Previous studies have suggested that nonnative (L2) linguistic sounds are accommodated to native language (L1) phonemic categories. However, this conclusion may be compromised by the use of explicit discrimination tests. The present study provides an implicit measure of L2 phoneme discrimination in early bilinguals (Catalan and Spanish).…

This exploratory study investigated whether there are differences between males and females in the strategies used to construct mental representations from three-dimensional objects in a dimensional travel display. A Silicon Graphics IRIS computer was used to create the travel displays and mathematical models were created for each of the objects…

This report presents a study designed to determine if 5-year-olds possess an understanding of causation that conforms to the Weiner et al (1971) achievement model. This paper also studies the similarities between the attributional explanations of 5-year-olds and their teachers. Twenty-eight kindergarten students, largely part-Hawaiian, were asked…

This study tested for cultural bias in the Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Test. Subjects were 72 black and white patients diagnosed as either brain damaged or psychiatric. Bender protocols were scored by Pascal-Suttell and Hain systems. No race effect appeared except for the Pascal-Suttell system for which blacks scored significantly better. (Author)

Adults' ability to track a moving target was examined in two experiments in order to compare their performance with that of very young infants. Results indicated that (1) adults'"overshoot" errors resembled those reported for young infants; and (2) adults had problems tracking a moving target which unexpectedly changed direction. (Author/DB)

This study was performed to assess the effect of field independence/dependence on the successful use of mapping or outlining to take notes from textbooks. Success was measured in terms of student performance on a comprehension test and thoroughness of notetaking. The study sample of 38 students enrolled in reading and study skills courses at a…

A program of research was conducted to study transitions from preoperational to concrete operational forms of spatial imagery (area 1), to compare results from spatial imagery studies based on open-ended measures (such as drawings) with results based on reaction time measures (area 2), and to study anticipatory imagery in the contexts of memory…

Thirty language-impaired, reading-impaired, and normal children, aged 6:8-8:10, were administered eight tasks in word repetition, rapid naming, syllable segmentation, paper folding, and form completion. Controls performed better than the subjects on all but two tasks, and the language-impaired and reading-impaired children performed comparably on…

The common item equating method (weighted and unweighted) and the one-step missing data calibration method used with Rasch measurement models were compared using data from six equivalent forms of a perceptual ability test administered as part of the Dental Admission Test. Results suggest little difference among the equating methods. (SLD)

Various theories of learning for the categories "count noun" and "mass noun" are compared. It is argued that children assign words to these categories on the basis of intuitions arising from perception that are relevant to Macnamara's (1986) definitions of the categories. (39 references) (GLR)

Engineering students were given a mental rotation test at the beginning and end of their first-year engineering course and again several years later to assess the relationship between spatial visualization skill and retention in engineering. No relationship was found between task scores and retention; however, a course in design and graphics…

A study was undertaken to learn whether involvement of the brain's right hemisphere in auditory language processing, a phenomenon found in a previous study of Crow-English bilinguals, was language-specific. Alpha blocking response as measured by electroencephalography (EEG) was used as an indicator of brain activity. It was predicted that (1)…

A cross-cultural test measuring need-achievement motivation was developed and administered to 634 American Indian, Spanish American and Anglo high school seniors attending 24 schools, including Federal, public and private boarding and day types. Need-achievement was related to the following types of measures: academic, aptitude, intelligence, and…