Perceived tachistoscopic duration and early visual processing in preschool children and adults

Two experiments further explored the Avant et al. (1975) finding that stimulus familiarity influences prerecognition processing to generate differences in the apparent duration of tachistoscopic flashes. The first experiment tested for developmental differences in the effects of upright versus 90°, 180°, and 270° rotations of a single letter or number upon the apparent duration of pre- and postmasked 30- and 50-msec flashes with adults and 4- and 5-year-old children. All age groups judged upright presentations to be of briefer duration. These differences in apparent duration were interpreted to index the automaticity of contacts between stimulus inputs and their memory representations. Failure of the children to recognize the letter and number in any orientation indicates that contact between stimulus inputs and memory representations precedes allocation of attention to the presented stimulus. The second experiment explored the influence of spatial structures which are not coded verbally by testing effects of good and poor dot pattern Gestalts on the apparent duration of tachistoscopic flashes. Adults discriminated between apparent durations of good and poor Gestalts but 4- and 5-year-olds did not. Apparent duration differences in the two experiments showed that spatial pattern structure and familiarity with verbal stimuli influence early visual processing in different ways.     

Ambiguous-cue learning in preschool children: A test of the dimensional characteristics of task stimuli

Sixteen preschool children were administered a two-choice discrimination problem consisting of three stimulus compounds: the consistently rewarded stimulus, the consistently nonrewarded stimulus, and the ambiguous stimulus which was nonrewarded when paired with the positive, but rewarded when paired with the negative. When both pair of stimuli, positive-ambiguous and negative-ambiguous, were presented together the subject was required either to choose or to avoid the ambiguous stimulus depending upon the stimulus with which it was paired. In Experiment 1, when each of three stimuli (positive, negative, ambiguous) varied along one nonspatial cue dimension (color), performance was better on negative-ambiguous trials than positive-ambiguous trials. In Experiment 2, when the positive and negative stimuli varied along three nonspatial cue dimensions (colors and form) and the ambiguous stimulus varied along one of these dimensions (color), superior positive-ambiguous over negative-ambiguous performance was obtained. These findings complement those reported for other subjects and confirm Berch's (D. B. Berch, Learning and Motivation, 1974, 5, 135–148) predictions regarding use of differential numbers of cue dimensions.     

Verbal and nonverbal maternal controls in hearing mother-deaf child interaction

Investigators of mother-child relations have concluded that mothers of deaf children are more controlling than mothers of hearing children. Excessive maternal control has been linked to inoptimal developmental outcomes, such as child dependence, social immaturity, and submissiveness. In the present study, the verbal and nonverbal controls employed by mothers of deaf preschoolers (3.00–6.75 years) versus mothers of hearing preschoolers (3.00–6.42 years) were evaluated. Subjects were 14 hearing mother-deaf child dyads and 14 hearing mother-hearing child dyads. Each dyad was observed during a 15-minute free-play period and during a 7-minute teaching period. Dependent measures were submitted to appropriate 2 (hearing status) by 2 (task) analysis of variance for repeated measures, followed by post hoc comparisons. The results indicated that the mothers of deaf children: (a) used higher rates of nonverbal controls than the mothers of hearing children, especially during the free-play period; and (b) employed higher rates of verbal controls than the mothers of hearing children during the free-play period, but not during the teaching period. In addition, the interaction tasks exerted differential effects on the two groups of mother-child dyads.     

Effects of listener feedback on the messages of kindergarten children in a referential communication task

A referential communication paradigm was employed with kindergarten children to determine the effects of systematically varied feedback following inadequate message production. Feedback conditions included three levels of verbal specificity presented either alone or in combination with visual feedback. Results indicated that kindergarten children formulated more adequate referential messages when provided with either highly specific verbal feedback or a chance to view the listener's incorrect choice of referent. The differential effectiveness of various types of feedback was discussed in terms of the role of comparison activities in the referential communication process, and implications for the communicative competency of kindergarten children were considered.     

Locus of control and persistence in structured and unstructured preschool classrooms

The effect of locus of control and classroom structure on persistence and attention in preschool children was examined. Teachers' ratings of persistence were obtained for 16 children from a relatively structured classroom and for 18 children from a relatively unstructured classroom. Locus of control was measured by administering the Preschool and Primary Nowicki-Strickland Internal-External Scale (Nowicki & Duke, 1974). As predicted, teachers from the structured classrooms rated externally controlled children as more persistent (r=.55, p<.05), while teachers from the unstructured classroom rated internally controlled children as more persistent (r= -.35, p<.10). Practical implications of this line of research for making classroom placement decisions are discussed.     

