The lack of standardization in research involving pictorial variables has made it difficult to clarify the functions of pictorial stimuli in learning. This study sought to determine whether selected methods of rendering pictorial illustrations influenced the number and type of descriptive words evoked in a verbal association task. Normally the…

Contextual facilitation appears to depend upon the mode of analysis of the prime. If the prime is analyzed as a meaningful unit, facilitation occurs. However, if it is subjected to a more discrete, letter-by-letter analysis, the priming effect vanishes. (Author/CP)

Schuberth and Eimas (EJ 159 939) reported that context and frequency effects added to determine reaction times in a lexical decision (word v nonword) task. The present reexamination shows that context and frequency do interact, with semantic context facilitating the processing of low-frequency words more than high-frequency words. (Author/CP)

The associative learning effects called blocking and highlighting have previously been explained by covert learned attention, but evidence for learned attention has been indirect, via models of response choice. The present research reports results from eye tracking consistent with the attentional hypothesis: Gaze duration is diminished for blocked…

Computation can have a profound intellectual impact, like the alphabet thousands of years ago. Using computation, people can begin to outline cognitive structures that will revolutionize the way they learn, although, especially at universities, the dreams must sometimes lag behind their potential due to limited funding. Ultimately, however, the…

The developmental course of children's automatic extraction of meaning from printed words is recharted by using a Stroop-type recall task. Results confirm that, after a year of practice with reading material, children do automatically extract meaning from a single printed word. (GK)

Three children with autism were taught to identify pictures of emotions in response to their spoken names. Their speed of acquisition was compared using a within-child alternating treatments design across three teaching conditions, each involving a 5 second delay to reinforcement. In the marked-before condition, an instruction encouraged the…

How the mode of input of stimuli affects the quality or type of response was studied by comparing the number of paradigmatic responses and syntagmatic responses to both orally and visually presented stimulus words. The following groups, totaling 194 subjects, were involved in four experiments: (1) 18 institutionalized disturbed adolescents, (2) 96…

A university second language program using associative learning and context to enhance retention of words, expressions, and structures is described. Observed results of this situational approach are discussed. (MSE)

Investigates the role of morphological structure in the representation and processing of Mandarin Chinese compounds. Results provide evidence against single-layer, morpheme-based models of the Chinese mental lexicon, pointing instead to a two-layer, whole-word and morphemic model (the Multi-Level Cluster Representation Model). (67 references)…

The research concerned the association of neutral objects, such as nonsense syllables, with rewards, such as money and candy, in children. Thirty-six subjects were obtained from grades two through six of local public elementary schools in Nashville, Tennessee. Associations between neutral objects and rewards were formed in a task concerning…