in a field independent direction than the Anglo sample. A multi-factor explanation comprised of genetic, environmental, experiential and linguistic factors unique to the Navajo is suggested to account for this outcome.     

A cross-cultural comparison of the developmental items of five ethnic groups in the southwest

A population of 3,067 Mexican-American, Pueblo Indian, Navajo Indian, Black, and Anglo elementary children were administered the Draw-A-Person for norming and comparison against the existing Koppitz scoring procedure. A significant number of items for each of the five ethnic groups changed categories with final score interpretation affected. A significant difference in percentage of items drawn by the five ethnic groups was also found, as were regional differences on certain items.     

Effects of classroom bilingualism on task‐shifting,verbal memory,and word learning in children

We examined the effects of classroom bilingual experience in children on an array of cognitive skills. Monolingual English‐speaking children were compared with children who spoke English as the native language and who had been exposed to Spanish in the context of dual‐immersion schooling for an average of 2 years. The groups were compared on a measure of non‐linguistic task‐shifting; measures of verbal short‐term and working memory; and measures of word learning. The two groups of children did not differ on measures of non‐linguistic task‐shifting and verbal short‐term memory. However, the classroom‐exposure bilingual group outperformed the monolingual group on the measure of verbal working memory and a measure of word learning. Together, these findings indicate that while exposure to a second language in a classroom setting may not be sufficient to engender changes in cognitive control, it can facilitate verbal memory and verbal learning.     

Three-year-olds’ memory for a person met only once at the age of 12 months: Very long-term memory revealed by a late-manifesting novelty preference

This study examined three-year-olds’ verbal and non-verbal memory for a person met only once after a 28 month interval. Children in the Test group (N = 50) had participated in an earlier experiment at our lab at the age of 12 months where they met one of two possible experimenters. At this past event half of the children were tested by one, the other half by the other experimenter. At the follow-up, run by a naïve experimenter, the children were shown two videos from the original experiment in a visual paired comparison task: One with the specific experimenter testing them at the original visit (the Target) and one of the other experimenter (the Foil), with whom they had no experience. When explicitly asked, the children’s responses did not differ from chance. However, eye-tracking data revealed a late-manifesting novelty preference for the “Foil” person indicating memory for the “Target” person met once before.     

The odd effect and multiple meanings in English of the words "odd" and "even"

Under a variety of conditions, people take longer to make judgments about odd than about even digits and digit names. In English the words "odd" and "even" have multiple meanings. Perhaps the multiple meanings of these words are responsible for the slowing of responses to odd stimuli. This hypothesis was tested using participants who spoke no English and in whose native language, Polish, the words for the mathematical concepts of odd and even do not have multiple meanings.     

Once a French Speaker,Always a French Speaker? Bilingual Children's Thinking About the Stability of Language

Despite early emerging and impressive linguistic abilities, young children demonstrate ostensibly puzzling beliefs about the nature of language. In some circumstances monolingual children even express the belief that an individual's language is more stable than her race. The present research investigated bilingual children's thinking about the relative stability of language and race (Kinzler & Dautel, 2012). Five‐to six‐year‐old bilingual children were asked to judge whether a target child who varied in race (White or Black) and language (English or French) would grow up to be an adult who maintained the target child's race or her language. Similar to many monolingual children, a heterogeneous group of bilingual children on average chose the language‐match. Yet French‐English bilingual children were relatively more likely to choose the race‐match, especially when tested in their non‐dominant language. Specific experience with relevant languages, and communicating in a non‐dominant language, may contribute to children's developing metalinguistic success and their thinking about social categorization.     

The effects of bilingualism on toddlers' executive functioning

Bilingual children have been shown to outperform monolingual children on tasks measuring executive functioning skills. This advantage is usually attributed to bilinguals’ extensive practice in exercising selective attention and cognitive flexibility during language use because both languages are active when one of them is being used. We examined whether this advantage is observed in 24-month-olds who have had much less experience in language production. A battery of executive functioning tasks and the cognitive scale of the Bayley test were administered to 63 monolingual and bilingual children. Native bilingual children performed significantly better than monolingual children on the Stroop task, with no difference between groups on the other tasks, confirming the specificity of bilingual effects to conflict tasks reported in older children. These results demonstrate that bilingual advantages in executive control emerge at an age not previously shown.     

Preschoolers trust particular informants when learning new names and new morphological forms

Across three studies, we investigated whether 4‐year‐olds would trust a previously reliable informant when learning novel morphological forms. In Experiment 1, children (N= 16) were presented with two informants: one who correctly named familiar objects and another who named them incorrectly. Children were invited to turn to these informants when learning novel labels and morphological forms. The majority of children chose the previously correct labeller when learning novel label and morphology. In Experiment 2, children (N= 16) were presented with an informant who used familiar plurals correctly and one who used them incorrectly. Children chose the previously correct morphologist when learning novel labels and past tense forms. Thus, children track both semantic and morphological accuracy. In Experiment 3, some children (N= 16) were presented with two informants who differed in naming accuracy, whereas others (N= 16) were presented with two informants who differed in morphological accuracy. To forestall any risk of experimenter cuing, one experimenter blind to the training children had received, tested children with novel labels and morphology. The results replicated those of Experiments 1 and 2. Implications for how children's trust in an informant might play a role in their acquisition of morphological forms are discussed.     