Memory for companions in preschool children

Memory of preschool children (4 years of age) for companions was investigated by comparing interview data using a picture sociometric technique with observational data on actual play companions. Accuracy decreased with successive nominations, and length of recall period. However children were able to name companions played with today, yesterday, last week and at the beginning of term, at well above chance levels. Accuracies improved during the term. The relevance of friendships and social experience for memory and cognitive processes in young children is discussed.     

Size-distance perception in preschool children.

Children between three and six years of age matched the “apparent” and “real” size of familiar and unfamiliar objects 3, 6, or 9 feet away. Prior to the experimental sessions, the children were divided into two groups: (a) those who could distinguish the phenomenal from the real sizes of the arcs in the Jastrow illusion (the “Realists”) and (b) those who could not (the “Phenomenalists”). The results suggest that all children perceived size constancy up to distances of 9 feet solely on the basis of visual information.     

Interpersonal problem solving in preschool children: A comparison of assessment procedures using two-dimensional versus three-dimensional stimuli

Two procedures for assessing the social problem-solving strategies of young children were compared: a traditional measure using pictorial stimuli and an alternative measure in which problems were presented using three-dimensional props. Subjects were 48 preschool children ages 3, 4 and 5. Using a counterbalanced, repeated measures design, the two tasks were presented to the children on consecutive days. Children also received the PPVT, and teacher ratings of behavioral adjustment were completed. Children gave more responses and suggested a greater variety of problem-solving strategies when tested with props than when tested with pictures. Response differences to the two testing procedures were greatest for children who were rated by their teachers as impulsive. Results are discussed in terms of the representational competence of the preschool child. Implications of the findings for intervention strategies also are discussed.     

The assessment of empathy in early childhood

In much of the literature on empathy in young children, researchers have assessed empathy with the FASTE (Feshbach and Roe Affective Situations Test for Empathy). Consequently, much of the literature on early affective responsiveness and the role of empathy in prosocial development is dependent on the validity of the FASTE. However, examination of the literature on gender differences in young children's empathy has suggested a methodological flaw in picture/story techniques such as the FASTE; children's responses to these instruments appear to vary as a function of the interaction of sex of experimenter with sex of subject. In the present study, we empirically examined the effects of sex of experimenter on children's responses to the FASTE. Eighty preschool children were randomly assigned by sex to four male and four female experimenters and were administered the FASTE. Children scored higher when interviewed by a same-sex experimenter, especially if only the stories that the children comprehended (the happy/sad episodes, not the anger or fear episodes) were examined. The implications of the findings for interpreting the literature on children's empathy (especially gender differences in empathy) are discussed.     

Generalization of self-instruction: The effect of strategy adaptation training as a function of cognitive level

In an examination of the factors involved in the generalization of self-instruction training, 48 preoperational and concrete operational first- and second-grade children received either self-instruction training or no training on the Matching Familiar Figures Test. In subsequent training using a perceptual perspective-taking task, half of the children in the self-instruction group received training in the specific adaptation of the previously learned strategy, the remainder received training in the general adaptation of the strategy. All groups were posttested on these two tasks and a generalization task (Tower of Hanoi). Preoperational and concrete operational children in both adaptation groups improved significantly at posttest on both training tasks. On the generalization task, only concrete operational children in the specific adaptation group showed significant improvement. These findings support the view that the format of instructions interacts with the child's cognitive capacities. The need is emphasized for a more individualized intervention context which considers the developmental status of child.     

Depression and achievement in subgroups of children with learning disabilities

Eighty-five learning disabled children were assigned to four subgroups and administered measures designed to assess the relationship between depression and academic achievement. As a group, these children were more depressed than nondisabled children. The subgroups, which were identified as learning disabled only, learning disabled with low IQ, learning disabled with socio-emotional disturbance, and learning disabled with hyperactivity, did not differ in magnitude of depression; however, the relationships between depression and achievement and IQ were substantially different in each subgroup. For the two largest subgroups, learning disabled only and learning disabled with socio-emotional disturbance, it was suggested that depression is the consequence of learning failure in the former and a possible cause of learning failure in the latter. These findings underscore the importance of depression, a heretofore neglected variable, for the understanding and remediation of learning disabilities.     

Information processing in reading-disabled and nondisabled children

Reading disabled and nondisabled children (13-14 years of age) were presented lists of 10 words each at different rates (one word per 1, 2, and 4 sec), and immediately after the last word of each list they recalled the words in any order. Recall of the first few words presented from each list (the primacy effect) was lower in reading-disabled than nondisabled children, and slower presentation rates increased the primacy effect in both groups. These findings suggest that reading-disabled children are not completely failing to use elaborative encoding but are using less effective elaborative encoding than nondisabled readers. With all presentation rates, recall of the last few words (the recency effect) was comparable in both groups, suggesting that older reading-disabled children encode and recognize the stimuli and that elaborative encoding is deficient in reading-disabled in spite of adequate stimulus encoding and recognition.     

