Phonemic analysis and severe reading disability in children

Forty-five first-grade children of average intellectual ability were studied, consisting of one group of average readers, one group with mild reading difficulty, and one group with severe reading disability. A striking deficit in phonemic analysis was observed in children with severe reading disability. These children were unable to segment spoken syllables into individual speech sounds, while children with only mild reading difficulty or none were quite proficient at this skill. In fact, using phonemic analysis scores, it was possible to distinguish the severe reading disability group from the others with perfect accuracy.This research was supported in part by U.S. Public Health Service, Maternal and Child Health Project 916, and by Grants HD-03110 and ES-01104 from the National Institutes of Health.     

Assessment of remote memory: Validation of the television test by repeated testing during a 7-year period

Remote memory for former, one-season television programs was assessed on four different occasions during 7 years. Each test yielded a forgetting curve that was primarily monotonic and linear. In addition, the forgetting curve obtained by the first application of this test in 1973 was largely recapitulated by the three later applications of the test. These findings, together with new information concerning the equivalence of items from different time periods, provide strong evidence that the television test validly measures remote memory.     

Stimulus uncertainty does not impair stereopsis

The effect of stimulus uncertainty on the stereoscopic resolution of letters was examined for two classes of letters: (1) letters presented stereoscopically as random-element stereograms, and (2) letters presented as two-dimensional physical contours. The variables of stimulus discriminability (stereoscopic vs. physical contours) and stimulus uncertainty (number of alternative letter targets) were combined factorially. Stereoscopically presented letters were more difficult to resolve, but stimulus uncertainty had the same effect for both stereoscopic and physically defined letters. The additivity of these two variables suggests that the perception of stereoscopic forms is an automatic process not impaired by uncertainty about the form to be resolved.     

Microprocessor uses in a timeshared facility

A number of topics are discussed that are related to developing computer-controlled laboratories in which microprocessors and host machines interact. Experiences are derived from work at the Learning Research and Development Center, University of Pittsburgh.     

Gifted Females: Are We Meeting Their Counseling Needs?

Academically talented females are likely to aspire to achieve far less than their male cohorts, particularly in the areas of mathematics and science. Several socioculural factors have been identified that create the special problems of the gifted female. The implications of these factors for developing appropriate counseling strategies for intellectually gifted females are discussed.     

The role of perceptual load in negative priming

Negative priming (NP) effects from irrelevant distractors were assessed as a function of perceptual load in the processing of prime targets. Participants searched for a target letter among a varying number of nontarget letters in the center of the display and ignored an irrelevant peripheral distractor. NP from this distractor was found to depend on the relevant search set size, decreasing as this set size was increased. The authors conclude that exhausting attention in relevant processing reduces irrelevant processing (e.g., N. Lavie, 1995), leaving less distractor processing to produce NP. This conclusion is consistent with recent reactive inhibition views for NP (e.g., G. Houghton, S. P. Tipper, B. Weaver, & D. I. Shore, 1996).     

Familiarity Bias and Belief Reversal in Relative Likelihood Judgment

People are often called on to make an assessment of the relative likelihood of events (e.g., which of two investments is more likely to outperform the market?) and their complements (which of the two investments is more likely to perform no better than the market?). Probability theory assumes that belief orderings over events and their complements should mirror each other (i.e., P(A) >/= P(B) iff P (not-A) 相似文献   

Joint Modeling of Ability and Differential Speed Using Responses and Response Times

With computerized testing, it is possible to record both the responses of test takers to test questions (i.e., items) and the amount of time spent by a test taker in responding to each question. Various models have been proposed that take into account both test-taker ability and working speed, with the many models assuming a constant working speed throughout the test. The constant working speed assumption may be inappropriate for various reasons. For example, a test taker may need to adjust the pace due to time mismanagement, or a test taker who started out working too fast may reduce the working speed to improve accuracy. A model is proposed here that allows for variable working speed. An illustration of the model using the Amsterdam Chess Test data is provided.