COMPUTER ASSESSMENT OF READING VOCABULARY: A PRELIMINARY STUDY OF THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN KNOWLEDGE,WORD FREQUENCY,AND RESPONSE TIME

The assessment of vocabulary knowledge has posed a number of problems which have resulted in widely differing estimates of children's vocabulary growth. Such estimates assume importance when school texts are controlled for vocabulary diversity, and in pedagogical debates concerning the value of vocabulary instruction. In this paper we outline a computer‐based methodology which obtains simple timed responses to sets of words and word‐like nonsense items. We present pilot data depicting estimated vocabulary knowledge, and relating it to word frequency and decision response time, and we speculate about the question of total vocabulary size.     

Physiological-behavioral coupling research in the soviet science of higher nervous activity: A visitation report

Behavioral research paradigms presently used by Soviet scientists to explore relations between behavioral and physiological activities are discussed. Each laboratory represented was physically visited by the author during a six month exchange visit to the Soviet Union. Research ranging from central concommitants of language and meaning to biofeedback and peripheral autonomic functions are described.