Effects of two levels of stimulus complexity upon hypothesis sampling systems among second and sixth grade children

Groups of second and sixth grade children each solved a series of discrimination-learning problems involving four and eight dimensions that contained blanktrial probes for the S′s hypothesis (H). There were significant effects of grade level on three dependent measures (learning, generating consistent H patterns, sampling locally consistent Hs). Main effects of stimulus complexity were significant on five measures (the three above, rejecting disconfirmed Hs, maintaining confirmed Hs). There were no interactions involving any of these measures. The hypothesis sampling system (Sy) observed in each problem was also determined. Among sixth grade Ss this measure was unaffected by stimulus complexity level. Second grade Ss generated logically structured Sys in 65% of four-dimensional, but only 30% of eight-dimensional problems. They generated stereotyped behaviors or unsystematic sequences of Hs in 70% of eight-dimensional, but only about 35% of four-dimensional problems. Detailed analyses revealed that among second grade Ss good information processors (in terms of four component processes above) usually imposed a logical structure on four-dimensional, but generated unsystematic sequences of Hs in many of eight-dimensional problems. Poor processors generated stereotyped behaviors in both four- and eight-dimensional problems.     

Individual differences in preschool children's knowledge of superordinate categories

The present study assesses intensional knowledge of superordinate categories in preschool children. This assessment is part of a larger programmatic research effort aimed at the development of a cognitive preschool screening test to detect learning problems prior to their manifestation in school failure. Necessary prerequisites for including intensional superordinate category knowledge as a potential component of this screening test are addressed: (a) Are there substantial variations in this knowledge across preschool children? (b) Can the knowledge be measured reliably using game-like picture tasks? (c) Do individual differences in this knowledge relate to the child's current level of intellectual functioning? An underlying assumption for the development of this screening test is that assessing gradually emerging abstract knowledge that develops through active, ongoing processing is more likely to predict learning problems than assessing knowledge that develops through rote associative learning. Consistent with this approach was the prediction that one component of intension, knowledge of differences, would be a better predictor of current functioning than knowledge of similarities. The data support this contention. Although both knowledge of similarities and differences was stable within an individual, variable among individuals and highly correlated with each other, only knowledge of differences related to the child's concurrent level of intellectual functioning.     

Sources of visual field interference in children and adults

Subjects at three grade levels, third, sixth, and college (8, 11, and 20 years of age, respectively), were asked to identify briefly presented words accompanied by either words or letter strings in the same or opposite hemifield. Results indicated two sources of visual field interference, one relating to the presence of alphanumeric information elsewhere in the visual field and the second concerning the meaningfulness (lexical identity) of that information. The former showed a decrease in importance with age, and the latter an increase. Results were discussed in terms of the development of selective attention and hemispheric interaction.     

Power and speed components of individual differences in letter matching

Several previous studies have reported a correlation (typically around −.30) between standardized verbal ability test scores and name identity minus physical identity reaction times (NI-PI) in a letter-matching task. This correlation has usually been thought to reflect the mutual dependence of both measures on long-term memory access time. The present research was designed to assess Carroll's (1981) suggestions that: (a) NI — PI may not be the optimal formula for predicting standardized test scores from letter matching data, and (b) NI — PI may actually be related to the speed rather than the power component of standardized tests. Fifty-one subjects previously tested with a standardized reading test participated in letter-matching and word-reading tasks. The latter tasks required subjects to read words and specially constructed pseudowords. Power and speed measures were derived from the word-reading tasks and the standardized test on theoretical grounds (and supported by a principal components analysis). The results supported both of Carroll's contentions. NI — PI reaction time was related more to speed than power and the NI — PI statistic (as usually used) was not the optimum formula for predicting standardized test scores.     

An Examination of the Association between Social relationships and depression in early adolescence

The purpose of this study was to examine the association between social relationships and depression in early adolescence. Subjects were 216 sixth and seventh graders. Depression was measured by the Children's Depression Inventory; social relationships were measured by three sociometric techniques (positive nominations, negative nominations, peer ratings) and estimates by the subject of the number of nominations and the rating (s)he received. The results indicated that depression was associated with pear and self-estimate negative nominations and ratings more than with peer and self-estimate positive nominations. A stepwise multiple regression predicting depression scores included two of the six predictors and accounted for 14% of the variance. The implications of the results for the assessment and treatment of depression are discussed.