Self-awareness and transgression in children: two field studies

Two field studies explored the relationship between self-awareness and transgressive behavior. In the first study, 363 Halloween trick-or-treaters were instructed to only take one candy. Self-awareness induced by the presence of a mirror placed behind the candy bowl decreased transgression rates for children who had been individuated by asking them their name and address, but did not affect the behavior of children left anonymous. Self-awareness influenced older but not younger children. Naturally occurring standards instituted by the behavior of the first child to approach the candy bowl in each group were shown to interact with the experimenter's verbally stated standard. The behavior of 349 subjects in the second study replicated the findings in the first study. Additionally, when no standard was stated by the experimenter, children took more candy when not self-aware than when self-aware.     

Language function and dysfunction among Chinese- and English-speaking polyglots: Cortical stimulation, Wada Testing, and clinical studies

Language functions in a group of Chinese- and English-speaking polyglots living in a multiracial society have been investigated by several methods: the effects of cortical stimulation on object-naming and reading tasks in patients who required awake craniotomy, lateralization of cerebral dominance for speech by the Wada Test, and the pattern of language loss and recovery following stroke. The data indicate that these polyglots were all left hemisphere dominant for the languages tested: no consistent evidence for increased participation by the right hemisphere for language functions was found. The cortical stimulation experiments provided data most compatible with the "differential localization" model of cerebral localization in bilingualism. The variable which most influenced performance in all of these investigations was which language was used primarily for speaking as well as reading and writing at the time of the study.     

Right-ear advantage and delayed recall

Two studies were performed using monaural presentation of verbal material to test for a right-ear advantage (REA) in recall. It was hypothesized that a delayed recall task and examination of the serial position curve would be a more sensitive test for ear asymmetries than those used in previous studies. In Experiment 1, 30 right-handed male subjects were given lists of words to recall, presented to either the left or right ear, with language chatter, baroque music, or no stimulus concurrently presented to the opposite ear. Both immediate and delayed recall were assessed. The results indicated that the strongest REAs appeared in delayed recall. Moreover, the REAs occurred regardless of the stimulus conditions co-occurring in the other ear. Experiment 2 was done to test whether the REAs in the delayed recall were due to rehearsal biases. Twenty-four right-handed male subjects recalled lists of words with standard instructions and instructions to recall in the reverse order of input (limiting rehearsal). The results indicated that the backward instructions limited and controlled rehearsal and, hence, input to long-term storage; the REAs occurred in delayed recall under all instructional conditions.     

Ethnic and sex differences in occupational stereotyping by elementary school children

As part of the formative evaluation of an educational television and print package, fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade public school Black, Hispanic, and Anglo children were surveyed regarding career choice and perceptions of the appropriateness of selected occupations for male and female adults and children. Responses were analyzed by ethnic membership and sex. Results indicated that in general Hispanic and Anglo girls chose more non traditional, higher-status occupations than Black girls. For boys, however, there was no clear interaction between sex and ethnic group in career choice. Girls and boys in all three ethnic groups indicated preference for careers stereotyped for their own sex, although girls—particularly Anglo girls—showed a greater tendency to cross sex-stereotyped lines. In addition, while both girls and boys in all three groups stereotyped as appropriate only for females those occupations regarded as traditionally female, traditionally male occupations were stereotyped more frequently by boys than by girls, who tended to consider them appropriate for both sexes. No differences appeared between ethnic groups in boys' responses to male and female adult occupations. In general Black girls tended to hold the most stereotypic views of job appropriateness, while Hispanic girls did not show a clear trend. Black boys tended to stereotype more than the other two groups with reference to child jobs on a boy-stereotype scale. Some differences also appeared in both boys' and girls' responses on the basis of a median split between high and low stereotypers on boy and girl child-job stereotype scales. In general, subjects who stereotyped child jobs tended also to stereotype adult occupations, suggesting a link between the child's current experience and the more remote world of adults. Implications of the findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Effects of the "beauty is good" stereotype on children's information processing

The authors tested schematic information processing as a function of attractiveness stereotyping in two studies. An adult experimenter read children (ages 3 to 7 years) eight different stories in which a child narrator encountered two characters who varied in level of attractiveness and displayed positive or negative traits that were either consistent or inconsistent with the "beauty is good" stereotype. Following the story, the experimenter showed each child a photograph of the two characters' faces and asked the child to point to the character who displayed the positive trait. In Experiment 1, children made more errors in identifying female characters with stereotype inconsistent traits but did just the opposite with male characters. Experiment 2 replicated the findings with female characters but found no difference in errors with male characters. The findings have implications for how attractiveness and gender stereotypes affect children's information processing, how attractiveness schemata may be organized, and why physical attractiveness stereotypes are maintained.     

National identifications and attitudes to national ingroups and outgroups amongst children living in the Basque country

This study investigated the development of national identification in children growing up in the Basque Country. The sample consisted of 246 children aged 6, 9, 12 and 15 years old who belonged to three linguistic subgroups: children who spoke only Basque with their parents in their home, children who spoke only Spanish in their home, and children who spoke both Basque and Spanish in their home. It was found that national identifications differed in the three linguistic subgroups. Furthermore, the three subgroups exhibited different evaluations of, and feelings towards, the national ingroup and a number of national outgroups. The positive and affective distinctiveness ascribed to the Basque and Spanish national groups was correlated with the strength of identification with the Basque and Spanish groups, respectively. The attitudes towards national outgroups which were exhibited by these children did not show any changes as a function of age. It is argued that the cognitive‐developmental account of the development of national attitudes is unable to explain the patterns of findings which were obtained, but that social identity theory can explain the correlation between the strength of national identification and the positive and affective distinctiveness which was ascribed to the ingroup. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.